People experiencing hair loss often want to know if taking nutritional supplements can prevent further hair loss and restore hair growth. Some people even take dietary supplements for their hair loss without consulting a doctor and schedule appointments for hair transplant turkey.
Although hair follicles are among the most metabolically active parts of the body and protein and calorie malnutrition can affect hair growth, the link between these nutrients and restored hair growth is complex.
Deficiency in some nutrients can affect your hair growth and hair structure. For example, acute telogen effluvium (TE) can cause decreased protein intake, or sudden weight loss can also affect hair growth. Niacin deficiency may also lead to diffuse alopecia.
Some studies report a potential link between chronic TE and nutrient deficiency, alopecia areata (AA), androgenetic alopecia (AGA) and female pattern hair loss (FPHL). With this information, many patients seek treatment for hair loss with dietary recommendations.
However, it is important to determine if anyone suffering hair loss needs testing for nutrient deficiency and has risk factors requiring testing.
Hair loss is quite common, affecting about 50% of women and men by age 50. This has led to the availability of nutritional supplements that claim to restore hair loss. These supplements may improve hair growth but also have several risks.
For people with no nutrient deficiency that experience hair loss, taking these supplements can cause more harm to the area.
Overdose of supplements containing supplements like vitamin A and E can cause hair loss. However, medical reviews of common hair growth supplements show no evidence supporting their use.
Below are the effects of common nutrients in supplements on hair growth.
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Iron
Iron deficiency is the most nutrient deficiency and a known hair loss cause, but it is unclear the level of iron deficiency that causes hair loss. Some people with a higher risk of iron deficiency, and dietary and medical history may have an increased risk of hair loss.
Premenopausal women are also at a higher risk of hair loss due to blood loss during menstruation. The risk in men and postmenopausal women is due to gastrointestinal blood loss.
Other risk factors are malabsorption disorders like celiac disease and achlorhydria. Vegetarians have an increased risk for iron deficiency because their dietary iron requirement is about 1.8 times more than people who eat meat. In plants, non-heme iron is lower than heme iron in fish and meat.
Even with multiple research, it is unclear if the deficiency in storage iron can cause hair loss, but patients with AA, AGA, FPHL and chronic TE were found to have low serum ferritin.
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Zinc
Zinc is an essential mineral needed by several enzymes and multiple transcription factors responsible for gene expression regulation. The exact link between zinc deficiency and hair loss is unclear, but experts believe its role in hair follicle morphogenesis, cell division, and protein syntheses can contribute to the loss of hair.
You can inherit zinc deficiency or acquire it through certain lifestyle choices. Zinc deficiency can affect different organs, and cause delayed wound healing, diarrhoea, immunological disorders, brittle hair and TE.
Vegetarians have a higher risk of iron deficiency because zinc is low in plants, and whole grains and legume consumption contain phytates that bind to zinc and prevent its absorption.
A screening of a risk for zinc deficiency indicated hair loss linked to zinc deficiency could be reversed, but there is limited evidence to support the role of zinc deficiency in hair loss.
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Niacin
Niacin deficiency causes pellagra, a known cause of dementia, diarrhoea and dementia, but a new finding linked pellagra to alopecia. Since many counties introduced niacin fortified foods, pellagra has become rare, but alcoholism is currently the leading cause of pellagra. Pellagra may also result from drug use and malabsorption.
In a literature review, no evidence showed lower niacin levels as the cause of hair loss.
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Fatty acids
Deficiency in polyunsaturated essential fatty acids such as alpha-linolenic acid and linoleic acid may be due to malabsorption disorders like cystic fibrosis and inappropriate parenteral nutrition. These conditions may cause hair change, such as lightening of the hair, and loss of eyebrows and scalp hair.
Unsaturated fatty acids may induce hair growth arachidonic acids, an omega-6 fatty acid can increase hair growth by enhancing follicle growth, but there is limited information on supplementation.
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Selenium
Selenium is a macro element necessary for protection from oxidative damage and hair follicle morphogenesis. A study found sparse hair growth resulting from selenium deficiency.
The risk factors for selenium deficiency include living in an area with low selenium soil content, malabsorption disorders, HIV and long term haemodialysis.
Only a few studies have associated alopecia with selenium deficiency, and they are with animals. The lack of research on humans with selenium deficiency and hair loss makes identifying selenium as the cause of hair loss difficult.
However, selenium toxicity from an overdose of supplements can cause general hair loss, memory difficulties and blistering skin lesions.
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Vitamin D
Studies on animals found that vitamin D plays a role in hair follicle cycling. The risk factors for vitamin D deficiency include obesity, fat malabsorption, gastric bypass, dark skin and reduced exposure to sunlight.
A limited study of women with FPHL and TE showed significantly lower vitamin D2 and the vitamin D2 levels reduced with increased severity of the disease.
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Vitamin A
Vitamin A consists of compounds, including retinoic acid, retinal, retinol, and provitamin A carotenoids. Some studies forum dietary vitamin A to activate follicle stem cells, and certain levels of retinoic acid are necessary for optimum functioning of hair follicles.
Although vitamin A deficiency is not linked to hair loss, a study found that reduced vitamin A in the diet causes the delayed onset of hair loss. Hypervitaminosis A in humans from over-supplementation had a link to hair loss and other effects like bone, vision and skin changes.
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Vitamin E
Vitamin E compounds such as tocopherols and tocotrienols are essential antioxidants. Their deficiency may result in skin dryness and haemolytic anaemias. Vitamin E deficiency rarely occurs but can occur from fat malabsorption disorders.
A study involving a few people found increased hair number from taking tocotrienol supplements, but excess vitamin E from supplements can cause hypervitaminosis E. This reduces thyroid hormone production and increases the risk of bleeding.
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Folic acid
Green leafy vegetables are rich in folic acid, and there are many folic acid fortified foods. Folic acid deficiency is rare but may cause hair loss and megaloblastic anaemia. However, there is no link between serum folate levels and diffuse hair loss.
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Biotin
Vitamin H or biotin is a cofactor for carboxylation enzymes. The symptoms of biotin deficiency include conjunctivitis, alopecia and eczematous skin rash. This deficiency is rare because intestinal bacteria can produce sufficient levels of biotin. Excess consumption of rays egg white may lead to iron deficiency due to binding with avidin.
A study on infants lacking biotin with patchy alopecia and dermatitis had an improvement with daily oral biotin supplements
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Proteins and amino acids
Protein malnutrition includes marasmus and kwashiorkor. These conditions cause hair changes like hair loss and thinning. L-lysine may play a role in significantly increasing ferritin concentration that contributes to hair growth, but no clear conclusion is available linking hair growth to supplementation of other amino acids.
Although some studies on protein supplements show improved hair growth, these supplements contain other undisclosed ingredients.
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Antioxidants
Antioxidants are compounds that neutralise reactive oxygen species (ROS) to prevent oxidative damage. Several substances are classified as antioxidants. They include zinc, selenium, vitamin E and A.
Oxidative stress has a link to hair loss, and patients with AA usually have excessive free radicals in the scalp, inkling higher levels of antioxidative enzymes.
Although dietary antioxidants can improve the endogenous antioxidant system, high doses of exogenous antioxidants may affect the balance between antioxidation and oxidation. Antioxidants from plant foods like vegetables, grains and fruits may be safer than antioxidant supplements.
If you experience any form of hair loss, it is best to visit a doctor for treatment. You can visit Turkey Hair Transplants for sapphire hair transplant surgery to replace lost hair.
