Hair Loss and Insulin Resistance
Describing my theory on what causes male pattern baldness.
I believe that the testosterone/DHT theory is true. However, it is only part of the picture. I believe that high levels of insulin, and even worse insulin resistance are the core cause of this conversion locally in the scalp.
High levels of insulin significantly lower if not totally cut off two other hormones. Glucagon and Sex Hormone Binding Globulin. Glucagon is basically insulin’s adversary, also produced in the same part of the pancreas. Glucagon removes artherosclerotic plaques, lowers triglycerides and improves overall blood flow.
SHBG is the more important thing relating to hair loss though. Without it, testosterone is “free”, free to be converted into DHT or be used by the body for its other important uses. When SHBG is not in the blood stream in the quantities the body normally would require, I am of the opinion that allot of this excess free testosterone is then converted in the scalp to DHT. It has been shown that BOTH free T and DHT adversely affect hair follicles. More SHBG means much less free T.
People will come back at me with the fact that 1. many balding people are not actually insulin resistant. and 2. some insulin resistant people are not balding.
My responses would be 1. Some people are obviously less tolerant of high insulin levels than others and 2. this is where the genetic factor of baldness comes in. The androgens.
The people who are insulin resistant but are not balding lack the Alpha reductase and androgens to convert t to DHT locally. If you have elevated insulin levels, and DO have the capacity to convert T to DHT locally, you will bald.
This, I believe, is the connection between insulin resistance syndrome and male pattern baldness. Remember with insulin resistance you have astronomically high amounts of insulin in your system because you are eating a very high carbohydrate diet which would shoot your insulin levels up too high anyway, and your cells are to whatever degree resistant to its effects, so the pancreas has to produce more and more and more for the cells to utilize the blood glucose for energy.
Don’t believe what ANYONE tells you about low-carb/zero-carb.
Here’s the list of “degenerative diseases” I have cured eating only meat, (yes, NO veggies at all):
- Anxiety disorder
- Depression
- Insulin resistance/type II first stage
- Reactive hypoglycemia/type II first stage
- Overweight
- Fatigue
- Social anxiety
- Memory loss
- Overall appearance of aging
- Circulatory problems.
I should mention that since going to eating only meat, and zero vegetation or grains, my blood flow is that of a brand new baby. I’m not kidding. For the last few years since developing my blood sugar problems and hair loss when I would lift my arms for even a few seconds they would begin losing feeling FAST.
I never remember that from when I was younger, and when I would sit on the toilet my legs would lose feeling within 1-2 minutes (not completely, but they would begin to fall asleep). Now? After a month of this way of eating I can lift my arms over my head to do over 10 min. of Tom’s advanced SE and I still have perfect blood flow to both of them. When I’m on the toilet I can sit there for what seems like forever and my legs don’t fall asleep at ALL.
Another thing that happens is, When you become diabetic, as I was at the first stage of diabetes, your nerves in your hands and feet will begin to die off. Mostly because of very restricted blood flow to these areas. The skin right at my toe nails on three of my toes, including the big toe, on my right foot had become black and dead. It was gross to look at and I didn’t make the correlation until I read up on diabetes complications.
Wouldn’t you know that since doing this all meat diet the skin in these areas has begun to regenerate itself and has color again!?!?! Not to mention I’ve had a blister, that I thought was just a callus, on that same foot that actually hurts now.
Our paleolithic ancestors did NOT eat anything but meat. The so called “paleodiet” you see on websites is so wrong it’s ridiculous. Eating only lean meat and lots of veggies will kill you because fat is the most important nutrient your body needs. In fact, saturated fat, is the healthiest you can eat. Saturated fat will only cause problems if you’re eating high carb diets. Saturated fat CAN NOT oxidize in the blood because all of its bonds are occupied, so oxygen can not get in to oxidize the fatty acid. Fatty acids and cholesterol MUST oxidize before ANYTHING bad can happen. This process is elminated when you stop eating carbs, and eat only meat.
The neolithic era was when humans began consuming vegetation. This was the very beginning of the process that led to todays obesity and diabetes epidemic.
An all-meat diet does NOT induce long-term ketosis. For the first few weeks you will have excess ketones in your urine. This is because your body is in conversion mode. Your body is so used to burning sugar for fuel, it will struggle for a while to find its new fuel source, fat. After a few weeks your body will adjust to this new way of life and begin burning the ketones for fuel, so you will come out of ketosis. This is a normal and healthy condition.
You will feel horrible at first, because of this switch over process. But once you’re switched over, if you’re diligent, you will feel like a brand new person with the metabolism and energy of a 10 year old.
People will try to tell you that your body needs carbohydrates because your brain can only run on glucose. Certain parts of your brain can only run on glucose, true. However, what they fail to mention is that your body can convert both fat and protein into glucose through gluconeogenesis. As long as you are consuming enough calories, protein and fat you won’t lose muscle mass, and your brain will function perfectly.
