Soda and other sugary beverages can make you feel refreshed or give you a good burst of energy when you need it. However, they are not good for your health.
Time and again, nutritionists, dietitians, and doctors have discouraged their intake for health reasons.
For the most part, they have cited the number of calories as the main reason you should abandon sugar-sweetened beverages.
However, it has now emerged that these beverages play a role in male pattern baldness. Soft drinks may not seem like a possible culprit. However, it is not surprising given that sugars interfere with insulin resistance.
In the past, insulin resistance has been linked to hair loss, as seen in people with diabetes. It has also been hypothesized that insulin resistance slows down hair growth.
What did the recent study find?
So far, no study has gone as far as the recent one that found that drinking sugary drinks can cause hair loss in young men.
According to this study which included 1000 men aged 18-45, most participants drank at least one sugar-sweetened beverage. However, individuals who had male pattern baldness took these beverages more frequently than their counterparts.
Beyond this, the authors acknowledged that multiple factors, such as diet, mental health status, and lifestyle, impacted the risk of male pattern baldness.
For instance, the researchers found that young men who reported hair loss also ate vegetables less often. As a result, the researchers adjusted for these factors to reduce their effect on study findings.
The authors further revealed that juices, sodas, energy drinks, sports drinks, and artificially sweetened beverages had a strong association with male pattern baldness.
However, the caffeine in sweetened tea and coffee protects consumers against hair loss and the adverse health effects of added sugar.
Bottom line
The study was not perfect. It had a few limitations that suggest the need for more research. However, the bottom line is sugary beverages increase the risk of hair loss in young men.
Therefore, people should stop ignoring health advice regarding the consumption of sugary beverages and act in their best interest. We might not know what else these sweetened drinks do to our bodies. We may also find other negative health effects when it is too late.
If you have male pattern baldness and want to weigh your options, you might find this article Popular Hair Loss Treatments, Their Benefits, and Downsides interesting.
If you want a hair transplant, you will enjoy reading FUE vs FUT: Which is The Best Hair Transplant Method?
