Foods/chemicals that are DETRIMENTAL to hair loss

[skribb]

I have been doing a great amount of qualitative reading here the past few days and have learnt and jotted down quite a bunch of tidbits, but there's something I'm still wondering.

Food.

Are there any dietary choices, foods, or components of foods, that are generally thought of as detrimental to hair loss, DHT levels and so on? I did read one mention of dairy products taking a slight toll on male pattern baldness sufferers, but I remain skeptic to that claim.

Any insight into this area (not just the dairy, I mean all foods!) is greatly appreciated. The only thing I know for sure is that Sodium Lauryl Sulphate is bad for our hair, and that mainstream shampoos carry this ingredient, but that's not exactly a foodstuff (still, if you know of any other chemicals that are detrimental to hair, do tell).

Thank you.

 

[Brains Expel Hair]

Food stuffs that are detrimental to your hair: anything you have an allergy/intolerance to. This will differ a lot from person to person. Only 1-2% of the population are thought to have active food allergies (IgE response) but almost half of the population have at least one form of intolerance or another (IgG/IgA or just basic digestive issues). Dairy can have a very bad effect on your hair if you have a casein intolerance but that's something you can tell pretty easily by removing and reintroducing it into your diet a few times and seeing if your dermatitis changes in flux with its consumption. The only sort of thing I would say is definitely a big DON'T EVER EAT on the whole food scale would be a bunch of raw egg whites or raw chicken meat as these contain chemicals that interfere with biotin absorption/utilization but they're destroyed when cooked.

 

[billythekid]

u think it would be worthwhile to get intolerance testing done?

i hear they inject ur skin with 20 seperate compounds and check for reactions.

 

[Hoppi]

Yeah I believe what you eat has a large impact. My regimen also has some good info on my findings!

Inflammatory foods, alcohol, sugar, soy, excessively high carbs, stuff like that, all seem pretty bad from what I can tell.

 

[Brains Expel Hair]

The skin test is an allergy test, not an intolerance test. In the skin test they prick you with small amounts of known potentially allergenic proteins and watch for a histamine response. This is confined to the IgE class of your immune system while an intolerance with a systemic effect would be related to your IgA or IgG immune systems. Technically if you've ever had any sort of chronic mental, skin or digestive problem it's a good idea to get checked for both IgE and IgG reactions. The IgG would ideally be tested from your blood and a simple skin test would not suffice.

 

[skribb]

Okay, cool.

Brains, are you saying gluten would add to male pattern baldness, or only to those with a gluten intolerance? I doubt I have it myself though, I would have known by know. I have a sibling with it though.

 

[Brains Expel Hair]

If you don't have an actual gluten intolerance the only way wheat type products will damage your hair is if they were grown near chernobyl.

 

[JimmyL]

If you don't have an actual gluten intolerance the only way wheat type products will damage your hair is if they were grown near chernobyl.

What is the best way of testing for gluten intolerance? Is it a test my doctor should perform?

 

[Brains Expel Hair]

The tests certainly are best performed by a doctor. There tests you order over the net where you send in a sample to the lab yourself and they test it but unfortunately there's been very little tests of their overall efficacy. When you go in to your doctor to test for a gluten problem there are a minimum of 4 tests that need to be run. those are 1) Total Serum IgA 2) IgA Tissue Transglutaminase (IgA-tTG) 3) IgA Gliadin and 4) IgG Gliadin. If you test deficient for 1) then the other IgA tests (2&3) are pointless as you won't be producing elevated levels for any IgA response. If you test positive for 2,3 or 4 then you've got a problem.

One strong point I have to make here because I'm not entirely sure where you're coming from with these questions. Not only is hair loss not evident in everyone with a gluten problem, but I think it would be almost impossible to have hair loss as your only symptom of a gluten intolerance. This means that if hair loss is the only chronic mental or physical health problem you're experiencing then getting tested for gluten problems is a waste of your time and money.

I have a sibling with it though.

