How to Know If You Will Go Bald

There’s a rumor we’d like to end, here and now: Your odds of hair loss are not dependent on the genes inherited from your mother’s father. Like anything else, genes from mom can play a role. But she’s only half the pie. You can also inherit these genes from your father, says Dr. Alan J. Bauman, Hair Restoration Physician and founder of Bauman Medical. “Hair-loss genes can be inherited from either your mother's or father's side of the family, or a combination of the two,” he says. He adds that there are roughly 200 different genes that regulate your hair growth, so the combination of these genes—from both parents—can be unique and won’t always pattern itself from one sibling to the next.

Decades ago, this would have been the most accurate way of determining your odds—looking at old photos of your ancestors—but now there are more scientific means of predicting hair loss. These days, your doctor can take a swab of DNA from the saliva inside your cheek, and it will show how sensitive you are to dihydrotestosterone (known as DHT, which is the hormone created by the body’s testosterone). This swab will also tell you your odds for balding (and how quickly), and can predict how you might react to hair-loss medications like Propecia or Finasteride treatment.


What Specifically Causes Hair Loss?

Hair loss can start as soon as puberty ends, depending on your hereditary sensitivity to DHT. That phrasing is key: Bauman stresses that it is not DHT production that causes hair loss, it's the inherited sensitivity to DHT that causes the loss. Those with high sensitivity will be the first to experience a weakening in their follicles. This results in thinning around the crown and hairline, and lighter pigment in the hair. Behaviors that increase DHT production will magnify the loss depending on sensitivity. These behaviors include smoking, creatine supplements, resistance and weight training exercise, stress, and taking anabolic steroids or testosterone hormone replacement.


How Hair Loss Progresses

One-fifth of men will experience significant hair loss by age of 20(!), and that percentage grows proportional to age. Bauman says that significant loss increases steadily with age: 30 percent will experience it in their 30s, 40 percent in 40s, and so on. “This math proves true for men into their 90s,” he says. “If you go unchecked but have maintained most of your hair by middle age, then your sensitivity to DHT is probably on the low side, meaning you have a slower rate of male pattern hair loss going on.” Symptoms of gradual hair loss are sometimes hard to notice until nearly half the hair is gone. The most obvious signs are a thinning of the temples and hairline recession. Otherwise, the hair loss can be more widespread and balanced. This steady shedding is called “invisible baldness”, since the hair becomes gradually less dense until suddenly it is perceptible to the naked eye. “In general, hair loss is a chronic, progressive condition that gets worse over time without treatment,” Bauman says. However, there are also ways to measure this “invisible baldness”. Bauman utilizes two procedures—HairCheck and HairCam—to track the hair-loss progression over time,. This periodic audit can soon paint your long-term hair-loss outlook by offering in-depth looks at density, recession, and more. Also, you may have noticed that men, when they bald, never lose the hair around the sides and back of the head. Bauman says it is unknown why these follicles are immune to DHT, but this does explain why they’re the follicles used for transplants to increase coverage up top.


How to Strengthen Your Follicles and Slow Hair Loss

Regardless of your sensitivity to DHT, you will likely experience hair loss over time. It’s part of aging, says Bauman. Look at the odds: 90 percent of 90-year olds have experienced significant loss. However, you can slow down the fall-out rate, and not just with Propecia, Rogaine, and transplants. Start by getting good sleep, consistently. Cut back on smoking and drinking, both of which compromise the hair’s fiber production. Bauman says to avoid certain medications, like antihypertensives (which prevent high blood pressure complications), hormone treatments (such as thyroid or testosterone hormone replacement), statin drugs, mood modulators (like antidepressants and anti-anxiety agents), all of which that can hinder the hair’s growth and strength. And, as mentioned, avoid supplements like creatine, which will increase DHT production and thus accelerate loss. In addition to behavioral changes, Bauman says you can slow hair loss by taking routine nutritional supplements. He recommends a professional-grade Biotin, called Viviscal Professional or Nutrafol Men. “Nutrafol targets several possible triggers for hair loss and hair thinning, including inflammation, the effects of cortisol (stress hormones), free radical damage, and more.” He also suggests using grooming products that contain caffeine like Davines’ Energizing lineup), saw palmetto (Serenoa Repens) such as MiN New York daily shampoo, and green tea extracts (ECGC) like Paul Mitchell’s scalp care assortment. “These can help strengthen the follicles and help prevent shedding,” he says. As soon as you correct detrimental behaviors or seek treatments (both medical and natural), you'll start to improve your hair’s longevity, regardless of your sensitivity to DHT. Yes, you may still lose it, but loyalty to this regimen will buy you time.

