Hair-Loss Remedies, By Science

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10almonds Gets Hairy

Hair loss is a thing that at some point affects most men and a large minority of women. It can be a source of considerable dysphoria for both, as it’s often seen as a loss of virility/femininity respectively, and is societally stigmatized in various ways.

Today we’re going to focus on the most common kind: androgenic alopecia, which is called “male pattern baldness” in men and “female pattern baldness” in women, despite being the same thing.

We won’t spend a lot of time on the science of why this happens (we’re going to focus on the remedies instead), but suffice it to say that genes and hormones both play a role, with dihydrogen testosterone (DHT) being the primary villain in this case.

We’ve talked before about the science of 5α-reductase inhibitors to block the conversion of regular testosterone* to DHT, its more potent form:

One Man’s Saw Palmetto Is Another Woman’s Serenoa Repens…

*We all make this to a greater or lesser degree, unless we have had our ovaries/testes removed.

Finasteride

Finasteride is a 5α-reductase inhibitor that performs similarly to saw palmetto, but comes in tiny pills instead of needing to take a much higher dose of supplement (5mg of finasteride is comparable in efficacy to a little over 300mg of saw palmetto).

Does it work? Yes!

Any drawbacks? A few:

  • It’ll take 3–6 months to start seeing effects. This is because of the hormonal life-cycle of human hairs.
  • Common side-effects include ED.
  • It is popularly labelled/prescribed as “only for men

On that latter point: the warnings about this are severe, detailing how women must not take it, must not even touch it if it has been cut up or crushed.

However… That’s because it can carry a big risk to our unborn fetuses. So, if we are confident we definitely don’t have one of those, it’s not actually applicable to us.

That said, finasteride’s results in women aren’t nearly so clear-cut as in men (though also, there has been less research, largely because of the above). Here’s an interesting breakdown in more words than we have room for here:

Finasteride for Women: Everything You Need to Know

Spironolactone

This one’s generally prescribed to women, not men, largely because it’s the drug sometimes popularly known as a “chemical castration” drug, which isn’t typically great marketing for men (although it can be applied topically, which will have less of an effect on the rest of the body). For women, this risk is simply not an issue.

We’ll be brief on this one, but we’ll just drop this, so that you know it’s an option that works:

Spironolactone is an effective and safe treatment of androgenic alopecia which can enhance the efficacy when combined with other conventional treatments such as minoxidil.

Topical spironolactone is safer than oral administration and is suitable for both male and female patients, and is expected to become a common drug for those who do not have a good response to minoxidil❞

Read more: The Efficacy and Safety of Oral and Topical Spironolactone in Androgenetic Alopecia Treatment: A Systematic Review

Minoxidil

This one is available (to men and women) without prescription. It’s applied topically, and works by shortcutting the hair’s hormonal growth cycle, to reduce the resting phase and kick it into a growth phase.

Does it work? Yes!

Any drawbacks? A few:

  • Whereas you’ll remember finasteride takes 3–6 months to see any effect, this one will have an effect very quickly
    • Specifically, the immediate effect is: your rate of hair loss will appear to dramatically speed up
    • This happens because when hairs are kicked into their growth phase if they were in a resting phase, the first part of that growth phase is to shed each old hair to make room for the new one
  • You’ll then need the same 3–6 months as with finasteride, to see the regrowth effects
  • If you stop using it, you will immediately shed whatever hair you gained by this method

Why do people choose this over finasteride? For one of three reasons, mainly:

  • They are women, and not offered finasteride
  • They are men, and do not want the side effects of finasteride
  • They just saw an ad and tried it

As to how it works:

Minoxidil upregulates the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in human hair dermal papilla cells

Some final notes:

There are some other contraindications and warnings with each of these drugs by the way, so do speak with your doctor/pharmacist. For example:

There are other hair loss remedies and practices, but the above three are the heavy-hitters, so that’s what we spent our time/space on today. We’ll perhaps cover the less powerful (but less risky) options one of these days.

Meanwhile, take care!

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  • Fight Inflammation & Protect Your Brain, With Quercetin

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Querying Quercetin

    Quercetin is a flavonoid (and thus, antioxidant) pigment found in many plants. Capers, radishes, and coriander/cilantro score highly, but the list is large:

    USDA Database for the Flavonoid Content of Selected Foods

    Indeed,

    ❝Their regular consumption is associated with reduced risk of a number of chronic diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and neurodegenerative disorders❞

    ~ Dr. Aleksandra Kozłpwsla & Dr. Dorota Szostak-Wegierek

    Read more: Flavonoids—food sources and health benefits

    For this reason, quercetin is often sold/consumed as a supplement on the strength of its health-giving properties.