Then odds are pretty damned good you have it. It is very strong genetic condition that can kick in at any period of your life but most often starts during puberty or childhood. The overall occurrence of the genes in the population is at least 15%, but some papers have cited even higher numbers. Because your sibling has it you have at the very least a 25% chance to have it yourself. That is assuming that a) only one of your parents had the genes b) that afflicted parent only had 1 of the 3 major gene sequences associated with gluten intolerance and celiacs and c) was heterozygous for that particular gene (only one of their chromosomes had the code for it while the other was the "normal" sequence). Completely regardless of hair loss or any other symptoms you should get tested when you have a direct relative with the condition.

 

[skribb]

The tests certainly are best performed by a doctor. There tests you order over the net where you send in a sample to the lab yourself and they test it but unfortunately there's been very little tests of their overall efficacy. When you go in to your doctor to test for a gluten problem there are a minimum of 4 tests that need to be run. those are 1) Total Serum IgA 2) IgA Tissue Transglutaminase (IgA-tTG) 3) IgA Gliadin and 4) IgG Gliadin. If you test deficient for 1) then the other IgA tests (2&3) are pointless as you won't be producing elevated levels for any IgA response. If you test positive for 2,3 or 4 then you've got a problem.

One strong point I have to make here because I'm not entirely sure where you're coming from with these questions. Not only is hair loss not evident in everyone with a gluten problem, but I think it would be almost impossible to have hair loss as your only symptom of a gluten intolerance. This means that if hair loss is the only chronic mental or physical health problem you're experiencing then getting tested for gluten problems is a waste of your time and money.

I have a sibling with it though.

Then odds are pretty damned good you have it. It is very strong genetic condition that can kick in at any period of your life but most often starts during puberty or childhood. The overall occurrence of the genes in the population is at least 15%, but some papers have cited even higher numbers. Because your sibling has it you have at the very least a 25% chance to have it yourself. That is assuming that a) only one of your parents had the genes b) that afflicted parent only had 1 of the 3 major gene sequences associated with gluten intolerance and celiacs and c) was heterozygous for that particular gene (only one of their chromosomes had the code for it while the other was the "normal" sequence). Completely regardless of hair loss or any other symptoms you should get tested when you have a direct relative with the condition.

I think I will, it can't hurt. The sibling in question has thyroid problems as well, I should probably get that checked too.

 

[skribb]

Yeah I believe what you eat has a large impact. My regimen also has some good info on my findings!

Inflammatory foods, alcohol, sugar, soy, excessively high carbs, stuff like that, all seem pretty bad from what I can tell.

Soy? Really? Soy?

What with the amount of soy East Asians ingest and their propensity to NOT lose hair (I've been in China and Japan - they have some serious manes going on there), I sincerely doubt your claim.

 

[Brains Expel Hair]

fermented soy != mildly processed soy, low protein soy != high protein soy, and apparently natural soy != GE soy

All of those factors have been shown to have an effect on hormonal levels.

 

[Hoppi]

Yeah well done Brains

Is a complex thing, but I personally steer clear of the stuff like the plague now lol

I don't trust it's effects on my sex hormones, or really anything about it lol

It's also bad for the thyroid I believe, or certainly some kinds are.

Oh, interesting bit from Dr Mercola on this:

[youtube:1nj7vvkr]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjZs0DGW1Jk[/youtube:1nj7vvkr]

 

[DarkDays]

I would like to know which Soy products/supplements are good/safe. I currently take Non-GMO Soy Isoflavones from Puritan's Pride.

 

[DarkDays]

Yeah I believe what you eat has a large impact. My regimen also has some good info on my findings!

Inflammatory foods, alcohol, sugar, soy, excessively high carbs, stuff like that, all seem pretty bad from what I can tell.

Soy? Really? Soy?

What with the amount of soy East Asians ingest and their propensity to NOT lose hair (I've been in China and Japan - they have some serious manes going on there), I sincerely doubt your claim.

I would rather guess it relates to the entire diet they have rather than only soy. I was in mexico(Puerto Vallarta to be precise) recently and the thing that surprised me that I didn't see a lot of bald or thinning dudes unless they were over 50, but their diet is rather different from the diet in Northern Europe(where I come from). Fats are higher here and we eat more wheat and sugar and consume a lot of dairy products.

