An estimated 85 million men and women in the United States are suffering from hereditary hair thinning. That's nearly 1 out of every 3 people. Yet the cause is no longer a mystery. Science has at last singled out the culprit.
Meet DHT, or dihydrotestostrone. DHT is a hormonal byproduct. It is produced from testosterone, a male hormone present in both men and women in different amounts, with the help of the enzyme 5-alpha reductase. DHT causes hair loss by binding itself to the hair follicles, retarding their growth and cutting them off from the blood supply. DHT literally shrinks the hair follicles, thinning hair more and more until baldness results.
Scientists have determined, presumably through long and laborious hours of counting, that we all have, on average, 100,000 hairs on our heads. Normal hair growth follows a three phase cycle. Ninety percent of the hairs on your head at this moment, or about 90,000, are in the growth phase. This phase lasts from two to six years. During the second phase, which lasts for a few weeks, the hairs that are ready to end their life cycle stop growing and instead starts getting thinner. The follicle shrinks. The final phase, lasting from two to four months, is when the thinned hair falls out to make room for a new hair to begin the growth cycle all over again. You shed about 100 hairs a day in this natural process. But DHT has been found to shorten the natural length of the growth phase, causing untimely hair loss and shrinkage of the hair follicles and ultimately leading to thinning hair.
The key to preventing hair loss then is to block the chemical conversion of testosterone to DHT. Remember that pesky 5-alpha reductase enzyme is responsible for this conversion.
In shopping for a product to prevent and reverse hair loss there are a number of key ingredients that you should look for: * The first is nettle root. Nettle root does just what you want; it blocks 5-alpha reductase which helps transform testosterone into DHT. * Saw Palmetto extract has also been shown to reduce both 5-alpha reductase and DHT. It actually blocks the receptor sites that are required for the absorption of DHT rendering it harmless. * You also want to be sure you are getting a good spectrum of the all important B vitamins. Deficiency in certain B vitamins such as biotin and vitamin B6 has been shown to cause hair loss. * Zinc is another important mineral. Zinc can actually increase hair density and reverse hair loss. * And extracts of pumpkin and Siberian ginseng can cut DHT off at the pass by acting directly against testosterone and other stress hormones that are converted to DHT.
Thanks to advances in science, the cause of hair loss is no longer a mystery. And the cure is now within your grasp.
For more information on remedies for hair loss containing the ingredients discussed in this article, please visit the totalhealthanswers.com website.
Please click here to find out more about preventing and reversing hair loss.
About the Author
Annette Rogers is a writer based out of northern California. She has worked as a researcher and ghost writer on a number of health related books and has authored numerous articles on the topic of health and fitness. She specializes in keeping abreast of the latest trends and breakthroughs in her area of expertise.
2 months ago
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