    But what does the science say?

    Quercetin and inflammation

    In short, it helps:

    ❝500 mg per day quercetin supplementation for 8 weeks resulted in significant improvements in clinical symptoms, disease activity, hs-TNFα, and Health Assessment Questionnaire scores in women with rheumatoid athritis

    ~ Dr. Fatemeh Javadi et al.

    Read more: The Effect of Quercetin on Inflammatory Factors and Clinical Symptoms in Women with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Double-Blind, Randomized Controlled Trial

    Quercetin and blood pressure

    It works, if antihypertensive (i.e., blood pressure lowering) effect is what you want/need:

    ❝…significant effect of quercetin supplementation in the reduction of BP, possibly limited to, or greater with dosages of >500 mg/day.❞

    ~ Dr. Maria-Corina Serban et al.

    Read more: Effects of Quercetin on Blood Pressure: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

    Quercetin and diabetes

    We’re less confident to claim this one, because (almost?) all of the research so far as been in non-human animals or in vitro. As one team of researchers put it:

    ❝Despite the wealth of in animal research results suggesting the anti-diabetic and its complications potential of quercetin, its efficacy in diabetic human subjects is yet to be explored❞

    ~ Dr. Guang-Jiang Shi et al.

    Read more: In vitro and in vivo evidence that quercetin protects against diabetes and its complications: A systematic review of the literature

    Quercetin and neuroprotection

    Research has been done into the effect of quercetin on the risk of Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, and they found…

    ❝The data indicate that quercetin is the major neuroprotective component in coffee against Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease❞

    ~ Dr. Moonhee Lee et al.

    Read more: Quercetin, not caffeine, is a major neuroprotective component in coffee

    Summary

    Quercetin is a wonderful flavonoid that can be enjoyed as part of one’s diet and by supplementation. In terms of its popular health claims:

    • It has been found very effective for lowering inflammation
    • It has a moderate blood pressure lowering effect
    • It may have anti-diabetes potential, but the science is young
    • It has been found to have a potent neuroprotective effect

    Want to get some?

    We don’t sell it, but for your convenience, here’s an example product on Amazon

    Enjoy!

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  • How many vegetables influence brain waves and control brain states?

    Is it OK if my child eats lots of fruit but no vegetables?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Does it seem like most vegetables you serve your children end up left on the plate, or worse, strewn across the floor? But mention dessert, and your fruit skewers are polished off in an instant.

    Or maybe the carrot and cucumber sticks keep coming home in your child’s lunchbox untouched, yet the orange slices are nowhere to be seen.

    If you’re facing these struggles with your child, you’re not alone. Many children prefer fruit to vegetables.

    So if your child eats lots of fruit but minimal or no vegetables, is that OK? And how can you get them to eat more veggies?

    Children have an innate preference for fruit

    The Australian Dietary Guidelines’ recommended daily intakes for vegetables and fruit depend on a child’s age.

    A chart showing the serving amounts of fruit and veg for ages 4-18.
    Fruit and vegetable serving sizes by age. The Conversation.
    National Health and Medical Research Council, CC BY-SA

    Consumption among Australian children falls well below recommendations. Around 62.6% of children aged over two meet the recommended daily fruit intake, but only 9% meet the recommended vegetable intake.

    This is not surprising given children have a natural preference for fruit. At least in part, this is due to its sweetness and texture, whether crispy, crunchy or juicy. The texture of fruit has been linked to a positive sensory experience among children.

    Vegetables, on the other hand, are more of an acquired taste, and certain types, such as cruciferous vegetables, can be perceived by children as bitter.

    The reason children often prefer fruit over vegetables could also be related to the parents’ preferences. Some research has even suggested we develop food preferences before birth based on what our mother consumes during pregnancy.

    Balance is key

    So, a preference for fruit is common. But is it OK if your child eats lots of fruit but little to no vegetables? This is a question we, as dietitians, get asked regularly.

    You might be thinking, at least my child is eating fruit. They could be eating no veggies and no fruit. This is true. But while it’s great your child loves fruit, vegetables are just as important as part of a balanced eating pattern.

    Vegetables provide us with energy, essential vitamins and minerals, as well as water and fibre, which help keep our bowels regular. They also support a strong immune system.