California says key ingredient in Roundup weed killer can cause cancer

One of the most popular herbicides in the world can cause cancer, California health officials say, and they might demand warnings saying so. That herbicide, glyphosate, will be added to California's list of chemicals that can cause cancer, the state's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment said this week. Glyphosate is the key ingredient in weed killers such as Roundup. California keeps a list of carcinogenic chemicals because of a law commonly called Proposition 65, which "requires businesses to provide warnings to Californians about significant exposures to chemicals that cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm."

The decision to add glyphosate to that list stemmed from the International Agency for Research on Cancer's assessment that glyphosate is "probably carcinogenic to humans," said Sam Delson, deputy director of OEHHA. But Monsanto, the maker of Roundup, is fighting back. "Glyphosate is not carcinogenic, and the listing of glyphosate under Prop 65 is unwarranted on the basis of science and the law," said Scott Partridge, Monsanto's vice president of global strategy. The company sued California's OEHHA to stop the listing, but last week the California Supreme Court rejected Monsanto's request for a stay. "That led us to move forward," Delson said Wednesday. As CNN reported last month, more than 800 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients are suing Monsanto, claiming Roundup gave them cancer. And an internal Monsanto company email said an EPA official had offered to "kill" a separate investigation into glyphosate.

That official, who was the head of the EPA's Cancer Assessment Review Committee, has since retired. Monsanto has consistently maintained that the herbicide is safe. "California's sole reason for listing glyphosate under Prop 65 is the fatally flawed classification by IARC, which ignored crucial scientific data that undermines its conclusion," Partridge said. Monsanto said more than 800 studies have demonstrated glyphosate's safety, including studies conducted internationally. "In fact, since IARC classified glyphosate, regulatory authorities in the United States, Europe, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and Australia have publicly reaffirmed that glyphosate does not cause cancer," Monsanto spokeswoman Charla Lord said in April. In March, the European Chemicals Agency ruled glyphosate is "not classified as a carcinogen."

But Christine Sheppard, one of the cancer patients suing Monsanto, said she's thrilled by California's decision to list glyphosate as carcinogenic. "I thank all the powers that be that I live in California, a state that actually looks after its citizens," she said Wednesday. "It is a great start, and let's hope that others follow California's wise leadership." Despite California's ruling, it's not certain whether Monsanto will have to issue cancer warnings for its glyphosate products sold in the state. Under California law, "a warning must be given for listed chemicals unless the exposure is low enough to pose no significant risk of cancer or is significantly below levels observed to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm."

That leaves one big question: Is the amount of glyphosate exposure from using Roundup enough to pose a "significant risk"? "As for Roundup itself, we're not sure," Delson said. Delson said his agency is trying to establish a level for how much glyphosate exposure would equal a significant risk. He said the current proposal is 1.1 milligrams a day, though a final answer might not be ready until July 2018. It's unclear how much exposure a user might have, given the wide variation in how glyphosate products are used. And if a certain product is deemed to pose a significant risk, the manufacturer doesn't have to put a warning label on each container, Delson said.

It could instead have a warning sign next to the product in stores. If makers of glyphosate products have to issue cancer warnings in California, they would have a year before that requirement would be enforced. "That year gives them time to either change their labeling or ... hopefully modify their products to make them safer," Delson said. Meanwhile, Monsanto says it will keep appealing California's decision. "This is not the final step in the process, and it has no bearing on the merits of the case," Partridge said. "We will continue to aggressively challenge this improper decision."

