A high estrogen diet

[Autumn Sundown]

I've been eating a lot of foods that are supposed to boost estrogen levels. Is there a possibility this can delay the onset of male pattern baldness?
The men on my mom's side of the family never lose their hair (except one of my uncles, who started to lose his hair in his 40's and was a nw5 by 50.) The men on my dad's side of the family lose their hair in their 20's and are usually pretty bald by 30. My hair is very much like my maternal grandfather's (as is almost everything else I've inherited) so I'm not too worried. However, if I did inherit male pattern baldness I would like to delay it's onset for as long as possible. I wouldn't mind thinning/receding a bit in my mid 30's, it's sort of expected. I just don't want to be bald by 28.

So will eating foods that boost estrogen levels delay male pattern baldness? I have no signs of male pattern baldness right now and don't shed very much. My scalp itches a lot, but this stops when I use Head and Shoulders.

 

[CharlieBrownCocoaMan]

A high estrogen diet will give you boobs, plus to maintain a head full of healthy hair, you need lots of PROTEIN!

If the reason why you're looking at a high estrogen diet is because you think it'll lower your testosterone level, you looking at it the wrong way.

FAT gives you high testosterone. Having a low fat diet will be a sure fire plan to keep your testosterone low. You'll more than likely loose hair with a high estrogen diet.

Hope that helped!

 

[vauxall]

I've been eating a lot of foods that are supposed to boost estrogen levels. Is there a possibility this can delay the onset of male pattern baldness?

There's no evidence of that and probably it would do more harm than good to your hair.

It will be definitely do bad for your sex life unless you plan to sing like a castrato and be the next Catherine Jenkins.

 

[Brains Expel Hair]

Best case scenario, the only damage this will cause is giving you breasts. Yes, high estrogen levels can cause men to grow breasts. Alternatively the out of whack levels of one hormone can cause your body to compensate by increasing levels of both testosterone and DHT, this means not only would you be causing yourself to grow breasts, but you would also be actually causing changes in your body that could further the potential for hormone related hair loss.

The poster above is correct about a low fat diet reducing testosterone levels. It's actually one of the reasons nutritionists advise AGAINST excessively low fat diets for men. Testosterone is not the enemy here, if you try to fight the basic hormone required by your gender you will lose. Lose sleep, lose muscle tone, lose energy, lose vigor, lose sexual drive, lose ambition, hell even lose attractiveness from the opposite sex seeing as how most forms of male physical attractiveness are tied to high testosterone levels.

Edit: for clarification the above paragraph is definitely not support for eating McDonalds or similar food, personally I eat a diet that is very low in animal fats but contains many plant fats (nuts, avocados, and coconuts all rank in my favorite top 10 foods). Healthy fats are healthy, unhealthy fats are unhealthy. Low fat diets are not healthy but neither are high fat diets. Aim for a well balanced diet but do not avoid healthy fats your body desperately needs for pretty much all of its processes.

 

[Bryan]

Best case scenario, the only damage this will cause is giving you breasts. Yes, high estrogen levels can cause men to grow breasts. Alternatively the out of whack levels of one hormone can cause your body to compensate by increasing levels of both testosterone and DHT...

WRONG. You've got it backwards. High levels of estrogen SUPPRESS the synthesis of testosterone and DHT, it doesn't increase them.

 

[Brains Expel Hair]

Yes, correct Bryan. I should have phrased that sentence better as I was unsure about it even when I wrote it.

Another side effect of boosting estrogen: Breast Cancer!

 

[vauxall]

High levels of estrogen SUPPRESS the synthesis of testosterone and DHT, it doesn't increase them.

Citation needed

 

[vauxall]

Another side effect of boosting estrogen: Breast Cancer!

JAMA. 2009 May 13;301(18):1892-901.

Circulating estradiol and mortality in men with systolic chronic heart failure.
Jankowska EA, Rozentryt P, Ponikowska B, Hartmann O, Kustrzycka-Kratochwil D, Reczuch K, Nowak J, Borodulin-Nadzieja L, Polonski L, Banasiak W, Poole-Wilson PA, Anker SD, Ponikowski P.

Center for Heart Disease, Cardiology Department, Military Hospital, ul Weigla 5, 50-981 Wroclaw, Poland. [email protected]

CONTEXT: Androgen deficiency is common in men with chronic heart failure (HF) and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Estrogens are formed by the aromatization of androgens; therefore, abnormal estrogen metabolism would be anticipated in HF.


[...]