    If your child is only eating fruit, they are missing some essential nutrients. But the same is true if they are eating only veggies.

    Fruit likewise provides the body with a variety of essential vitamins and minerals, as well as phytochemicals, which can help reduce inflammation.

    Evidence shows healthy consumption of fruit and vegetables protects against chronic diseases including high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke.

    Consumed together, fruit and vegetables in a variety of colours provide different nutrients we need, some of which we can’t get from other foods. We should encourage kids to eat a “rainbow” of fruit and vegetables each day to support their growth and development.

    What if my child eats too much fruit?

    If your child is eating slightly more fruit than what’s recommended each day, it’s not usually a problem.

    Fruit contains natural sugar which is good for you. But too much of a good thing, even if it’s natural, can create problems. Fruit also contains virtually no fat and very little to no protein, both essential for a growing child.

    When overindulging in fruit starts to displace other food groups such as vegetables, dairy products and meat, that’s when things can get tricky.

    6 tips to get your kids to love vegetables

    1. Get them involved

    Take your child with you when you go shopping. Let them choose new vegetables. See if you can find vegetables even you haven’t tried, so you’re both having a new experience. Then ask them to help you with preparing or cooking the vegetables using a recipe you have chosen together. This will expose your child to veggies in a positive way and encourage them to eat more.

    2. Sensory learning

    Try to expose your child to vegetables rather than hiding them. Kids are more likely to eat veggies when they see, smell and feel them. This is called sensory learning.

    3. Have fun with food

    Use colourful vegetables of different sizes and textures. Make them fun by creating scenes or faces on your child’s plate. Add edible flowers or mint for decoration. You can even serve this with a side of veggie-based dip such as hummus or guacamole for some bonus healthy fats.

    4. Teach them to grow their own

    Teach your child how to grow their own vegetables. Evidence shows kids are more inclined to try the food they have helped and watched grow. You don’t need to have a big backyard to do this. A windowsill with a pot plant is a perfect start.

    5. Lead by example

    Your child learns from you, and your eating habits will influence theirs. Ensure they see you eating and enjoying veggies, whether in meals or as snacks.

    6. Practise persistence

    If your child refuses a particular vegetable once, don’t give up. It can take many attempts to encourage children to try a new food.The Conversation

    Yasmine Probst, Associate Professor, School of Medical, Indigenous and Health Sciences, University of Wollongong; Olivia Wills, Accredited Practising Dietitian, PhD candidate, University of Wollongong, and Shoroog Allogmanny, Accredited Practising Dietitian, PhD candidate, University of Wollongong

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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  • 52 Ways to Walk – by Annabel Streets

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    Most of us learned to walk at a very young age and probably haven’t thought much about it since, except perhaps in a case where some injury made it difficult.

    Annabel Streets provides a wonderful guide to not just taking up (or perhaps reclaiming) the joy of walking, but also the science of it in more aspects than most of us have considered:

    • The physical mechanics of walking—what’s best?
    • Boots or shoes? Barefoot?
    • Roads, grass, rougher vegetation… Mud?
    • Flora & fauna down to the microbiota that affect us
    • How much walking is needed, to be healthy?
    • Is there such a thing as too much walking?
    • What are the health benefits (or risks) of various kinds of weather?
    • Is it better to walk quickly or to walk far?
    • What about if we’re carrying some injury?
    • What’s going on physiologically when we walk?
    • And so much more…

    Streets writes with a captivating blend of poetic joie-de-vivre coupled with scientific references.

    One moment the book is talking about neuroradiology reports of NO-levels in our blood, the impact of Mycobacterium vaccae, and the studied relationship between daily steps taken and production of oligosaccharide 3′-sialyllactose, and the next it’s all:

    “As if the newfound lightness in our limbs has crept into our minds, loosening our everyday cares and constraints…”

    And all in all, this book helps remind us that sometimes, science and a sense of wonder can and do (and should!) walk hand-in-hand.

    Treat yourself to “52 Ways to Walk” from Amazon today!

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  • Why it’s a bad idea to mix alcohol with some medications

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Anyone who has drunk alcohol will be familiar with how easily it can lower your social inhibitions and let you do things you wouldn’t normally do.

    But you may not be aware that mixing certain medicines with alcohol can increase the effects and put you at risk.

