If you are using any supplements for stimulating energy levels in your brain cells and muscles, then you might be having hair loss issues. Studies unfolded the secret behind these supplements, that the presence of creatine in energy supplements may be the reason behind hair loss, which is still unknown to many. Does creatine really cause hair loss?
Some hair loss reasons can be the result of autoimmune defects or hereditary as you grow. Losing your hair can be daunting and can also initiate several psychological problems like low self-esteem, anxiety, and stress. For this, many individuals seek medical treatment to manage the effects and to cover up the bald areas. To know how creatine causes hair loss, scroll down to read more.
What exactly is Creatine?
It is basically a famous organic compound that stimulates Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) recycling in the brain and muscles. It usually helps the cells and muscles of the brain to replace energy. In other words, ATP is the energy of the cell that generally is used by athletes to have extra energy during sports.
Creatine is famous among the athletes like rugby players, soccer, basketball players, etc. Alongside providing energy, creatine is associated with building muscle mass and is known for improving strength and performance. Many studies have also found that creatine supplements help people in preventing neurological disorders.
An impressive thing about creatine is that our body also produces creatine but in low levels to generate the energy spikes in our brain and muscles. Taking creatine supplements rises the amount of energy in our system that leads to many positive and also negative effects. Hair loss – may be one of them, but before we jump on to the negative effects of creatine, here’s how creatine affects our body positively:
Creatine and energy levels
As is mentioned above that creatinine helps in increasing muscles and brain cell energy. In general, when you work out physically phosphocreatine produces ATP but at low levels which affects your overall performance. However, with creatine supplements, you will have enough energy to increase your performance.
Improves muscle mass
Apart from just increasing the energy to maximize your performance, creatine helps in altering muscle mass formation at an increasing rate. Plus, it also aids in decreasing myostatin hormonal activities which are responsible for decreasing muscle mass production.
Amazing for an intensive workout
High-intensity exercises require high endurance levels and strength to execute the workout correctly. Aside, from helping you in building muscle mass and giving you high levels of energy, creatine helps in improving and toning different areas of your body as you exercise. With creatine, you can actually improve your endurance, strengths, fatigue resistance, recovery rate, and most of all brainpower. Research unveils that creatine increases your overall performance up to 15%.
Helpful in Parkinson’s disease
When our brain lacks dopamine levels, Parkinson’s diseases take the place, which results in impairments like tremors, speech impairments, muscle function loss, and even worse, death of brain cells. Many studies have shown positive effects of creatine when tested on mice having Parkinson’s disease. As a result, 90% of dopamine levels were increased.
Fights against diabetes
Studies also showed that creatine helps the blood to stop absorbing sugar after a certain level and reduced diabetes symptoms as well. However, the results are inconclusive, but positive results have been witnessed.
Improves Neurological Disease
Depleted phosphocreatine plays a major part in neurological defects in the brain. According to the study done on mice, the use of creatine alleviated the phosphocreatine from 26% to 72% in their body.
The low levels of phosphocreatine can increase the risk of Alzheimer’s diseases, Ischemic stroke, and other neurological problems which can be managed with the help of creatine supplements.
Stimulates Brain Function
Along with reducing Parkinson’s diseases and neurological problems – creatine is helpful in stimulating your brain cells and improve the way through which your brain works. According to a study, our brain needs a particular level of ATP to work properly.
With a healthy level of creatine, there would be a higher dopamine concentration which promotes mitochondrial activity. In other words, improved intelligence, memory, and lots of other benefits.
Probable side-effects of Creatine
Although creatine is a natural supplement, consuming a higher amount of creatine can be the cause of several complications. You must stick to the prescribed doses of creatine orally; however, you also must aware of the detrimental long-term effects.
Most of the side effects appear after five years of usage of creatine and can be any or many of the following:
- Muscle cramping
- Water retention
- Hair loss
- Nausea
- Fever
- Dizziness
- Gastrointestinal pain
- Weight gain
- Dehydration
- Heat intolerance
These may be some other side effects that you may encounter. But they greatly depend on the consumption and the body function of the host and other underlying medical conditions. The consumption of creatine is also associated with some of the worse side effects like organ damage including the heart, liver, or kidney.
