People today are experiencing hair loss at a rate not seen by previous generations. Even children are starting to lose their hair, especially young boys. Some of us can probably remember a friend who started experiencing a receding hair line while still in high school. In recent years, the problem has gotten much worse, with some boys suffering from thinning locks as young as 6 years old!
My hair stylist told me that hair loss is rampant in her clientele both male and female, young and old. She said this shocking observation is one reason why she has started to switch over to nontoxic personal care products.
While chemical exposure and other factors such as adrenal fatigue are no doubt contributing to the epidemic of hair loss today, one thing is for certain.
Diet plays a huge role in hair loss especially male pattern baldness.
Saturated Fat Avoidance and Hair Follicle Destruction
Male pattern baldness is the most common type of balding. It usually involves a receding hairline at the top and front of the head sometimes combined with hair thinning at the crown. It affects about 1/3 of men by the age of 30, half by age 50, and nearly two-thirds by retirement age.
Most people chalk up balding in men to genetic predisposition. While this is definitely true, there is another reason that is less commonly known: male sex hormones potentially gone awry.
DHT Hormone and Male Baldness
According to Medical News Today, the molecule dihydrotestosterone (DHT) appears to be closely linked with male pattern baldness. What’s more, it is estimated that DHT is responsible for triggering baldness in over half of the men with hair loss issues.
This is not the only problem DHT causes. Excessive levels can trigger an enlarged prostate and potentially prostate cancer as well.
While DHT is an important male hormone (androgen) responsible for the development of male characteristics, when in excess it can cause problems. DHT is very potent, five times stronger than testoterone in fact! Moreover, DHT competes with testosterone for the same hormone receptor sites in the body. The difference is that DHT attaches more easily than testosterone and once bound, remains so for longer periods of time.
How does DHT contribute to issues with baldness? It does this by slowly “miniaturizing” the hair follicles to the point where new hairs are so short that eventually they do not even peek through the surface of the skin.
While new medications such as Finasteride (brand names: Propecia, Proscar) to inhibit the production of the baldness-inducing DHT have been shown to be successful in substantially reducing hair loss and stimulating new growth, wouldn’t it be better to control it with diet? After all, pharmaceutical drugs have undesirable side effects and sometimes even unknown risks for long term users.
Side Effects of Hair Loss Drugs
Here is the long list of side effects from Finasteride, many of them much worse than losing your hair (1).
- loss of sex drive (commonly reported)
- impotence (commonly reported)
- trouble having an orgasm
- abnormal ejaculation
- swelling of the hands or feet
- swelling or tenderness in the breast area
- dizziness
- weakness
- feeling faint
- headache
- runny nose
- skin rash
Soooo, taking anti-baldness drugs supposedly makes you more attractive to dating prospects, but once you have their interest, you may no longer be even interested yourself?
Yeeeah.
That makes sense!
All in a day’s work for a drug marketing brochure!
Instead of Drugs, Prevent Baldness with Saturated Fat!
Instead of health destroying drugs, why not prevent hair loss and help regrowth with simple dietary changes?
You see, saturated fat intake inhibits the production of DHT just like the drug Finasteride but without all the nasty side effects.
The DHT conversion from testosterone is facilitated by an enzyme known as 5-alpha-reductase (5-AR). If there is an increase in 5-AR in the body, there will be an increase in the amount of testosterone that is converted into DHT and consequently an increase in hair loss.
Here’s where saturated fat comes in.
Saturated fat naturally lowers levels of 5-alpha-reductase (5-AR) in the body. This correspondingly causes less DHT to be converted and a reduction in hair loss.
Researchers revealed in the journal Chemistry and Biodiversity this nutritional bombshell about the inhibitory effect of saturated fats on 5-AR which blocks the conversion of testosterone to hair munching, prostate enlarging DHT (2).
Still Afraid of Eating Saturated Fat Even to Save Your Hair?
Is fear of the saturated fat boogie man keeping you from embracing butter, ghee, coconut oil, and other healthy fats and foods like egg yolks and liver that contain them? Relax. You can literally take heart in knowing that the decades held belief that saturated fat causes heart disease has been completely disproven. Even Time Magazine set the record straight in 2014. The cover proclaimed that eating butter is best. Saturated fats containing natural beneficial cholesterol boost health and are not the dietary demons they’ve been portrayed for 5+ decades. Many doctors including cardiologists today are in favor of butter and other saturated fats as well. Some have even gone so far as to say that lowfat diet is “morally and scientifically indefensible”.
On an anecdotal note, I’ve noticed that nutritional conferences that promote the benefits of traditional diet definitely seem to have more than their fair share of both men and women with luscious locks. Rather then being purely coincidence, research is showing that it is specifically the saturated fats so prized by traditional, ancestral societies that are a primary reason why!
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
So would grass fed butter be better for reducing dht than rendered lard?
Yes, butter is higher in saturated fats than lard. Lard is actually mostly monounsaturated fats!
How much sat fat? Per meal? Per day? Male ir female? Per source?
Dark 100% chocolate/cacao has always helped me but I wasn’t sure it was the fat, the iron, something else, or a combo.
My hair thickened and my nails became amazing after adding organic lard to my diet. I know this because after I did not have any lard for about six months, my hair became thinner and nails brittle.
Sarah, thank you for this. It goes to prove what I’ve already observed with my own hair. I’ve been experiencing hair loss for many years until last year when I started the low carb lifestyle and increased my saturated fat intake. Boom! Within 3 months, my hair growth was phenomenal and still is….
Oh my goodness! I have been eating a low saturated fats diet for most of my life. My father was diagnosed with heart disease when I was young, so out went the saturated fats! I have been scrupulous, thinking I was doing myself a favor. I wouldn’t even know where to begin. Butter you say? I’m motivated to try, because post menopause, my hair has been thinning more than I like, and more than seems normal. It’s still pretty, but I’d like more of it. Thanks for the article.
thanks for sharing the information, I was looking for a reference how to cope with hair loss, and I think I found the answer here. Nice website 🙂
Sarah,
I believe you are right! Notice that my luscious locks are thinning now that I am 64 and I always had double thick hair. Could you please elaborate on the types of saturated fats to include everyday. I have been on the fence about consuming Green Pasture CLO and X Factor Butter Oil since the controversy began last year with Kaayla Daniels. So that source for me has stopped. Judging from some of the comments, there seems to be a lot of confusion about what a good saturated fat source is. Thank You!
Cod liver oil is not a source of saturated fat. The best sources are butter, ghee, egg yolks, coconut oil, cheese, and meat fats. Hope that helps!
Could I live on flax seed oils and cook everything without fats? Just take 5 servings of flaxseed = 75 grams of fat a day
Not a good idea. Flax seed oil has only tiny amounts of saturated fat! Also, that is far too much polyunsaturated fat in a single day.
Sarah, as a post-menopausal woman with Androgenic Alopecia I can tell you excess saturated fat increases my hair loss. No bacon, sausage, or coconut oil for me. I do use small amounts of butter.
Well … actually bacon and sausage are primarily monounsaturated fats! Sounds like whereever you got your information is flawed from the get go.
Salt plays a major role in balding. It hardens the blood vessels and reduces bloodflow to the scalp. Women’s hormonal makeup protects them from this, their blood vessels are kept soft. Unless they get polycystic ovarian syndrome or hit menopause.