New treatment for advanced breast cancer: Ribociclib

This year, 253,000 women will be diagnosed this year with invasive breast cancer, and for women battling advanced forms of the disease, there’s now a new treatment. Doctors are calling it a first line of defense for advanced breast cancer. With a hot pink ride, decked out with lighted wheels, nothing is going to get in the way of mother Sally McGiffin and her daughter Shannon McGiffin.

Not even cancer. “When we first got diagnosis we sat and cried maybe half an hour to an hour, and then she looked at me and said this disease is not going to beat me,” Sally told Ivanhoe.

That attitude and a newly-approved FDA drug called Ribociclib, has kept Shannon McGiffin’s stage four metastic breast cancer under control. “It’s a miracle. It really is a miracle for me to be able to have survived this long.” Shannon said. Oncologist Heather Han, MD, of the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida says when combined with hormonal therapy, Ribociclib stops signals that cancer cells use to grow and divide. “I’m obviously very excited that this drug finally actually quickly got approved, and I’m able to be there to help patients to do better,” Dr. Han explained.

Doctor Han says the Ribociclib combination can be used as the first line of defense. The risk of progression or death has been reduced by 44 percent. Dr. Han continued, “So it’s been in clinical trial for several years, but FDA was able to approve it quickly when it showed dramatic improvement of the patients.” The side effects for her have been high blood sugar levels and fatigue. “I do spend a lot of my time sleeping,” Shannon admitted. For Shannon, it’s not a cure, but it has given her precious time with those who matter most. Candidates for this drug usually can be patients with newly diagnosed advanced breast cancer, hormone receptor positive and HER2 negative. Patients’ EKGs must be monitored in the first few weeks of taking the drug to make sure it doesn’t cause any cardiac issues.

Exercise Cure: Working Out Cuts Cancer Risk in Half, Study Shows

A landmark new research project, analyzing the medical records of about 70,000 cancer patients, provides the strongest evidence yet that exercise slashes the risk of dying from the deadly disease. In fact, cancer patients who exercise regularly are almost half as likely as non-exercising peers to die from the life-threatening illness, the study reveals.

“Based on what scientific research tells us, if cancer patients exercise regularly they will significantly improve their health and well-being, potentially improving their longevity,” lead researcher Dr. Prue Cormie tells Newsmax Health. Cormie, a principal research fellow at the Australian Catholic University’s Institute for Health and Aging in Melbourne, Australia, conducted the study with Dr. Kathryn H. Schmitz.at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. She says she hopes the findings, published in the journal Epidemiologic Reviews, “will help inspire people with cancer to start exercising” and encourage doctors to “prescribe” physical fitness the way they would medication to treat cancer. “The real novelty and impact of this work comes from the fact that it is the most comprehensive analysis of the available data,” she explains.

“This research has established exercise as an effective medicine that can be prescribed to counteract the adverse effects caused by cancer treatments and reduce the relative risk of cancer death or cancer recurrence.” Cormie adds that the research suggests it doesn’t matter what type of exercise people do. Walking and lifting weights have been shown to be particularly beneficial, but other forms of exercise are also beneficial. To reach their conclusions, Cormie’s medical scientists analysed 100 studies worldwide to confirm key findings showing death rates among cancer patients who exercise regularly plunged by almost half — up to 44 percent — compared with those who didn’t.

The researchers excluded studies that didn’t differentiate between deaths from cancer and other causes. They also took into account other factors that might contribute to the differences. In addition to cutting cancer deaths, exercise was linked with a lower risk — up to 35 percent — of cancers recurring. Physical activity also reduced the impacts of side effects from chemotherapy and other treatments. Cancer death risks were also “significantly lower” for those who engaged in the highest levels of exercise, compared to those who did were not as physically active.

