Question:
I had a question about the relationship between gum disease, hairloss
and heart disease. I think it's a proven fact that when the bacteria
that causes gum disease gets into your bloodstream, it helps to clog
your arteries and increases your chance of heart disease. Baldness is
also somehow linked to heart disease. I was wondering if anyone has
ever said that the reason hairloss is related to heart disease is
because there is some sort of bacteria that is present in hairloss
that can penetrate into the bloodstream and then cause heart disease.
Just a thought, I was wondering if anyone else had this theory.
Answer:
Something like this is possible. Researchers these days are finding
microbial involvement in all sorts of places such as gastric ulcers. If
memory serves, a role for some clamydia species has been proposed in
atherosclerosis.
My favorite theory is that the blood vessel lining produces
some hair growth stimulator ( likely nitric oxide, "NO", as in miNOxidil ).
When it gets damaged less of this gets produced, so hair growth isn't
stimulated as much.
This may sound like a funny question but wouldn't Viagra most likely
be helpful for hairloss? Does it stimulate more nitric oxide than
arginine?
Viagra inhibits the penile breakdown of cGMP, whose production
is stimulated by NO. But it does not have a direct effect on NO per
se. And yes, it is quite possible that the hair-growth-stimulating
effects of minoxidil and NO itself are dependent on cGMP production.
But more peoople believe that an effect on potassium conductance thru
cell mebranes ( " K-channels" ) provides a better fit with the data.
But nobody really knows which, if either, of these is the relat
mechanism of action..
Hmm. From what you say, it would seem that it might be a good idea for
everyone to take a course of antibiotics every few years even if there's no
obvious infection anywhere... Whaddya reckon?!?
I don't buy this argument. With your argument, you could say, for example,
that severely balding men in their twenties and thirties have gum disease and
heart disease. I think this would be easy to disprove. I will ask some bald
guys tomorrow.