What is Dihydrotestosterone (DHT)?
DHT is a kind of hormone that is produced from testosterone – which is primarily found in the male reproductive system. Other than its functions, testosterone is the major hormone that plays a vital role in growing hair in the body and producing muscle mass. That’s the reason why the bodies of a significant number of men are hairier as compared to women.
Even though DHT is a product of testosterone, it itself a potent hormone. Therefore, many functions facilitated by testosterone would be functional only after when they are converted into DHT. Additionally, it is still unknown how they are associated with many other forms of baldness in men.
Relation between Creatine and DHT
The relation between consuming creatine and DHT in your body is somewhere the reason behind hair loss. Where testosterone needs to be transformed first into DHT beforehand to perform its functions properly – creatine triggers the process of DHT conversion in the system.
This speedy conversion of DHT hormones also alters the hair growth and speeds up the cycle for which hair tends to follicle – which ultimately leads to hair loss. Hence, creatine, be the reason for hair loss in many individuals who use creatine supplements for many reasons. It is still unclear if DHT also helps in the reproduction of hair.
Irrespective of the relationship between hair loss and DHT, there are other effective options through which you can manage or even cease hair loss. An example of this is a hair treatment named scalp micro-pigmentation.
It is a non-surgical treatment, specially designed for people suffering from hair loss. The process requires the application of a natural pigment within the scalp on areas of hair loss. Scalp pigmentation treatments have become extremely popular among sufferers of hair loss.
Does Creatine cause hair loss?
One-word answer – Yes. Creatine does cause hair loss but the process is not directly involved in hair loss. Creatine supplements stimulate the enzymes that increase the levels of DHT conversion in the system – hence, it leads to hair loss.
Practically, hair growth follows a cycle – growth, resting phase, and hair fall. The augmented rate of DHT to hair follicles increases the speed of hair growth. This makes the hair go thinner and weaker and eventually you start experiencing hair loss.
According to a study performed on a group of rugby players in 2009, in which they were told to consume creatine supplements in concentrated levels for seven days and a moderate level after a week’s period. The result showed a significant increase in DHT up to 50% and 40% at the moderate level. However, the study did not show any sign of hair loss in the maintained period, but only showed the striking levels of DHT.
Moreover, if hair loss issues pertain to your hereditary genes, then the increased levels of DHT can cause hair loss issues even faster than a usual individual may experience.
Conclusion
Does Creatine cause hair loss? you might get your answer after reading the discussion above. For a recall, creatine supplements are undoubtedly great for building muscles, improving brain functions, and alleviating neurological disorders risks.
However, it can lead to hair loss because of the reason that it stimulates the testosterone hormones, especially in male reproductive systems to convert themselves in DHT to function. Thus, the increase in the process of conversion in the body leads to grow your hair fast, and then your hair becomes weaker with time.
But that doesn’t mean that you stop adding creatine to your system. It has multiple other benefits that will protect you from many other diseases and improve your overall health. As far as hair loss is concerned, it can be managed by hair treatments and applying many other remedies efficiently.
Also, be sure to stick to the prescribed oral value of the supplements to shun futuristic detrimental effects. Speak with your doctor if you are exposed to other side effects and hair loss while you use creatine.
FAQs
Is creatine bad for your hair?
There’s no comprehensive study that shows the relation between creatine and hair loss. It just the process that accelerates hair growth that leads to hair loss.
Which supplements can cause hair loss?
Creatine supplements cause hair loss. Other than creatine, studies have mentioned that using excessive amounts of nutrients such as Selenium and Vitamin A & E also leads to hair loss. Studies also showed that creatine supplements play a large role than any other supplements in hair loss.
The supplement is designed especially for bodybuilders and athletes who want to build muscle mass, improved energy, and endurance.