    When you mix alcohol with medicines, whether prescription or over-the-counter, the medicines can increase the effects of the alcohol or the alcohol can increase the side-effects of the drug. Sometimes it can also result in all new side-effects.

    How alcohol and medicines interact

    The chemicals in your brain maintain a delicate balance between excitation and inhibition. Too much excitation can lead to convulsions. Too much inhibition and you will experience effects like sedation and depression.

    Alcohol works by increasing the amount of inhibition in the brain. You might recognise this as a sense of relaxation and a lowering of social inhibitions when you’ve had a couple of alcoholic drinks.

    With even more alcohol, you will notice you can’t coordinate your muscles as well, you might slur your speech, become dizzy, forget things that have happened, and even fall asleep.

    Woman collects beer bottles
    Alcohol can affect the way a medicine works.
    Jonathan Kemper/Unsplash

    Medications can interact with alcohol to produce different or increased effects. Alcohol can interfere with the way a medicine works in the body, or it can interfere with the way a medicine is absorbed from the stomach. If your medicine has similar side-effects as being drunk, those effects can be compounded.

    Not all the side-effects need to be alcohol-like. Mixing alcohol with the ADHD medicine ritalin, for example, can increase the drug’s effect on the heart, increasing your heart rate and the risk of a heart attack.

    Combining alcohol with ibuprofen can lead to a higher risk of stomach upsets and stomach bleeds.

    Alcohol can increase the break-down of certain medicines, such as opioids, cannabis, seizures, and even ritalin. This can make the medicine less effective. Alcohol can also alter the pathway of how a medicine is broken down, potentially creating toxic chemicals that can cause serious liver complications. This is a particular problem with paracetamol.

    At its worst, the consequences of mixing alcohol and medicines can be fatal. Combining a medicine that acts on the brain with alcohol may make driving a car or operating heavy machinery difficult and lead to a serious accident.

    Who is at most risk?

    The effects of mixing alcohol and medicine are not the same for everyone. Those most at risk of an interaction are older people, women and people with a smaller body size.

    Older people do not break down medicines as quickly as younger people, and are often on more than one medication.

    Older people also are more sensitive to the effects of medications acting on the brain and will experience more side-effects, such as dizziness and falls.

    Woman sips red wine
    Smaller and older people are often more affected.
    Alfonso Scarpa/Unsplash

    Women and people with smaller body size tend to have a higher blood alcohol concentration when they consume the same amount of alcohol as someone larger. This is because there is less water in their bodies that can mix with the alcohol.

    What drugs can’t you mix with alcohol?

    You’ll know if you can’t take alcohol because there will be a prominent warning on the box. Your pharmacist should also counsel you on your medicine when you pick up your script.

    The most common alcohol-interacting prescription medicines are benzodiazepines (for anxiety, insomnia, or seizures), opioids for pain, antidepressants, antipsychotics, and some antibiotics, like metronidazole and tinidazole.

    Medicines will carry a warning if you shouldn’t take them with alcohol.
    Nial Wheate

    It’s not just prescription medicines that shouldn’t be mixed with alcohol. Some over-the-counter medicines that you shouldn’t combine with alcohol include medicines for sleeping, travel sickness, cold and flu, allergy, and pain.

    Next time you pick up a medicine from your pharmacist or buy one from the local supermarket, check the packaging and ask for advice about whether you can consume alcohol while taking it.

    If you do want to drink alcohol while being on medication, discuss it with your doctor or pharmacist first.The Conversation

    Nial Wheate, Associate Professor of the School of Pharmacy, University of Sydney; Jasmine Lee, Pharmacist and PhD Candidate, University of Sydney; Kellie Charles, Associate Professor in Pharmacology, University of Sydney, and Tina Hinton, Associate Professor of Pharmacology, University of Sydney

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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  • Marathons in Mid- and Later-Life

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

    Have a question or a request? You can always hit “reply” to any of our emails, or use the feedback widget at the bottom!

    In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!

    As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!

    So, no question/request too big or small

    We had several requests pertaining to veganism, meatless mondays, and substitutions in recipes—so we’re going to cover those on a different day!

    As for questions we’re answering today…

    Q: Is there any data on immediate and long term effects of running marathons in one’s forties?

