Creatine: Does it Really Contribute to Male Pattern Baldness?
Your body manufactures a substance called Creatine, and you probably aren’t even aware it’s there. Although this natural organic acid is non-essential, it does help build muscle mass and provide you with more energy. People who are interested in building up muscle mass will certainly be aware of the substance however. Since beef is a source high in creatine, people such as body builders and wrestlers may eat as much as 2 pounds of meat at a meal in order to maximize the amount of creatine in their muscles. The question with creatine is, however, while you’re beefing up your muscles, are you causing your hair to fall out?
Are you now wondering what exactly it does when taken in massive doses? Can it really accelerate balding by increasing the body’s levels of testosterone? It has been discovered that creatine raises DHT levels which can cause issues in the future. The hair follicles and other parts of the body are responsible for creating DHT. It has been proven to be a factor in male pattern baldness. However, there’s still cause for doubt, because no long-term testing has been conducted, and although creatine has been used for many years, there’s no record of anyone going bald from using it.
If you set out to learn about the effects of creatine on the body, you will probably read many conflicting reports. Some articles insist that it doesn’t cause baldness while others do. You probably don’t know who to believe.
People who state that it does cause baldness says that DHT triggers baldness in mind who are genetically prone to it. The hair on both the top of the head and the sides have proven to be more sensitive to increased DHT than back hair does. If there are large quantities of DHT present in the body, the hair follicles in these areas decrease in size and eventually stop producing hair.
We won’t be able to reach a complete conclusion until there has been long-term testing done on the subject. Until that time, athletes who ingest high levels of creatine will need to take their chances of losing some hair. Many people feel it’s worth the risk though.
Kristie Brown writes on a variety of topics from health to technology. Check out her websites on Vitamins for hair growth and Hair loss after pregnancy