Short-Term Gain, Long-Term Pain: 5 Reasons To Avoid Paleo For Hair Loss
Dec 19, 2011
EDIT: While this article is focused on hair, the advice can be applied to every health situation. You can learn more about this here.
While the I made a prediction a while ago that the paleo world would eventually collide with peat-a-tarianism.
Well, it hasn't happened yet. In fact, it's not even close to happening, but Peat's name creeps up on Paleohacks more and more each day. He's even nominated for an award there. Go figure.
I have mentioned in The Quick Start Guide that the paleo diet (low-carb, high meat, high-fat) diet is anti-hair. In this article we will discuss specifically why I believe this.
To borrow a phrase from the master-of-wiz himself, Matt Stone, low-carb Paleo diets can best be described as, "short-term gain, long-term pain."
If you're unaware of what I believe causes male pattern baldness, please go here.
Fuel: Glucose or Fatty Acids?
In a recent interview, Dr. Peat explained that the thyroid can be affected "locally" by the glycogen content of the liver. In the presence of low glycogen, the liver decreases conversion of thyroxine (T4) to the more metabolically active thyroid hormone, triiodothyronine (T3). Because more than 2/3 of active thyroid hormone is converted in the liver, this is significant.
Thyroid hormone is protective against anti-hair hormones, so supporting it by whatever means necessary is a top priority.
As for fatty acids disturbing thyroid signaling, Chris Masterjohn explained this brilliantly on a recent podcast I did with him and Chris Kresser:
"Free fatty acids interfere with thyroid signaling and as we know in the blogosphere recently, interfering with thyroid signaling can affect blood lipids."
I interrupted Chris to ask specifically what kinds of fatty acids interrupted thyroid signaling:
"There's good preliminary evidence that any unsaturated free fatty acids are quite good at inhibiting thyroid function. Not just PUFA but oleic acid is pretty good at it too. You can't do anything to suppress oleic acid because your body can produce it itself. PUFAs play a role, but you have a lot more oleic acid in the body. Basically, any release of free fatty acids will inhibit thyroid signaling. The best evidence for this is at the level of thyroid binding to the nuclear receptor and then binding to DNA. It seems that the concentrations of free fatty acids can get high enough in the nucleus of the cell to inhibit signaling there and that will not be reflected in free T3 levels in the blood or anything like that. It would be very difficult to detect it clinically."
Low CO2 Production
When considering whether to use glucose or fatty acids as fuel, the oxidation of fatty acids yields less carbon dioxide than the oxidation of sugar. Carbon dioxide production, under the influence of thyroid, is a strong anti-stress, pro-thyroid factor.
"When carbon dioxide production can be measured at the same time as oxygen consumption, it's possible to estimate the proportion of energy that is being derived from glucose, rather than fat or protein, since oxidation of glucose produces more carbon dioxide than oxidation of fat does. Glucose oxidation is efficient, and suggests a state of low stress." - Ray Peat PhD
High Tryptophan Content
Paleo diets are usually meat-heavy diets. While I eat my share of meat, high-meat diets supply an abundance of the amino-acid tryptophan. Tryptophan is the precursor to the anti-hair, pro-stress hormone serotonin. Learn more about serotonin here, here, and here.
High Phosphate to Calcium Ratio
Unless you have adopted one of those neo-paleolithic-2.0-templates, you may be consuming more phosphate than calcium. Low calcium intake increases inflammation, bone degeneration, and prolactin release. You can read more about this phenomenon here.
Increased Allergies?
Having spent a fair-amount of time in the low-carb universe, I can say, without a doubt, that the amount of allergies paleo dieters encounter after engaging in this way of eating is astronomical.
This is an anecdotal observation on my part, but I think it's useful when combined with Peat's research indicating that blood sugar levels contributed to a rat's ability to tolerate stress.
Experiment
- If you're not doing well on a low-carb paleo diet, keep daily journals and get blood work done. A side effect of self-experimentation is learning more about yourself and becoming a BAMF.
Reader Comments (14)
Noo I don't want to be a BAMF!! What's a BAMF? lol
@Nicolaas,
No, no. BAMF is a good thing.
