Good Nutrition May Prevent Hair Loss

On my 40th birthday, I looked into the mirror and got the shock of my life. My hair was thinning — in a typical male pattern balding pattern, and I’m female. I can tell you, it really freaked me out. I went to the doctor straight away. After a few tests, we discovered it was just due to stress and taking some pre-natal vitamins along with working to reduce my stress started the re-growth of my hair.

But, along the journey, I learned a lot about hair loss in women. One of the most important was that healthy diet maintenance is one of the best things for hair loss prevention. Though there are certain factors influencing hair loss, maintaining regular exercise and a healthy diet will definitely bring fruitful results if you are suffering from hair loss.

Yeah, yeah, yeah — easier said than done. But if I can do it, you can too.

The common dietary nutrients which help in hair loss prevention are copper, iron, zinc, iodine, protein, silica, vitamin-A, Vitamin-B complex (vitamins B-6 and B-12), biotin, water and folic acid.

Maintaining a healthy mineral and vitamin intake doesn’t mean that you should buy a lot of over-the-counter vitamin supplements and fill your cabinet with hair loss prevention supplements. You should be aware that most vitamin supplements available at drugstores or pharmacies are not able to get absorbed by the body, since they are chemically processed. And, it is possible to over dose, which, for some of these vitamins, might cause adverse reactions and toxicity. Hair loss prevention can be achieved best by getting most of your vitamin from food itself.

The first and foremost dietary component that helps best is vitamin-A, one of the key components of hair. This vitamin prevents clogging and drying of the sebaceous glands, which is essential for hair follicle lubrication. So, it helps to prevent hair loss. The main source of dietary vitamin A is fish oil, fortified milk, eggs, liver and orange vegetables. Dark green leafy vegetables are also a good source of vitamin A.

Vitamin B is essential for red blood cell metabolism. Your body needs vitamin B to make hemoglobin. The function of hemoglobin is to transport oxygen from the lungs to the body tissues including hair. For hair loss prevention, it is always advisable to have high hemoglobin level in the blood. The vitamin B complex can be obtained through chicken, pork, kidney, liver, fish, and soybeans. Also, a good supply of vitamins B can help with stress and depression.

In general, daily inclusion of any one of these items might help in hair loss prevention. Folic acid, which also plays an important role in hair loss prevention, gets assimilated in the body through cereals, nuts, whole grains, orange juice, wheat germ and liver.

Another important nutrient that helps with hair loss prevention is Biotin. However, you should be aware that a serious intestinal disorder or malnutrition might affect the absorption of biotin, since it is produced by living bacteria in the healthy gut.

Although maintaining a healthy diet is the best way for hair loss prevention, consuming these foods in correct form is essential. Moreover the green vegetables and foods should be eaten uncooked, as they may lose trace minerals once they are cooked extensively.