Recently, researchers at the Inaba Hair Institute in Tokyo, announced new findings that not only support this theory, it also shows that maybe heredity does not play as big a role as we once believed. The research was done to try to find an explanation for the dramatic increase in hair loss among post World War II Japanese men. A study of post war diets revealed the answer. After World War II, the Japanese had become ''Westernized'', eating foods that had more animal fats than in earlier decades. A diet high in animal fats leads to high cholesterol levels, swollen oil glands and excess scalp oil.
Cholesterol is the starting material from which the androgenic hormone Testosterone is made.
DHT combines with scalp oil, excess cholesterol and other comples chemicals in the scalp to either gradually shut down the hair growth mechanism or physically interfere with its activity. Your hair grows from the follicles in your scalp. The hair growth process involves your hair going through cycles - fallout, resting, regrowth. When your hair falls out, there is usually a replacement hair pushing up to take its place. Although it only happens occasionally, a replacement hair sometimes does not make it to the surface of the scalp because the follicle gets sealed over.