CONCLUSION: Among men with chronic HF and reduced LVEF, high and low concentrations of estradiol compared with the middle quintile of estradiol are related to an increased mortality.

 

[Bryan]

High levels of estrogen SUPPRESS the synthesis of testosterone and DHT, it doesn't increase them.

Citation needed

Consult any major medical reference, like "Goodman and Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics", or any textbook on endocrinology. The presence or absence of estrogen is a major influence on the HPT axis, which regulates testosterone synthesis. Estrogen causes the brain to stop sending chemical signals (LH and FSH) to the testes, which normally tells them to make testosterone.

 

[barcafan]

Why does bryan need a citation?

The brain measures estradiol (instead of T itself) as an indicator of how much Testosterone is in the Body, and adjusts production of gonadotropins accordingly.

Everyone knows that.

And to the op: If you're hinting at achieving supraphysiological levels of estrogen in your body, id strongly suggest you don't walk down that path.

 

[Bryan]

The brain measures estradiol (instead of T itself) as an indicator of how much Testosterone is in the Body, and adjusts production of gonadotropins accordingly.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that, because DHT suppresses gonadotropins, too, and DHT isn't aromatizable into estrogen.

 

[vauxall]

No citations provided, Bryan. Come on, there must be at least one study that proves that, or it's all quack.

 

[barcafan]

The brain measures estradiol (instead of T itself) as an indicator of how much Testosterone is in the Body, and adjusts production of gonadotropins accordingly.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that, because DHT suppresses gonadotropins, too, and DHT isn't aromatizable into estrogen.

To what extent? If its anything significant then the people taking finasteride or dutasteride would have massive spikes in T, provided everything doesn't get aromatized into E2

 

[Bryan]

No citations provided, Bryan. Come on, there must be at least one study that proves that, or it's all quack.

Sure, you can find all kinds of comments in studies and articles in medical textbooks which mention how estrogen is an inhibiting factor in testosterone synthesis. It's common knowledge. It's Physiology 101!

I really don't feel like spending time trying to find something which will convince you of that, any more than I'd feel like spending time finding something that talks about how the brain controls the synthesis of testosterone, or any other common medical fact. Do some Google searching yourself, and you'll find plenty of stuff about it.

 

[Bryan]

I wouldn't go so far as to say that, because DHT suppresses gonadotropins, too, and DHT isn't aromatizable into estrogen.

To what extent? If its anything significant then the people taking finasteride or dutasteride would have massive spikes in T, provided everything doesn't get aromatized into E2

I didn't say it was anything "significant", or causes "massive spikes in T"; everybody knows that testosterone levels tend to rise by about 10% or so when you take finasteride.

 

[barcafan]

I wouldn't go so far as to say that, because DHT suppresses gonadotropins, too, and DHT isn't aromatizable into estrogen.

To what extent? If its anything significant then the people taking finasteride or dutasteride would have massive spikes in T, provided everything doesn't get aromatized into E2

I didn't say it was anything "significant", or causes "massive spikes in T"; everybody knows that testosterone levels tend to rise by about 10% or so when you take finasteride.

And is that directly related to the drop in DHT?

 

[Bryan]

And is that directly related to the drop in DHT?

In my opinion, yes. More specifically, it's an upregulation in testosterone production, due to the drop in DHT.

 

[sallyv]

There are estrogens in foods which should be considered in formulating the ultimate diet,We know that estrogens are inflammatory and immunosuppressive and sensitive neurons to the action of glutamate .
Estrogen dominance can be caused by eating a diet high in xenoestrogens.

 

[vauxall]

I've been eating a lot of foods that are supposed to boost estrogen levels. Is there a possibility this can delay the onset of male pattern baldness?

The final point is that:

1) There are no foods that boost estrogen levels. They are either phitoestrogens, and then they are 500 times less effective that estrogen, or they are foods contaminated with estrogens (meat).

2) There's no final evidence that inducing a hormone imbalance, as in ingesting something that supposedly boots estrogen levels, can help fight male pattern baldness.

Now if you say that more estrogens in your body alter thet testosterone/estrogen ratio, this is evident but this doesn't mean that the total level of DHT is lowered. I havent't found anything in Google or Pubmed that proves the opposite, maybe I am not good at finding it.

 

[Bryan]

Now if you say that more estrogens in your body alter thet testosterone/estrogen ratio, this is evident but this doesn't mean that the total level of DHT is lowered.

As I've pointed out numerous times to the poster "misterE", lowering estrogen by using an aromatase inhibitor _does_ increase both testosterone and DHT, and that's a fact for which I can provide you a direct reference!