Everyone knows that smoking can cause serious diseases, but recent research has shown that it could cause hair loss too.

A recent study, published in the journal Archives of Dermatology, said that "statistically significant positive associations were noted between moderate or severe androgenetic alopecia [baldness] and smoking status."

The research was carried out on 740 Taiwanese men, with an average age of 65. Hair loss varies throughout races, and Asian men are known to be less likely to suffer from baldness than their Caucasian counterparts.  It is not known entirely why this is, though baldness is proven to be related to hereditary factors, male sex hormones and the environment.

Scientists studying the correlation between the smoking habits and hair loss of the Taiwanese men assessed family history and other relevant factors for hair loss before drawing conclusions. They found that even when taking these things into account, hair loss was still significantly increased in smokers.

Smoking is well known to damage the circulation, and so the theory is that smoking may damage the micro-circulation supplying blood to the follicles. Once the hair is no longer being 'fed', it cannot survive and falls out.