“The findings of this review support the view that exercise is an important adjunct therapy in the management of cancer,” the researchers concluded. “Compared with patients who performed no exercise, patients who exercised following a diagnosis of cancer were observed to have a lower relative risk of cancer mortality and recurrence and experienced fewer adverse effects. Dr. Kathy Chapman, chairwoman of Cancer Council Australia’s nutrition and physical activity committee, suggests the landmark study should change the way doctors care for cancer patients. "This study confirms the importance of recommending exercise to people with cancer,” she says. "The evidence has been building over the past 10 years that exercise should be an adjunct to regular cancer treatment — especially for people with bowel, breast and prostate cancer.

People with cancer who incorporate exercise into their lifestyle have better overall survival rates and also experience better quality of life. Exercise has been shown to be beneficial in alleviating fatigue, a common side effect of cancer treatment.

Eating fried potatoes linked to higher risk of death, study says

How your spuds are cooked is key to your health. People who eat fried potatoes two or more times a week double their risk of an early death compared to those who avoid them, a recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found. Eating potatoes that have not been fried was not linked to a similar early mortality risk, the researchers noted. "Fried potatoes consumption is increasing worldwide," warned Dr. Nicola Veronese, lead author of the study and a scientist at the National Research Council in Padova, Italy.

In 2014, Americans consumed 112.1 pounds of potatoes per person, according to the National Potato Council. Of that total, 33.5 pounds were fresh potatoes, the remaining 78.5 pounds were processed. According to the US Department of Agriculture, the majority of processed potatoes Americans eat are French fries. Veronese and his colleagues have been tracking 4,440 people aged 45 to 79 over a period of eight years to study osteoarthritis. This research team decided to momentarily set aside the main issue of osteoarthritis and look at participants' consumption of potatoes. Even though most of us may have assumed that fried potatoes could be unhealthy for us, there is "very limited" scientific data on this issue, Veronese explained in an email. So the researchers divided study participants into subgroups based on how frequently they ate potatoes each week.

Over the eight years, a total of 236 of the participants died. Analyzing the data for each group, Veronese and his team found that those who ate fried potatoes two to three times each week doubled their chance of dying early compared to those who ate no fried potatoes. French fries, potato chips, hash browns -- and any other preparation requiring a fryer -- are all included under the umbrella of "fried potatoes," Veronese explained. Age or sex of participants did not influence the result, but the data showed men were more likely than women and younger participants were more likely than older participants to enjoy the fried food. The study is observational, meaning the researchers simply tracked the behavior of a group of people and found an association between one behavior -- eating fried potatoes -- and another factor -- early death.

Because it is an observational study, Veronese and his co-authors note it cannot be said that eating fried potatoes directly causes an early mortality -- it would require more research to draw such a firm conclusion. "Even if it is an observational study, we believe that the cooking oil, rich in trans-fat, is an important factor in explaining mortality in those eating more potatoes," said Veronese. Trans fat has been shown to raise the "bad," or LDL, cholesterol in the blood, which can lead to cardiovascular disease. Yet, he also added that "other important factors," including obesity, a sedentary lifestyle and use of high quantities of salt might also play a role in the early death of those eating two or more portions of fried potatoes each week. National Potato Council CEO John Keeling said the "study isn't relevant to the general population" since the data was collected for an osteoarthritis study and includes only patients with arthritis.

"Potatoes are inherently a very healthy vegetable," said Keeling in an email. He said a medium-sized potato is 110 calories, has no fat, no sodium, no cholesterol, and provides nearly a third of the daily vitamin C requirement with more potassium than a banana. "How the potato is prepared will impact the calorie, fat and sodium content," said Keeling, however the basic nutrients remain "no matter how it is prepared." Based on the data in the study, Keeling said, "it is very much a stretch to brand fried potatoes, or any other form of potato, as unhealthy." Susanna Larsson, an associate professor at the Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, noted that the new study provides "no evidence" that potato consumption in and of itself may increase the risk of an early death. Larsson was not involved in the new study.

