Was a Study Really Necessary?

Higher naturally occurring levels of the male hormone testosterone appear to protect men from fatal heart attacks or strokes and death from all manner of causes, researchers in Britain said on Monday.

But the researchers cautioned men not to begin testosterone supplementation based on the results of this 10-year study, saying the benefits and risks are unclear.

Balding ? I was naturally interested in the link, but apparently, there is none.

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95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
07 E350 4matic Station Wagon White 34K
02 E320 4Matic Silver/grey 80K
05 F150 Silver 44K

Scientists still have a limited understanding of why androgenetic alopecia--commonly known as male-pattern baldness--occurs in the first place. It seems to result from three interdependent factors.

The first was uncovered more than two millenniums ago when the ancient Greeks noted that eunuchs did not go bald. They surmised correctly that among the things lost in castration was the mechanism that leads to baldness. The missing variable, it turns out, is male hormones. Scientists have learned since then that testosterone is only an accomplice, not an originating agent, in the balding process.

The second, and most important, variable is a genetic predisposition for hair loss. Researchers are convinced that baldness is hereditary, but they have yet to identify the genetic coding that makes the scalp go bare. Even with the right genes, hair loss only occurs with a third factor: aging. All men and women lose some hair as they get older, but those with pattern baldness lose more hair at a younger age than do their counterparts (pattern baldness affects nearly 40 percent of males in their 30s and well over half of all men over 50).

People with pattern baldness have genes that at a certain point trigger the creation of an enzyme called 5-alpha reductase. When it comes in contact with the testosterone that is typically present in a hair follicle, the enzyme creates an offshoot called dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which causes the follicle to dry up. Each time a new hair sprouts from a root where DHT is present, it grows a little shorter and thinner. In time, the follicle becomes dormant and new hairs stop growing altogether. Where this process occurs on a human scalp is determined by the genes.

So, if I understand,,,, there may be a link between male pattern baldness and higher levels of testosterone, which is a good thing.

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95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
07 E350 4matic Station Wagon White 34K
02 E320 4Matic Silver/grey 80K
05 F150 Silver 44K

I have good hair genes, I guess. Mine's all still there. I believe you get that from your mother's side. My grandfather had white hair, but it was all still there when he died.

Finding a way to prevent baldness would be like discovering a pill that could keep you from getting fat. It'd be worth billions!

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" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

I lost most of my hair when I was in my late 20's. I was happily married at the time, and my wife certainly didn't have a problem with it, and it has been a non issue all my life.

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95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
07 E350 4matic Station Wagon White 34K
02 E320 4Matic Silver/grey 80K
05 F150 Silver 44K

Don't let Mistress find out about your low testo levels then!!!!

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Current Benzes

1989 300TE "Alice"
1990 300CE "Sam Spade"
1991 300CE "Beowulf" RIP (06.1991 - 10.10.2007)
1998 E320 "Orson"
2002 C320 Wagon "Molly Fox"

Res non semper sunt quae esse videntur

My Gallery

Not in this weather!

This is a subject which, thankfully, I have absolutely no interest in.
My dad lost most of his hair in his 20's or early 30's. Very thin up top for the rest of his adult life. My mother's father was a typical crome dome with white walls.
I don't know why I still have a full head of hair as I enter life's fourth quarter.
OTOH, I'm the first person in the family who had cardiac problems!
The luck of the draw... you gotta play the hand your dealt.

Wow, imagine the testosterone levels I must have coursing through me being completely hairless and all!

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Hair doesn't go away - it just migrates...

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1984 300TD