Investment Info

Throughout time, whenever people start talking about baldness, they almost always focus on the threat to self-esteem. Most cultures have decided that men who lose their hair early are somehow worthy of mockery. Inevitably, this has put pressure on men to avoid or hide the problem. In reality, the poor quality of many wigs and toup?es signalled the wearer’s embarrassment and aggravated the social difficulties. In turn, this opened up a market to the unscrupulous to sell magic remedies. We still celebrate this time in our history by retaining the idea of “snake oil” and “elixirs” from the Traveling Medicine Shows. But the results in a recent study published in Cancer Epidemiology may be a sign that men who lose their hair early are the lucky ones. Instead of despair as their hair recedes, they should be celebrating the news their risk of prostate cancer is halving.

The study involved some two thousand men in their forties, half of whom had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. In reviewing their medical histories, the researchers noted that men whose hair began thinning in their twenties were the least likely to develop a growth in the prostate (whether cancerous or benign). In publishing these results, a clear distinction must be made between the natural thinning and loss of hair that affects all men as they age, and male pattern baldness which characteristically affects younger men. The reduction in the risk of cancer benefits those who lose their hair prematurely. The researchers speculate this is a consequence of the changing level of testosterone in those who go bald. The higher the level of hormone, the more the body produces dihydrotestosterone. With more DHT in the bloodstream, the hair follicles shrink. This thins the hair and slows the rate at which hair is replaced as it is shed. But, higher levels of testosterone seem to lower the risk of a growth. Read the rest of this entry »

When you are young, it’s difficult to keep everything in proportion. Emotions run fast and hot. One minute you can be feeling great, the next it’s despair. In fact, it’s remarkable how often you hear a teen suffering some embarrassment or humiliation voice the thought, “I wish I was dead!” Fortunately, very few act on the wish. We all come through these torrid times, hopefully calmer if not wiser. Yet, there are some humiliations men of all ages find it difficult to confront without fear. Erectile dysfunction is one of the more severe tests of calmness. For better or worse, Western culture is strongly “male”. Yes, feminism assumed some importance and equality laws have followed, but the mainstream of behavior still expects the man to be dominant, not just in business but also in the bedroom. If something goes wrong with the ability to deliver erections when they are expected, this undermines a key plank in the structure holding up male self-confidence. Suddenly the man is not quite so macho. He is somehow less than a man. Read the rest of this entry »