Instead, it may be the "other factors" suggested by Veronese himself. "Fried potato consumption may be an indicator of a less healthy (Western) dietary pattern which is associated with increased mortality," said Larsson, who also conducted a study of potato consumption. Her study did not find an increased risk of cardiovascular disease linked to eating potatoes. The potential danger when eating fried starchy foods, such as French fries, is acrylamide, said Stephanie Schiff, a registered dietitian at Northwell Health's Huntington Hospital in Huntington, New York. Schiff was not involved in the study. Acrylamide is "a chemical produced when starchy foods such as potatoes are fried, roasted or baked at a high temperature," explained Schiff in an email.

The browning process is actually a reaction that produces this chemical one shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals and considered toxic to humans, said Schiff. Acrylamide is also a potential cause of cancer, she said. "You can reduce your intake of acrylamide by boiling or steaming starchy foods, rather than frying them," said Schiff. "If you do fry foods, do it quickly." She also suggested you "go lighter" since "the darker the food, the more acrylamide it may contain." Finally, Schiff said that potatoes should not be stored in the refrigerator because this could lead to producing more acrylamide when the potatoes are later cooked. "Increase your intake of fruits and vegetables for a healthier alternative," said Schiff. Veronese said he hopes his new study will suggest to everyone that consuming fried potatoes "could be an important risk factor for mortality. Thus, their consumption should be strongly limited."

5 common causes for hair loss in teenage girls

If you’re an aging adult, you've probably come to terms with and have started to accept that you’re slowly losing your hair. On the other hand, what if you are a teenage girl, losing her precious hair at the prime of her life? Hair loss in teenage girls can cause emotional trauma at a critical time in their lives. However, this hair loss can happen for several reasons, and you can often treat and prevent it successfully. 

1. Hormones

As young girls turn into growing teenagers, they go through many bodily changes, including changes in their hormones. These hormones then fluctuate their emotions, eating habits, and their hair growth. Because the root cause of hair loss lies in one special hormone, present in both men and women, you can understand how hormonal changes and imbalances create such a problem. The hormone responsible for hair loss in anyone is dihydrotestosterone, or DHT. This hormone usually manifests in men; however, women and girls have low levels of testosterone as well. Unfortunately, with the help of an enzyme that rests in the hair’s oil glands, testosterone changes to DHT. Then, DHT literally shrinks the hair follicles, causing hair to fall out. Teenage girls may experience this hair loss until the hormones balance out in their bodies.

2. Medicine

Certain medications can cause hair loss in both teens and adults, especially ones which alter the hormones. In particular, some teenage girls may take birth control pills to relieve PCOS or control acne. However, the pill is also known for thinning out the hair. In fact, some doctors actually prescribe it to help teens who have excessive hair growth on their bodies. Other medications can cause hair loss as well, including anticoagulants, beta blockers, and even high doses of vitamin A.

3. Poor nutrition

Most people don’t think about the role of nutrition in healthy, supple hair and skin, but it does play a vital role. American teens often eat a diet high in starch and fats rather than a nourishing variety of fruits and vegetables. As a result, these teens can have deficiencies in important vitamins and nutrients. Their bodies then try to conserve what few healthful nutrients it has for its life-sustaining functions, diminishing the amount of nutrients to the hair. In addition, some teens may have poor nutrition due to eating disorders, and parents should watch carefully for this cause of hair loss.

4. Over-Styling

In an effort to keep up with current trends and styles, teenage girls often use heat products and tight hairstyles. If they use straighteners, blow dryers, and curling rods daily, they’ll eventually be dealing with dry, brittle hair. In addition, tight hairstyles like high ponytails and braids tug at the hair. If used often enough, they can pull out clumps, leading to embarrassing bald patches and shortened strands.

5. Deeper Medical Condition

Sometimes, excessive hair loss can signal a deeper medical condition. For example, people can suffer hair loss if they have a scalp infection, unregulated diabetes, an overactive or underactive thyroid, skin disorders, or trichotillomania (compulsive hair-pulling). In most cases, these underlying medical conditions will have accompanying symptoms, such as scaly or inflamed skin, losing hair in big patches, and fatigue. Parents should take note of any other changes accompanying the hair loss in teenage girls and talk over any concerns with a doctor.

