fifty percent of men experience hair loss before age fifty but why why do some men experience hair
loss while others don't well the typical answer to this question is genetics the most recent research
seems to indicate that men positive for a very specific androgen receptor gene
are up to two times more likely to experience male pattern baldness in their lifetime men
that are positive for this genetic snp seem to be more sensitive to the hormone dht a hormone that
is largely believed to initiate hair loss in men however this doesn't seem to be the entire story
as more recent research seems to suggest that genetics are only responsible for up to 60 percent
of male pattern baldness cases this has led researchers to conclude that male pattern baldness
is only partly genetic and partly environmental but what are those environmental factors well
one of these markers seems to be an elevation of the hormone dht when dht binds to androgen
receptors on the top of the head it inhibits hair growth eventually leading to quickened hair loss
the more dht present in the tissue the higher the rate of hair loss but the ultimate question
is why what environmental factors are causing this elevation in dht levels why do so many men
that are genetically susceptible to hair loss not lose their hair well these are some of the
questions that we're going to be addressing in today's video as well as some of the lifestyle
factors that you can address in order to help slow and prevent the onset of male pattern baldness so
let's go ahead and dive right in we will begin our journey today with a little lesson in physiology
on the production and use of androgens in the body now the two primary androgens in the human
body are one testosterone and two the lesser known metabolite dht testosterone levels in the
body are typically 20 times that of dht though dht appears to be three times as potent when compared
to testosterone now the primary purpose of these hormones is to bring about primary and secondary
male sex characteristics in men these would include things like development of sexual organs
development of muscle tissue regulation of sexual behavior and development of other male sex
characteristics now when your body through various mechanisms recognizes either a drop in these
androgens or an explicit need for them in the body your brain begins the process of stimulating
their production this process begins in the hypothalamus and when your hypothalamus detects
a need for androgens in the body it releases a hormone known as gonadotropic releasing hormone
otherwise known as gnrh now this gnrh then travels from the hypothalamus to the pituitary gland where
it stimulates the production and release of luteinizing hormone luteinizing hormone then
travels to the testicles where it stimulates the lytic cells of the testes to produce testosterone
now believe it or not this is actually a highly simplified version of this process as there are
dozens of other enzymes and intermediate hormones that are involved in this process
however this will suffice for our conversation today now at this point once testosterone is
produced in the testes one of three primary things can happen one is that this testosterone
can be metabolized into estrogen by the enzyme aromatase this estrogen is then released into
the bloodstream by the testes where it is free to act on various tissues in the rest of the
body now the second thing that can happen to this testosterone is it can be bound to a protein known
as sex hormone binding globulin when this happens shbg transports this testosterone to various
tissues in the body where it can bind to androgen receptors and initiate its physiological response
now the third thing that can happen is that this testosterone can be converted into dht by the
enzyme 5 alpha reductase in the testicles however it is important to note here that very little of
this process happens at a testicular level though some testosterone will be converted to dht by the
testes and then released into the bloodstream this accounts for a very small percentage of
total dht production five alpha reductase seems to be primarily distributed in other tissues such as
the liver brain prostate and skin where it locally converts testosterone into dht endogenous dht is
primarily the product of localized conversion of testosterone into dht by 5-alpha reductase
in very specific localized tissues this is why dht levels are so much higher in tissues that
express 5-alpha reductase when compared to typical blood levels of dht the conversion of testosterone
to dht typically only happens in very specific tissues once testosterone reaches these tissues
this has led many researchers to rightly conclude that the primary driver of male pattern baldness
apart from genetic factors is the localized over expression of the 5-alpha reductase enzyme
however the question still remains why if genetics only account for up to sixty percent
of male pattern baldness why are the other forty percent experiencing this five alpha reductase
over expression so to answer this question let's dive a little bit deeper now when you look at the
typical hormonal profile of someone with premature onset male pattern baldness you will notice a
very clear pattern that goes far beyond isolated dht levels the typical hormonal profile of someone
with male pattern baldness typically looks something like this they are typically low in
levels of testosterone thyroid hormone sex hormone binding globulin and follicle stimulating hormone
while at the same time having high levels of dht prolactin cortisol thyroid releasing hormone
insulin-like growth factor one and inflammatory markers but the biggest question here by far is
what is the common denominator what type of lifestyle factors are leading to this type
of hormone profile well lucky for us we have some good research that is pointing us in a
couple of different directions one is a lack of sleep two obesity three sleep deprivation four
stress with the single unifying factor being uncontrolled blood sugar the apex of the video
blood sugar now interestingly enough the hormone markers that are typically present
in individuals experiencing androgenic alopecia are almost identical to what you would expect
to see in someone with uncontrolled blood sugar what appears to be going on is that
as we age these lifestyle factors seem to accumulate enough to eventually suppress
testosterone production once this happens the body appears to up regulate the expression of
5-alpha reductase in order to maintain proper androgen receptor stimulation
however the production of this dht further suppresses testosterone production now high blood
sugar also stimulates the production and release of thyroid releasing hormone which stimulates the
pituitary to do two things one is to obviously stimulate the production of thyroid hormone
but it also seems to stimulate the production and release of prolactin which consequently
further suppresses testosterone production and the same trend holds true with cortisol
igf-1 and inflammatory markers every hormone that you see elevated in subjects with androgenic
alopecia you also see elevated in individuals with uncontrolled blood sugar and all of these hormones
to one degree or another seem to independently initiate hair loss now the biggest and final
question we might ask here is what can we do about this well the answer is surprisingly simple
yet not easy control your blood sugar this appears to be one of the most effective ways to slow
and even reverse male pattern baldness now there are a handful of supplements that you can also
take in order to slow the progress of male pattern baldness however because of the intricacy of this
system as well as some of the possible side effects that come along with five alpha reductase
inhibitors i am going to dedicate an entire video um on natural methods to slow prevent and reverse
hair loss naturally but other than that guys make sure you're watching out for that next video here
in the next week or so and also make sure to check out the description for any of the free supplement
guides that i've got on my website and other than that i will see you guys next time thanks so much