Does Creatine Cause Male Pattern Baldness?

Your body manufactures a substance called Creatine, and you probably aren't even aware it's there. In most people, it's a natural organic acid that, while non-essential, produces additional energy and muscle mass. The only people who realize the role creatine can play in the body are those who are interested in developing all of their possible muscle mass. Since beef is a source high in creatine, people such as body builders and wrestlers may eat as much as 2 pounds of meat at a meal in order to maximize the amount of creatine in their muscles. The question with creatine is, however, while you're beefing up your muscles, are you causing your hair to fall out?

So what exactly does creatine do in the body, especially when it's ingested in massive doses? Can it really accelerate balding by increasing the body's levels of testosterone? One of the side effects of creatine that has been discovered is the fact that it raises the body's DHT levels which can conceiveably cause issues. DHT is a male hormone that is formed in the hair follicles and other parts of the body. It has been proven to be a factor in male pattern baldness. However, there's still cause for doubt, because no long-term testing has been conducted, and although creatine has been used for many years, there's no record of anyone going bald from using it.

If you read miscellaneous articles about the effects of creatine on the body, the best you'll find will contain a lot of conflicting information. While some articles contend that creatine does cause balding, others swear that they've eaten increased levels of it for decades and have survived with a full head of hair. You can't help but wonder who to believe.

Those who believe that creative can cause balding say that elevated levels of DHT can indeed trigger male pattern balding in men who are genetically-prone. The hair on both the top of the head and the sides have proven to be more sensitive to increased DHT than back hair does. If there are large quantities of DHT present in the body, the hair follicles in these areas decrease in size and eventually stop producing hair.

While there have been short-term studies into the effects of creatine on male balding, the necessary long-term testing just hasn't been done in order to conclude positively what the results can be. Until that time, athletes who ingest high levels of creatine will need to take their chances of losing some hair. Most feel that the safe benefits from eating high levels of the substance are worth the risk of their hair.