Would be interesting to get the average type of diet in each region and then compare them to each other as well as the occurence of hair loss.

 

[skribb]

Would be interesting to get the average type of diet in each region and then compare them to each other as well as the occurence of hair loss.

I concur.

Also, Brains, what about soy isoflavones? They're bad too? Because I've read the exact opposite right on these boards.

 

[JLL]

Why exactly is soy bad again? I know it's popular among Schmercola's fans to avoid soy like the bubonic flu, but I've yet to read one convincing paper suggests soy in reasonable doses is bad.

I would go for just the soy isoflavones rather than soy itself, however, unless I was a vegan and wanted the extra protein.

Soy Protein Isolate Reduces DHT in Healthy Young Men

Serum DHT was significantly reduced following the consumption of both a low-isoflavone and high-isoflavone soy protein isolate compared to a milk protein isolate. The reductions were 9.4% and 15%, respectively. The DHT/testosterone ratio was also decreased by 9.0% and 14%, respectively.

The reduction in the DHT/testosterone ratio suggests an inhibition of 5-alpha-reductase. However, 3-alpha-AG, a marker of 5-alpha-reductase activity, was not significantly affected. Levels of sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) were also not significantly different between the diets.

Soy Isoflavones Reduce DHT, Increase Testosterone

Soy isoflavones significantly reduced DHT levels and increased testosterone levels in male rats. An intake of 3.3 mg of isoflavones per day was the most effective of the three treatments tested. A lower intake showed similar but less pronounced effects, while a higher intake did not appear to further add to the effect.

Capsaicin and Soy Isoflavones Promote Hair Growth

After 5 months, hair growth was significantly increased in 64.5% of human volunteers administered with capsaicin and isoflavone, compared with 11.8% in the placebo group. Furthermore, 88% of the participants suffering from androgenic alopecia saw a promotion of hair growth when given capsaicin and isoflavone. This suggests that the treatment might be more effective for male-pattern baldness than other types of hair loss.

And then there's the equol production issue; looks like people who consume genistein and deidzein are better at producing equol, and equol should be good for hair growth.

Maybe if your goal is to build muscle mass soy is not the best thing, precisely because of the phytoestrogens, but as for hair loss I really don't see what the problem is.

 

[the Last Fight]

There really is so much to SOY. Fermented, Unfermented, Isoflavines etc etc.

Asians dont really eat that much soy, its really a small part of there diet.

 

[skribb]

There really is so much to SOY. Fermented, Unfermented, Isoflavines etc etc.

Asians dont really eat that much soy, its really a small part of there diet.

I don't disagree with you but, on the grand scale, they eat more soy than Westerners, at the very LEAST from a historical standpoint, if you see where I'm going.

 

[purecontrol]

I have been doing a great amount of qualitative reading here the past few days and have learnt and jotted down quite a bunch of tidbits, but there's something I'm still wondering.

Food.

Are there any dietary choices, foods, or components of foods, that are generally thought of as detrimental to hair loss, DHT levels and so on? I did read one mention of dairy products taking a slight toll on male pattern baldness sufferers, but I remain skeptic to that claim.

Any insight into this area (not just the dairy, I mean all foods!) is greatly appreciated. The only thing I know for sure is that Sodium Lauryl Sulphate is bad for our hair, and that mainstream shampoos carry this ingredient, but that's not exactly a foodstuff (still, if you know of any other chemicals that are detrimental to hair, do tell).

Thank you.

Any thing that is a pro-oxidant and inflamitory ie dairy products, hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, simple carbs + fat, too much saturated fat, anything you have a slight allergy to ie wheat, anything that keep your glucose high, etc

Forgot to add plastics, you need to check the numbers of your platics. If you drink water out of a plastic bottled water you are drinking plastic, and it is a pro-oxidant, inflamitory, and acts as an estrogen to give you cancer of the male sex organs etc