Do you think there is room for your pro-hair diet within a Chris Kresser style "paleo template" diet (http://goo.gl/Dw0oM)? Many paleo people seem absolutely fine with significant carb and (for the lactose-tolerant) dairy intake. The only fundamentally non-paleo aspect of your diet seems to be sugar, which seems to be universally regarded as a poison by the paleo community.
Since you and Chris Kresser were previously on the same dietary wavelength, I would really love for you to properly debate your differing approaches and why you disagree with each other.
@Nicolas,
Chris's template and my philosophy to stop male pattern baldness are similar and radically different at the same time. While we both acknowledge the importance of limiting unsaturated fatty acids, Chris consideres fructose to be a poison, while I consider it to be beneficial. Chris and I are more similar than we are different, I just think we're on two different paths.
Nicolas, you may be forgetting that I'm not interested in bringing "general" health to the masses. I'm interested in targeting very specific hormones involved with hair loss.
Danny, do you think there maybe a problem with targeting specifically anti-hair hormones? Im still reading through your stuff and also Peats, but am having a hard time digesting it, but as far as targeting those specific hormones you may be to focused in, like a horse with blinders. I followed you since you were initially advocating a paleo lifestyle and touted success, now your switching to Peat and and preaching his theory as gospel. Your coming off like a mac fanboy about ray peat. You've only been practicing his approach/your interpretation of his work for about 9months now right and already have a $50 book? Please don't get me wrong, your input and research is great, but your losing me with (for lack of a better term) "attack" on the paleo lifestyle. Correct me if im wrong, I hear a lot of people referring to paleo as a high meat low carb diet. It does put emphasis on meat, but as far as carbs go does it not advocate carbs from fresh organic veggies?
Anyway, I understand you said your not trying to bring general health to the masses like you stated above, but would hair loss be an issue if everyone was healthy to begin with? Would living a clean, healthy, balanced diet like much of the paleo community advocates be good for hair as it was for you when you were on it?
@Anonymous person on the internet,
Maybe. Perhaps you should take more time to digest it.
Maybe I do have blinders on.
I don't believe I have preached Peat as gospel, rather I've focused on self-experimentation and measurable results.
I'm a huge fan of Peat. Make no mistake about it.
How much do you charge for your book detailing the link between nutrition and hair loss?
Danny,
On top of practicing emergency medicine, I spend hours on end reading (digesting) information, thank you for your sub par proffesional attitude towards a fan of your's
Please dont take comments to litterally, as far as blinders. But should not general health be a baseline? A starting point before targeting specific hormone deficiencies?
I've have read your comments and posts on not just this website but others, but you do come on strong about ray peat. I ask a simple question about your self-proclaimed success with a paleo orientated diet and you choose to ignore it, and respond with asshole comments, I read your article because iv been a fan of yours for a while. So thank you for showing your true colors.
Again, another sarcastic remark. I dont have a book, never claimed to have one. I, like you, am only trying to seek answers to achieve optimal health and longevity, wether my hair benefits or not. But as far as I know or anyone else your knowledge on health and the human body is as good as anyone else's with an interest or passion for finding information. Yet your selling your interpretation of someone elses theory for profit, information that is freely available on the web.
Im not trying to discredit you, or attack you. I asked simple questions that I wanted your opinion on and this is how you respond? Im dissapointed, I thought you would be pretty cool to have a conversation with. I am sorry if my first post came off as offensive, it was not what I intended.
I know your targeting hair loss but I think you do a disservice to yourself with comments like this "I'm not interested in bringing "general" health to the masses. I'm interested in targeting very specific hormones involved with hair loss." If your not losing hair anymore you must be getting pretty healthy? :)
Regardless love the work your doing
Hi Danny,
Unsaturated FFAs reduce thyroid signaling, but carb intake reduction doesn't necessarily result in an increase in FFAs, does it?...I'll have to check on that...What about triglycerides containing unsaturated fatty acids?
