High Cholesterol and Hair Loss

What is the relations between High Cholesterol and Hair Loss?

While studying factors that might lead scientists to a way to better identify people with a high potential for cardiovascular disease, scientists found an interesting correlation between a balding head and the risk for a heart attack.

An eleven year study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, January of 2000 by Lotufo, Chae, Ajani, Hennekens, Manson at the Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston MA, called "Male Pattern Baldness and Coronary Heart Disease: The Physician's Health Study," showed that there is a correlation between balding and coronaries. The study also narrows this down to balding and high cholesterol. Originally, scientists looked only at balding in men but later found the same results when they studied the relationship between balding and coronary disease in women.

Now, this leads one to wonder, which one of these factors influence the others. Are high cholesterol levels responsible for both balding and coronary or do the same factors that cause balding also increase the cholesterol. There is no right or wrong answer yet discovered, simply the strong link between the factors of high cholesterol and hair loss.

Androgenetic alopecia is the balding pattern linked to high cholesterol and heart disease. It comes from too much testosterone converting to an active androgen dihydrotestosterone, DHT. In order to do this, the enzyme 5alpha reductase needs to be present. The DHT binds to the hair follicles in DHT sensitive people and the follicle converts to the resting phase, causing fewer hairs to grow. It also makes the follicle of the hair thinner at every growth cycle until it becomes fuzz and the scalp shows through the hair.

One theory about the link is that cholesterol is the cause of blocked arteries and triggering the production of androgen that creates the DHT. If a person is genetically susceptible to the effects of DHT, they lose hair. In this case, cholesterol is the evil villain of balding individuals.

Another theory makes the DHT the culprit. In this scenario, the DHT increases the cholesterol and even the blood pressure. It also is responsible for androgenetic alopecia. Since women have as much as 20 times less androgen in their body, this explanation accounts for the fact that women have fewer coronary problems and hair loss.

Based on this study another hypothesis also occurs. Again, the cholesterol is the villain. In this case, the cholesterol not only blocks the blood vessels that feed the heart and the hair, it mixes with the sebum and makes it solid. This solid mass grows and eventually blocks the follicle growth. This accounts for the hair shaft reduction in size at each successive growth.

It would seem that simply taking a pill to lower cholesterol levels would be the way to treat the condition. That is also a problem. Some cholesterol treatments actually increase the rate of hair loss as on of their side effects.

Until scientists learn why the relationship between the high cholesterol and hair loss occurs, the best method of control is a healthy diet and plenty of exercise. If you smoke, stop. If you drink in excess, stop. Make lifestyle changes to save not only your beautiful tresses, but also your beautiful heart.

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