Researchers have found that smoking cigarettes is one of the factors that help cause the most common form of hereditary male baldness or hair loss. (file photo from Xinhua)

Smoking may destroy hair follicles, interfere with the way blood and hormones are circulated in the scalp or increase the production of estrogen, said Lin-Hui Su of the Far Eastern Memorial Hospital and Tony Hsiu-Hsi Chen of Taiwan University in Taipei in a study in the November issue of the Archives of Dermatology.

A look at 740 men in Taiwan with an average age of 65 found cigarette use played an important role "in the development of moderate or severe" hair loss, Su and Chin said, in cases where the men smoked 20 or more cigarettes a day.

But generally speaking the risk of androgenic alopecia -- the common male hair loss that occurs in various patterns -- was slower among the Asian men than among "persons of white race/ethnicity" as measured by previous studies elsewhere.

The study recommended that men showing early signs of hair loss should be advised about the role smoking can play to prevent further progression.

Three previous studies on the impact of smoking produced inconsistent results, it added.

(Agencies via Xinhua November 20, 2007)