AS DISCUSSED in previous articles, I have hinted the importance of enzymes, as we need it to speed up reaction in our bodies. Enzymes are specialised types of protein, and are involved in every function of our lives. They are the catalysts of chemical changes in our body. We cannot live without enzymes.
No hormone, vitamin or mineral can be converted for use in our bodies without enzymes reaction. For example, the food we eat, must be converted by enzymes, to build new muscles, flesh, bone, and glands. Do you understand the importance of enzymes? There are three types of enzymes. However, our body produces two types – digestive and metabolic. The digestive enzymes help to break down the food for our body’s use while the metabolic enzymes control every other function in the body. The third enzyme is called food enzyme, which is acquired from the raw foods that we eat such as fruits and vegetables.
When coming to the enzymes, 5 Alpha Reductase help in the processing of androgens, which are a group of hormones, that direct male sexual development. The most well known androgen is testosterone.
Both male and female produce testosterone. Men carry a higher level of testosterone and this helps to define who they are. Note that testosterone is the cause of genetic hair loss in men, and to some extent, in women.
One of the steps in preventing adrogenetic alopecia is to inhibit the dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which is a by-product of the testosterone that your body is producing. DHT attaches to the androgen receptors on hair follicles and, triggers the receptors to minimise, thus affecting hair growth.
Alpha Reductase is a metabolic enzyme that converts testosterone to DHT. When we treat or make recommendations, our aim is to slow down the DHT from attaching to the androgen receptors that is on the hair follicle, to allow the hair to strive.
Once you have the genetic factor, your gene provides the instruction to make this enzyme and you may suffer from genetic hair loss. When looking at your father, mother, aunts, uncles, and other family members exhibiting a pattern of hair loss the possibility exists that you may experience the same.
What is difficult, is discovering the underlying issue that may trigger the hair loss, earlier for some and later for others, all because we are all not created equally.
What is constant is that if treated right and recognised early, you can maintain a fuller, shinier and thicker head of hair, using various hair and scalp treatments. Not forgetting nutrition, which is vitally important.
There are clinical research programmess on the market today that are actually helping in the fight against hair loss. Research is continuous.
Cold laser therapy, is one of the many methods, that is approved for treatment of hair loss, as it helps to improve the scalp environment, and the study goes on. I will discuss cold laser therapy in a future article.