Peat says several times that glucose oxidation represents "low stress" but not "causes/allows low stress;" he never really explains why glucose oxidation is superior besides CO2 production, which doesn't necessarily happen because ketones and fatty acids are more efficiently converted to CO2, whereas with high glycogen/glucose, lactate production is increased (I do remember that Taubes had low CO2 though--wonder about other low carbers). The animal examples of slowed aging* I know of all seem to have reduced complex I activity and high fat oxidation. I think Peat is actually okay the the oxidation of saturated fatty acids and even suggests in Generative Energy that SCFAs and ketones may be superior to glucose.
Have you been eating the standard Peat diet of milk, fruit, etc lately?
*I know you say you're not much interested in general health, but I do think the changes in metabolism, etc that you're promoting obviously have much overlap.
@Openup2URmind,
I don't respond well one someone is rude to me in my own house. Sarcasm and not taking the commenter seriously are my defense mechanisms.
My self-proclaimed success with diet was first in the form of zero-carb, which dwindled after a while, and was rejuvenated by Matt Stone's HED diet (lots of potatoes). I never advocated low-carb paleo in its current form.
@Cliff,
First off, you are the man.
Second, I guess what I was trying to say is that I'm more interested in figuring out the etiology of hair loss and helping those who are hungry than spreading general health advice around the internet.
Hey John,
My interpretation of Peat's work is that using "fat as fuel" causes an increase in FFAs and initiates the Randle cycle, depressing efficient utilization of glucose.
You bring up some good questions John, my interpretation of why Peat prefers glucose oxidation is to suppress stress hormones (that mobilize stress hormones in the face of low sugar), efficiently "fuel" the liver, and to support the deiodinase enzymes (Peat has often mentioned that selenium needs glucose to be utilized).
Peat has suggested that tryptophan, methionine restriction are responsible for the "slowed" aging seen in animal models. He has also suggested that a reduction in food toxins (heavy metals) are responsible as well.
In a private email with one of the Ray Peat fans, peat mentioned that there are problems with "fat oxidation" even if they are saturated. I get the gist that he doesn't recommend VLF diets due to sustainability.
Hey Danny,great blog you have here I hope the ebook is doing well,my question is what do you think of Weston A Price's research and how he managed to restore peoples dental health through diet?Teeth are considered a good marker of health generally,how are yours and is there a relation between teeth and hair.I appreciate you time,thanks. Chris
Hey Chris,
My teeth started going south at the beginning of my Peaty adventure.
Consuming liver twice a week cleared it up rather quickly. I noticed less plaque on my teeth after a short while.
Fat soluble vitamins have always seemed to be a dominant factor in my dental health.
As mentioned in a reply I've just posted to another article I'm relatively new to Peat, intrigued and trying some of his ideas.
However, I should say that although I've been doing low to very-low-carb for about the last 4 years, I don't seem to suffer from any of the problems that low-carb bashers always seem to be talking about, and, aged 62, my hair grows just as thickly and quickly as it did at age 22 (and it's a lot less grey than my 9-year-younger brother). I don't have allergies, and I don't believe my thyroid function is depressed.
BTW, I've never used the term "Paleo" about what I do. I think it's a terrible affectation, and anyone who claims that we really know what a genuine palaeolithic diet consisted of is kidding themselves. Fortunately, I never did much in the way of PUFAs, and never bought into the fish-oil supplement thing. I gave up grains and all starches and nuts when I went low-carb, and always ate more beef and lamb than chicken or pork. I always ate liver, eggs, butter and cheese.
So opening up to Peat's ideas wasn't all that dramatic really. The only thing I've added is home-squeezed orange-juice, occasional water-melon or peaches, and milk (whole, unhomogenised Jersey milk though, not 1%), and powdered eggshell..
Early days yet, but no problems so far. I'm still pretty low-carb, high fat, and moderate protein, but I don't agonise over the numbers.
I will admit that low-carb hasn't been perfect. I didn't lose as much weight as I wanted and I regained somewhat.
Before I discovered Peat, I'd begun to tweak the levels of fat vs protein, and also begun to watch my calories a bit more carefully. I'm still doing all these, plus the added-in things I mentioned. My n=1 experiment.
Paleo, shmaleo, but low-carb, per-se isn't all bad.
Regards,
Mike