Should a female focus on lowering DHT to avoid pattern baldness? | Masterjohn Q&A Files #117

Question: Should a female focus on lowering DHT to avoid pattern baldness? Carrie: DHT is only one of the alpha metabolites. If you just do it in serum, that's usually what everyone test, but there are some other big ones, androsterone, and 5 alpha-androstanediol is another big one that you can test in your intestine. DHT maybe low in women, but I'll see the androsterone be really elevated which is more common in women I see. In which case, yes, you can decrease testosterone, but you need to get yourself sort of off the 5 alpha pathway. That's when you're looking at one, lifestyle, so decreasing stress, looking at your insulin, but then supplemental. This is where you're looking at the things like saw palmetto, stinging nettle root, Pygeum africanum, EGCG from green tea, reishi mushrooms, zinc. Those things help reduce the 5 alpha effect to reduce the male pattern baldness effect. That's usually what I see. You can't reduce the testosterone, but really it's the pathway. It's going down. You're probably just missing the metabolite that's causing the problem. This Q&A can also be found as part of a much longer episode, here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/podcast/2019/10/19/ask-us-anything-hormones-dr-carrie-jones-may-10-2019 If you would like to be part of the next live Ask Me Anything About Nutrition, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass, which includes access to these live Zoom sessions, premium features on all my content, and hundreds of dollars of exclusive discounts. You can sign up with a 10% lifetime discount here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/q&a ====== DISCLAIMER: I have a PhD in Nutritional Sciences and my expertise is in performing and evaluating nutritional research. I am not a medical doctor and nothing herein is medical advice. PLEASE NOTE: As a result of the COVID-19 crisis and the time I am committing to staying on top of relevant research, as well as the high volume of questions I receive, it may take me extra time to respond to questions here. For an up-to-date list of where I respond to questions most quickly, please see the contact page on chrismasterjohnphd.com. Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.