That’s another thing they’ll try to stuff down your throat. They will tell you that protein catabolism speeds up on this diet. What they also fail to mention is that at the same time, protein synthesis ALSO speeds up. My belief is that the breaking down of protein is due to the de-junking of cells, something I read from a doctor a while back. The extra protein synthesis is due to the higher amount of protein in the diet (which is NOT dangerous by the way) and 1. the higher overall adrenaline amount (not adrenaline/cortisol flashes, this is totally different) and 2. the much higher human growth hormone in the blood. Yes, if you want a natural way to seriously boost HGH, an all meat, high fat diet is the way to do it.
High protein diets are not dangerous, and never have caused kidney or liver disease. The only time high protein diets are bad for your kidneys is if they are in conjunction with a high carbohydrate diet, through a process called glycation. The glycated proteins, because of the huge amount of insulin and glucose, are what damage your kidneys. This is the connection between diabetes and kidney disease.
I read of someone who has eaten nothing but unprocessed fatty meat for 47 years, and is still going. He’s built great muscle, started building the muscles at FIFTY FIVE, and people tell him all the time he looks like he’s in his 30’s when he is in his 60’s.
I believe we have all been lied to. I’ve never been a conspiracy theorist. However, after following the low-fat mantra twice in my life and watching my body basically implode on itself both times, I have experienced this lie first hand.
The very thing the diabetes association and heart association are telling you to eat to cure what ails you, is the very thing that will kill you if you follow it.
They are wrong. DEAD wrong. Anyone who tells you that zero carb or low-carb is dangerous, is seriously misinformed. How did the inuits or our paleo ancestors survive for all those millions of years on exclusively meat if it’s “so dangerous” for you?
Liked it
tod | Mar 20, 2008 | Reply
Hair loss can be due to many reason. So, to prevent hair loss a diet of proper nutrietion will definately help.
Rusty | May 20, 2008 | Reply
One of the best reports i’ve ever read, easy to understand and as I see it pretty spot on, in my case anyway. If it doesn’t grow, don’t eat it! is the message I tell my kids. Bread had got to be one of the worst offenders. We’re always told to eat more grains, 3-4 portions a day, no wonder people’s bodies are knackered. I agree, it’s a conspiracy!
hungry | May 22, 2008 | Reply
Carnivore,
Do you eat any fruits, or take any vitamin with this diet? Also, do you just eat red meat like steaks, or is it animal meat like chicken, pork, turkey? The hypothesis sounds interesting and I’m thinking about giving the diet a try.
not exactly | May 27, 2008 | Reply
well your observations are true…and false…
people with the alha reducatse have the ability to convert T to DHT yes…but if y ou observe around you this ability is also local depending on the body part of certain people…for example you will find very hairy men hence, men whose T has been converted to DHT on their body, and yet they have a full head of hair..and conversly some men without a lot of body hair can be bald….
Jack | Jun 3, 2008 | Reply
tell us more about what kind of meat you eat. grass-fed, raw, organs, muscles…??
rob | Jul 7, 2008 | Reply
some interesting ideas; although I don’t think many will be proven true I think your free thinking is excellent and this is how new discoveries begin. One correction: nerve damage happens in diabetics because, like in the kidney & eye, nerves do not require insulin for glucose to enter the cell and thus are overrun by high glucose levels, resulting in, if I remember correctly, a high conversion to a sugar alcohol which can not leave the cell due to its size, which draws in too much water and causes the cell to burst, I think.
Neil | Dec 21, 2008 | Reply
I am a Type-1 diabetic.I was diagnosed in 1994. Now I am almost 61 years. Even before being diagnosed with Diabetes, I had very thin hair on my body, arms and legs. What I have noticed that when I become irregular in my insulin schedule, I lose almost all hair on my arms and legs, but when I follow schedule properly, the hair on my arms start to come back, slowly.
Daniel | Apr 21, 2009 | Reply
There are tons of evidence that paleolithic man ate vegetations.
The most important evidence is DNA analysis of fossil feces.
The second evidence is the amount of plant matter rests (nuts shells, fruit kernels, fossilized seeds) found on europen paleo sites. The third evidence (indirect) is the fact that 95% of all hunter-gatherer societies consume plant matter. A fourth evidence is that 80% of all edible fruits and plant matter available then is extinct nowadays, so they might have had access to a lot of cold climate fruits and veggies.
Also interview and studies on traditional Inuits showed that their diet was 10% carbs. They would eat cloud berries and other berries and store them the whole year, some of them would gather leaves and the content of the stomach of caribou (a plant food they called Nikkarù) So even the extreme diet of Inuits have never been carb free and neither was the diet of paleolithic human, there’s not a single evidence suggesting they might have eaten only meat.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a zero carb all meat diet but it’s not true that the paleodiet is wrong or ridicolous. It is based on compelling evidence of plant consumption of human diet since the dawn of time.
