Whoever thinks that diet only plays a small role in Androgenetic Alopecia onset and progression speed, should get the full text of the following paper:
Mediterranean diet: fresh herbs and fresh vegetables decrease the risk of Androgenetic Alopecia in males
Additionally, Inuit - who are known not to have androgenetic alopecia - have a genetic mutation which allows their bodies to digest high amounts of
animal fat without the negative side effects experienced by non-Inuit. Additionally, their diet is very low in sugar. In other words: They don't have hyperglycemia because of diet and no damage from animal fats (saturated fats, trans fats, LDL) because of a genetic mutation.
Last case in point:
Hyperglycemia leads to gum inflammation. If dietary sugar can lead to gum inflammation, it is not unlikely that it can also lead to inflammation around follicles. I assume that hyperglycemia from our modern diet just leads to chronic systemic inflammation - which manifests both in the gum and in the scalp.
My hypothesis: Androgenetic alopecia is a downstream effect of diets that have two things over longer periods of time: 1) High blood sugar and 2) high blood cholesterol/lipid levels.
That also explains why metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease and diabetes are strongly correlated with Androgenetic Alopecia. They don't happen for some weird unknown side effect.
The causes of these three (MetS, CVD/atherosclerosis, diabetes) are, I think, literally the same causes as those of Androgenetic Alopecia. Thus, the genetic causal chain is not:
You have the Androgenetic Alopecia genes -> you get Androgenetic Alopecia
Rather, the genetic causal chain is something like this:
You have a set of genes which make your body more inflamed when facing high dietary sugar and high levels of certain kinds of fat -> you get Androgenetic Alopecia (as an inflammatory response to these dietary components that your genes don't deal well with)
Some other interesting facts:
- Hair needs IGF-1 to grow. Insulin resistance (due to high dietary sugar) weakens the effectiveness of IGF-1 and reduces IGF-1 production.
- We know that scalps of Androgenetic Alopecia sufferers are calcified. High blood cholesterol/lipid levels lead to calcification, which is a downstream effect of blood supply plaques (that are caused by LDL, OxLDL, VLDL).
Now, as I know most of you don't give a flying f*ck about explanations and will just repeat "it's not the diet" like a mantra and without thinking: In the middle of January I started a very aggressive anti-atherosclerosis, anti-CVD and anti-diabetes diet. Funnily enough, since then, I saw some new vellus hair pop up along my hairline. I got no idea if this is because of these aggressive dietary changes or because of the high doses of vit D and K I take since Jan 1, 2021. It's not cosmetically significant yet, but if it ever will be I'll post photos.