Green tea on DHT: should Alpha Energy Male avoid it?

Avoid green tea if you want high DHT!

Or; drink green tea against hair loss!

In this article, I’m going to discuss if green tea actually lowers DHT and how it might help hair loss.

The reason why people thought that green tea might lower DHT, is because people from Asia drink a lot of green tea and almost never experience hair loss. Plus, since DHT is the “main promoter” of hair loss, green tea must lower it to preserve hair, right?

As an aside, I already debunked that DHT doesn’t cause hair loss.

Green tea on DHT

Polyphenols are the major active compounds present in teas. The catechins are the major polyphenolic compounds in green tea, which include epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), epigallocatechin (EGC), epicatechin-3-gallate and epicatechin, gallocatechins and gallocatechin gallate.

EGCG is the predominant catechin in green tea coming in at 50–70% of total catechins. That’s likely why it’s the most studied.

When we look at the available evidence, in vitro research is the weakest kind of evidence. In vivo in animals is better, but in vivo in humans is the best. There is no in vivo research investigating green tea in humans. So we need to look at in vitro and animal research.

In vitro, EGCG and ECG have been shown to inhibit type I 5α-reductase (5AR), thus lowering DHT (R).

In vivo, green tea hasn’t been shown to lower DHT.

Study 1 – green tea extract in mice

Giving mice green tea led to a 73.8% and 194% increase in testosterone and DHT respectively (R). Black tea lowered DHT. Combining soy with green tea seems to lower T and DHT more than soy alone.

Study 2 – Topical EGCG on DHT in mice

In this study, they injected mice with testosterone to induce hair loss. Then the researchers applied EGCG topically on some of the mice.

Although the EGCG prevented hair loss, it didn’t lower testosterone or DHT (R).

Summary

It’s unlikely that green tea consumption lowers DHT.

It might still be helpful against hair loss, but not via lowering DHT.

The main mechanism of action is by potentially lowering androgen receptors (increased by androgen injections) specifically in the scalp (and prostate as well) (R, R). There isn’t evidence that it decreases androgen receptors in the muscle, brain, penis, etc, so the effects might be specific to the scalp and prostate under pathological conditions.

Green tea prevents hair loss and promotes hair regrowth by lowering oxidative stress, promoting blood flow, inducing proliferation and exerting anti-apoptotic effects in hair follicles (R, R).

Interestingly, green tea prevents prostate cell growth and kills prostate cancer cells more effectively when it’s combined with DHT (R).

• Complete guide on how to maximize your DHT
• Complete guide on how to maximize your testosterone
• DHT (and testosterone) doesn’t cause prostate cancer
• DHT doesn’t cause hair loss
• A complete list of all the benefits (and importance) of DHT
• Foods to avoid if high DHT is desired
• Can DHT ever be too high (topical testosterone dilemma)
• The easiest way to boost DHT