I have cured myself of the basically the same diseases (heart palpitation, reactive hypoglycemia, insulin resistance, anxiety, social phobias, mood swings, irritability, forgetfullness, thinning and frizzy hair, insomnia, cold hands and feet, chronic sore throat, low immune system) with a diet called Life Without Bread.
The diet allows up to 70 grams of carbs. The author has the results of more than a thousands patients healing from diabetes, insulin resistance and even cancer. I too feels like a baby and I have been told I look like a 16 year old teeneger (16 years less than I am) but I don’t think I would get even better results by removing those carbs.
The reason is simple: our body is made and perfectly able to process carbs, that’s why we have three glycogen pathways, three glucogenesis pathways, ptyalin in the saliva and a brain that runs on glucose. We’re not designed for an excess of carbs but we’re definitely omnivorous with a body which have no problems metabolizing without adverse affects a minimum amount of carbs.
Kelly | Jun 17, 2009 | Reply
Great comments Daniel. A one-size-fits-all ‘diet’ will never work for the many different body types that have evolved over millions of years.
And you’re right — we’re omnivores, not carnivores or herbivores.
Interesting that the author hasn’t replied to any of these posts.
Makes me wonder if he’s still alive?
The_African | Jul 15, 2009 | Reply
This article is so hopelessly wrong on many levels, it has no scientific backing. The Atkins diet has been rejected by dieticians for a while now. For the record, our ancestors most likely had a diet that was around 80% plant based and 20% dead animal.
I honestly wouldn’t care if meat was healthy and helped to prevent hair loss, I do not view animal flesh as a ‘food’.
balding insulin resistant | Sep 8, 2009 | Reply
wow impressing knowledge on medicine. you know i started to become knowing more about such matters. even i started to tell my doctor which tests i need. but daniel’s knowledge is impressive. he should become a doctor.
i think the best doctors are ourselves. because many times doctors might not understand exact;y what your problem is. you must know yourself. i agree on many things especially meat issue. and insulin and balding correlation. i m a female having insulin resistance and balding badddly
(( i m trying to find out a way to solve my problems. for insulin resistance i think omega 3 s important since such elements can t be produced in our body. nowadays i try black cumin oil to cure insulin resistance problem. it regulates sugar level in blood and have omega 3 in it.
meat is also important if you take the drug metformin for insulin resistance B12 lacks in your body. and if you don t have enough B12 in your body your brain doesn t work properly and the system of your body dysfunctions. and the main source for B12 is MEAT and MEAT and MEAT. they say especially beef meat
jamie | Sep 16, 2009 | Reply
I did the meat diet for close to 2 years and was eating 2 chickens per day and drunk nothing but water, I did have non carb veg within each day like spinich, cabbage ect, I did it to get rid of a yeast candida yeast infection that feeds of sugers and yeasts. it did work and yes your mood will get better with it but meats today are from hormone fed animals mainly estrogen to fatten them up and this estrogen will be eaten by you along with other estrogen mimics in air polution and car fumes, you will become estrogen dominant and that will lead to a host of problems includeing hairloss ,yes before you say hairloss is from DHT, these bad estrogens can also cause hairloss,it is fact that the avarage 50 year old male has more estrogen in his body than the avarage 50 YO female, most 50 year old plus males are 80% bald or balding and most have slight developmet of female breasts(man boobs), this tells me one thing ,if you have these receptors in you hair folicles and you are low in SHBG( sex hormone binding globulin ) then they are going to be sensitive to both DHT dominance and this Estrogen dominance and maybe even free testostorone. so my final thing to say is to eat a balanced diet ,make sure you get enough hair and scalp vits and mins like Biotin,B12, and all other B vits,Vitimin C, Folic acid (note Folic acid dificancy in men can cause complete baldness) ,iron , Zinc no more than 15mg,
Take green tea extract to increase SHBG ,this will bind to sex hormones and stop them turnning into DHT and Estrogen and should keep the hormones in balance with each other.
prescott | Sep 16, 2009 | Reply
HI , word of warning about eating just meat, animals today are fed estrogen to fatten them up and this estrogen will then be eaten by you and can lead to estrogen dominance and will leave you with a host of problems including hairloss. if you have some hairloss and don’t know why you have it then ask your doctor to check you thyroid gland, estrogen level, even if not pregnant women can still be deficiant in pre natal vitimins like folic acid so make sure you take 400ugs pre day you can take upto 800ugs, if this is the problem the hair should start to grow as normal within 3 months also take biotin 5mg if you can find them, all B vitimins, iron, if you smoke then stop,smoking can cause hair loss in some people and also affects blood circulation,invest in a hairmax laser comb (this is approved by the FAD to help with hairloss and should give even better results when used by women. hope this helps you or you may already know all this stuff but anyway good luck.