Thinning Hair & Prostate Cancer Risk

If you've started thinning a little on top of your head, you need to listen up. This could signal a health problem.

It could signal a greater risk for prostate cancer, especially if you started balding early on. It's what's known as male pattern baldness, or androgenic alopecia in medical-speak. It's that receding hairline and thinning at the top of the head that is caused in part by male hormones. Specifically DHT, which comes about from testosterone.

This DHT, also known as dihydrotestosterone, causes both hair loss and the growth of prostate cells. According to a new study just published in the Oxford Journal Annals of Oncology, men that began to bald by the age of 20 where also at a higher risk of prostate cancer later in life. The same was not true for men that didn't start experiencing hair loss until they were in the 30s or 40s.

Although experts aren't quite sure what to do with this new information, some feel it could help identify men that could benefit from early screening for prostate cancer.