Want to Lose Weight? Weigh Your Food for a Week

Journalism professor Michael Easter is weighing new eating habits. The 6’1" tall Las Vegas resident was hardly overweight at 185 lbs. But Easter, who spends his mornings running the canyon trails outside the city, was suffering from knee pain, and thought losing a few pounds would make running less stressful. After getting advice from a nutritionist, Easter began weighing his food to get an accurate idea of how many calories he was eating.

He was surprised to discover it was a lot more than he realized. “I had the same lunch every day and it was a protein shake with an apple and peanut butter and it’s like, ‘Oh that’s totally a healthy lunch — this is a great lunch.' But when I weighed peanut butter for the first time I was taking like three servings and I thought it was only one,” Easter told NBC News Better. “So here I was thinking I’m eating 200 calories, but I’m really eating 600,” he said.

Using a small kitchen scale he purchased for $14, Easter weighed all his food, from the cream in his morning coffee to the chicken he ate at dinner. He input the weight into the MyFitnessPal app on his phone, which calculated the exact number of calories in the food. Easter realized he previously didn’t have an accurate understanding of the portion sizes he was eating, especially when it came to calorie-dense foods. “I thought I was eating like 2,600 or 2,700 calories [a day], and it was a lot more than that,” he explains. “It was definitely above 3,000.” “A lot of times we make assumptions. For example, if I were to just put banana — generic banana — in a calorie counting app, [the results] could have been more than I actually ate, it could have been less than I actually ate,” says Easter.

“Same with nuts. If I took a handful of nuts and I throw them in the shake I could potentially be off by more than 100 calories depending on how many I thought that was.” He said weighing his food helped him see that the snacks he ate between meals were adding unnecessary calories too. “When you have to weigh everything, you realize that all adds up, and some days it was as much as 500 calories for me,” he says. “That’s enough to really move a dial in terms of weight gain or weight loss.” To lose weight, Easter cut his calories to 2,500 a day. He developed easy go-to meals for breakfast and lunch that made the process easier.

“There were definitely days where I resented that scale and I wanted to throw it on the ground, but to make things easier I would tend to fall into patterns and eat the same thing every day,” he says. The 30-year-old found that sticking to meats, vegetables, potatoes and nuts helped him feel full throughout the day. He said potatoes in particular helped him stay satisfied. “Most nights when I’m home weeknights I’ll usually do potatoes with chicken and some vegetables and then I’ll put sour cream on the potatoes and stuff like that, but now I just know don’t take too much [sour cream] because those kinds of fats are calorie dense,” he says.

Easter dropped 10 pounds in about 3 months. He said that weighing all of his meals is no longer necessary. But he has a much better understanding of what and how much he can eat to prevent the weight from coming back. “I found a sweet spot for how much I should eat,” he said. “So at the end I was eating about 2,950 calories, which is a lot, but I was staying at 175 pounds. My weight wasn’t fluctuating at all, which sort of told [my nutritionist] that’s an ideal amount of food for [me] to be eating at 175 pounds.” Easter feels better after shedding the extra weight. “I don’t have aches and pains that come along with running just because it’s a lot less force going to your joints when you lose 10 lbs,” he says. The professor believes everyone can benefit from weighing their food. “I think there is a lot you can learn about how much you eat and some of your eating patterns by just tracking it for a week and the scale lets you really track it,” he says.

HOW IT WORKS

• Purchase a kitchen scale. 
• Weigh all your food and input the results into a calorie tracking app like MyFitnessPal app. This will tell you the real number of calories you are consuming. 
• Unhealthy foods will cost you calories. Healthier foods like meats, poultry, fish, nuts, vegetables, fruits and especially potatoes will help you feel full throughout the day. 
• Creating go-to meals will establish a healthy eating pattern and save you time.