    An interesting and very specific question! We didn’t find an overabundance of studies specifically for the short- and long-term effects of marathon-running in one’s 40s, but we did find a couple of relevant ones:

    The first looked at marathon-runners of various ages, and found that…

    • there are virtually no relevant running time differences (p<0.01) per age in marathon finishers from 20 to 55 years
    • the majority of middle-aged and elderly athletes have training histories of less than seven years of running

    From which they concluded:

    ❝The present findings strengthen the concept that considers aging as a biological process that can be considerably speeded up or slowed down by multiple lifestyle related factors.❞

    See the study: Performance, training and lifestyle parameters of marathon runners aged 20–80 years: results of the PACE-study

    The other looked specifically at the impact of running on cartilage, controlled for age (45 and under vs 46 and older) and activity level (marathon-runners vs sedentary people).

    The study had the people, of various ages and habitual activity levels, run for 30 minutes, and measured their knee cartilage thickness (using MRI) before and after running.

    They found that regardless of age or habitual activity level, running compressed the cartilage tissue to a similar extent. From this, it can be concluded that neither age nor marathon-running result in long-term changes to cartilage response to running.

    Or in lay terms: there’s no reason that marathon-running at 40 should ruin your knees (unless you are doing something wrong).

    That may or may not have been a concern you have, but it’s what the study looked at, so hey, it’s information.

    Here’s the study: Functional cartilage MRI T2 mapping: evaluating the effect of age and training on knee cartilage response to running

    Q: Information on [e-word] dysfunction for those who have negative reactions to [the most common medications]?

    When it comes to that particular issue, one or more of these three factors are often involved:

    • Hormones
    • Circulation
    • Psychology

    The most common drugs (that we can’t name here) work on the circulation side of things—specifically, by increasing the localized blood pressure. The exact mechanism of this drug action is interesting, albeit beyond the scope of a quick answer here today. On the other hand, the way that they work can cause adverse blood-pressure-related side effects for some people; perhaps you’re one of them.

    To take matters into your own hands, so to speak, you can address each of those three things we just mentioned:

    Hormones

    Ask your doctor (or a reputable phlebotomy service) for a hormone test. If your free/serum testosterone levels are low (which becomes increasingly common in men over the age of 45), they may prescribe something—such as testosterone shots—specifically for that.

    This way, it treats the underlying cause, rather than offering a workaround like those common pills whose names we can’t mention here.

    Circulation

    Look after your heart health; eat for your heart health, and exercise regularly!

    Cold showers/baths also work wonders for vascular tone—which is precisely what you need in this matter. By rapidly changing temperatures (such as by turning off the hot water for the last couple of minutes of your shower, or by plunging into a cold bath), your blood vessels will get practice at constricting and maintaining that constriction as necessary.

    Psychology

    [E-word] dysfunction can also have a psychological basis. Unfortunately, this can also then be self-reinforcing, if recalling previous difficulties causes you to get distracted/insecure and lose the moment. One of the best things you can do to get out of this catch-22 situation is to not worry about it in the moment. Depending on what you and your partner(s) like to do in bed, there are plenty of other equally respectable options, so just switch track!

    Having a conversation about this in advance will probably be helpful, so that everyone’s on the same page of the script in that eventuality, and it becomes “no big deal”. Without that conversation, misunderstandings and insecurities could arise for your partner(s) as well as yourself (“aren’t I desirable enough?” etc).

    So, to recap, we recommend:

    • Have your hormones checked
    • Look after your circulation
    • Make the decision to have fun!

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  • The Pain Relief Secret – by Sarah Warren

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    This one’s a book to not judge by the cover—or the title. The title is actually accurate, but it sounds like a lot of woo, doesn’t it?

    Instead, what we find is a very clinical, research-led (40 pages of references!) explanation of:

    1. the causes of musculoskeletal pain
    2. how this will tend to drive us to make it worse
    3. what we can do instead to make it better

    A lot of this, to give you an idea what to expect, hinges on the fact that bones only go where muscles allow/move them; muscles only behave as instructed by nerves, and with a good development of biofeedback and new habits to leverage neuroplasticity, we can take more charge of that than you might think.

    Warning: you may want to jump straight into the part with the solutions, but if you do so without a very good grounding in anatomy and physiology, you may find yourself out of your depth with previously-explained terms and concepts that are now needed to understand (and apply) the solutions.

    However, if you read it methodically cover-to-cover, you’ll find you need no prior knowledge to take full advantage of this book; the author is a very skilled educator.

    Bottom line: while it’s not an overnight magic pill, the methodology described in this book is a very sound way to address the causes of musculoskeletal pain.

    Click here to check out The Pain Relief Secret, and help your body undo damage done!

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