The rockstar/hobo diet

[Velvetmonkey]

You know I noticed a lot of capricorns meaning people born december through january happen to have really good hair. Maybe the month your born has some protective effect on your hair? I just notice that a lot so it could be.

Scientist have uncovered 55 deseases correlating with the season you were born in.

Joke all you want. But just because your brain can only think up to a certain boundry doesn't mean that other peoples ideas are wrong.

[Velvetmonkey]

"In fact, one study by a leading manufacturer of men's wigs in Japan,
the Anderans Co. Ltd, found that baldness and thinning hair has
skyrocketed with the increasing popularity of Western fatty foods like
hamburgers and fries. Anderans found that the percentage of balding
men increased almost 200% in less than 20 years, from 6.2 million
men in 1987 (8.1%) to 11.4 million men just 17 years later.
Bottom line: Your genes are not the whole story when it comes to male
pattern baldness. What you eat and how you live may contribute to
baldness as much as genetics."

I'm not allowed to link here so just google the quote if you want to read more.

I've been to Japan. Some observations:

- People are slim.
- They have great hair.
- They are not big on sugar. Not even in candy. Japanese candy and snacks are often in the shape of salty crackers, seaweed and fish. In fact almost no meals include much sugar. No yoghurt, chocolate, juice or marmelade for breakfast.
- Portions are much smaller. A pizza is half the size of a western pizza.

They eat fewer calories, stay slimmer, have great hair and live longer than anybody else.

[Velvetmonkey]

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Unless I missed the studies/evidence in this thread I fail to see the distinction between my observation and his or why his is anymore credible. Use your scientific method and prove it to me and we will maybe see some progress you mentioned. So far I see the theory but where are the test results?

First of all LOTS of people have made the same observation as me. Is that true for your capricorn theory?

Second, I suggested a possible explenation, namely intermitten fasting. An eating protocol that the human body is evolutionary adjusted for. The proven health benefits of intermitten fasting are increasing every year. I have also shown that there seems to be a strong correlation between diet and balding. I have also shown that IF increases the production of human growth hormone with up to 2000 percent. What is your hypothesis for capricorns?

Third. I'm not a baldness scientist. I don't have the means to compare large groups of hobos with baldies. It would however be interesting to see a study on intermitten fasting and hair growth. But the fact that no research regardin this connection has been conducted doesn't mean that there is no connection.

I don't know for sure if there is a connection between eating habits and protection against baldness. But it seems to me that alot of factors point to it.

[Thinning@30]

Ahhh...the question of lifestyle factors and their influence on MPB...

Interestingly, Native Americans in the contemporary U.S. have very low rates of MPB. I wonder, is it a consequence of their healthier diets and lifestyles? A side effect of diabetes medications, perhaps? Should we all move to reservations?

I'm also curious about the lack of MPB among the Yanomamo of South America. Anthropologists describe them as heavy smokers and users of hallucinogenic drugs. Perhaps the tobacco lobby had it right after all. Of course, a diet rich in plaintains may have something to with it, and those constant intervillage wars mentioned by researchers might be good stress-busters.

Also wondering why there is so much pattern baldness among stump-tailed macaques. Could the foraging in the rainforest lifestyle be just too stressful? Could daily exercise in the trees along with a diet of organic fruits, vegetables, and proteins be the cause of hair loss? Maybe the tourists are just feeding them too much junk food.

[Velvetmonkey]

Ahhh...the question of lifestyle factors and their influence on MPB...

Interestingly, Native Americans in the contemporary U.S. have very low rates of MPB. I wonder, is it a consequence of their healthier diets and lifestyles? A side effect of diabetes medications, perhaps? Should we all move to reservations?

Just because native americans lack the genes for baldness it doesn't mean environmental factors have no effect on people with those genes.

You think lung cancer is strictly genetical and smoking has no effect one way or the other?

[Thinning@30]

Just because native americans lack the genes for baldness it doesn't mean environmental factors have no effect on people with those genes.

They might, but the point is that this is an endless game of useless speculation subject to confirmation bias and all the other types of problematic thinking that plague amateur science. The variables are seemingly endless. Think about it. How do you know any of the Japanese people with great hair that you saw on your trip in fact had any of the genes associated with baldness? How do you know they had better diets? Did you follow them around to observe how they ate? For an extended amount of time? I see lots of sumo wrestlers that seem to have great hair. Maybe the baldness genes are less prevalent there. Of course, baldness was common enough in pre-war Japan that that there's no shortage of bald men depicted in their art and some of the pioneering work in hair transplantation was performed there. Until actual science describes a plausible causal mechanism and thoroughly documents it, you are just going to drive yourself crazy with this type of thinking. Furthermore, it is this sort of thing that scammers love. Take some speculation or vague correlation and use it to sell all kinds of useless supplements and fad diets.

[Velvetmonkey]

They might, but the point is that this is an endless game of useless speculation subject to confirmation bias and all the other types of problematic thinking that plague amateur science. The variables are seemingly endless. Think about it. How do you know any of the Japanese people with great hair that you saw on your trip in fact had any of the genes associated with baldness? How do you know they had better diets? Did you follow them around to observe how they ate? For an extended amount of time? I see lots of sumo wrestlers that seem to have great hair. Maybe the baldness genes are less prevalent there. Of course, baldness was common enough in pre-war Japan that that there's no shortage of bald men depicted in their art and some of the pioneering work in hair transplantation was performed there. Until actual science describes a plausible causal mechanism and thoroughly documents it, you are just going to drive yourself crazy with this type of thinking. Furthermore, it is this sort of thing that scammers love. Take some speculation or vague correlation and use it to sell all kinds of useless supplements and fad diets.

Ok, so when it suits your purposes you can use subjective indicators like bald men in japanese paintings over a real scientific study? By the way, those bald men are shaved to look that way because believe it or not that was an ideal there at one point.

How do you sell NOT eating as often? Must be the least lucrative scam I ever heard of.

Isn't it more likely that the big pharmaceuticals don't do alot of research on this topic precisely BECAUSE there is no money to be made from telling people to fast?

Or have I completely missunderstood the basic principles of market economy?

[Thinning@30]

Ok, so when it suits your purposes you can use subjective indicators like bald men in japanese paintings over a real scientific study?

It is no more scientific than traveling to Japan making a few observations and trying to extrapolate something from that. Therein lies the problem.

By the way, those bald men are shaved to look that way because believe it or not that was an ideal there at one point.

Incidentally, a friend of mine does post-production for a famous Japanese rock musician. One of his duties includes making sure the guy's bald spot is never visible in concert videos. Japan is after all home to one of the world's biggest wig manufacturers.

Isn't it more likely that the big pharmaceuticals don't do alot of research on this topic precisely BECAUSE there is no money to be made from telling people to fast?

Or have I completely missunderstood the basic principles of market economy?

You vastly underestimate the resourcefulness of scammers. Just google calorie restriction and intermittent fasting. There are all sorts of people selling ebooks, vitamins, appetite suppressants, meal replacements, and various potions that supposedly "mimic the effects of calorie restriction on the body."

Nonetheless, you could be on to something. I was just looking at portraits from 1700s France, and wowee if the people back then didn't all have amazing hair! Even the old guys sported glorious white ponytails and luxurious curls. Perhaps there's something to be said for the pre-industrial diet and lifestyle after all!