Studysummary This article suggests that male pattern hair loss might have historically served as an evolutionary signal for women to choose younger male partners, potentially improving population fitness. Our plain-language summary of this paper — not a Tressless recommendation.
Male pattern hair loss (MPHL) may have evolved as a selfless gene to promote the selection of younger fathers for the benefit of the population. This is because younger fathers may lead to improved health and survival of offspring. MPHL may have facilitated monogamy and paternal nurturing, and may have served as a "quasi-truncator" to help preserve genetic integrity in human populations. However, there may be a conflict between individual reproductive success and the fitness of the population, and genes may be neither selfish nor selfless.
126 citations
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January 2010 in “British Journal of Dermatology” This study found that the prevalence of androgenetic alopecia in Chinese men and women was lower than in Caucasians and similar to that in Koreans.
66 citations
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February 2009 in “British Journal of Dermatology” This study found that the prevalence of androgenetic alopecia in Chinese men was lower than in Caucasian men, similar to Korean men, and most commonly presented as type III vertex.
19 citations
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December 2008 in “Medical Journal of Australia” This study found no significant association between the degree of male-pattern baldness and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels in healthy middle-aged and older men.
6 citations
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October 2007 in “Medical Hypotheses” This article proposes that androgenic alopecia might be an evolutionary mechanism for reducing prostate cancer risk by enhancing UV absorption, rather than being a risk factor.
50 citations
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December 1998 in “Dermatologic Surgery” In this study, 42% of healthy men aged 18-49 showed moderate to extensive male pattern hair loss, with prevalence increasing significantly with age.
