Vitamin C Deficiency Hair Loss
Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant and integral vitamin to the immune system. It plays a role in collagen production and the absorption of iron. A deficiency in this vitamin may contribute to hair loss or brittle, weak hair.3 Vitamin C deficiency is known to cause scurvy, an ancient disease that resulted in poor gum health and other connective tissue problems.
Vitamin C is necessary for the development and repair of all tissues throughout your body. It helps with the production of collagen, an essential protein to make healthy skin and strong hair. Vitamin C is also needed for healing wounds and maintaining healthy teeth and bones.1
Vitamin C deficiency causes dry, breaking hair, rough skin, and bleeding gums.2 Along with other nutrients, vitamin C helps support hair growth by assisting with collagen production and supporting the absorption of non-heme iron3 .
Because Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin, your body cannot store excess amounts of it so it must be replenished through your diet. Good sources of vitamin C include dark leafy greens, green and red bell peppers, potatoes, broccoli, brussels sprouts, spinach, and citrus fruits.
Natures Way Zinc Lozenges
Price: $
For those interested in lozenges, each of Natures Ways Zinc Lozenges provides 23 mg of zinc as well as 100 mg of vitamin C and 20 mg of Echinacea purpurea.
Although the label suggests that adults can take up to 6 lozenges per day, this would push your daily zinc intake way over the suggested 40-mg tolerable upper intake level set for zinc .
Taking too much zinc can have negative effects on your health and may interfere with the absorption of other nutrients.
Its important that you check with your doctor before taking high-dose zinc supplements to ensure your safety.
How To Take It
You should take zinc with water or juice. If zinc causes stomach upset, it can be taken with meals. Don’t take zinc at the same time as iron or calcium supplements.
A strong relationship exists between zinc and copper. Too much of one can cause a deficiency in the other. If you take zinc, including zinc in a multivitamin, you should also take copper.
Do not give zinc supplements to a child without talking to your doctor.
Daily intake of dietary zinc are listed below:
Pediatric
- Infants birth – 6 months: 2 mg
- Infants 7 – 12 months: 3 mg
- Children 1 – 3 years: 3 mg
- Children 4 – 8 years: 5 mg
- Children 9 – 13 years: 8 mg
- Boys 14 – 18 years: 11 mg
- Girls 14 – 18 years: 9 mg
Adult
- Men 19 years and older: 11 mg
- Women 19 years and older: 8 mg
- Pregnant women 14 – 18 years: 12 mg
- Pregnant women 19 years and older: 11 mg
- Breastfeeding women 14 – 18 years: 13 mg
- Breastfeeding women 19 years and older: 12 mg
You should not take high doses of zinc for more than a few days unless your doctor tells you to. Talk to your doctor before taking more than 40 mg of zinc per day and take breaks from zinc supplementation. During those breaks, get zinc from a well-balanced diet.
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Tips To Eat Your Way To Thicker Fuller Hair
- Courtesy of BrandPoint
Research shows that certain nutrients, including iron, zinc, B vitamins, vitamin C and omega-3s are essential to healthy-growing hair,
Did you know that what you eat affects your hair? That’s news to most people, especially those who are dealing with hair loss. While there are many possible causes for hair loss – stress, the environment, health problems – achieving thick, full and healthy hair ultimately starts with your diet. That’s because the nutrients you get from food and supplements provide the building blocks for your hair growth.
Research shows that certain nutrients, including iron, zinc, B vitamins, vitamin C and omega-3s are essential to healthy-growing hair, while lack of these nutrients and certain inflammatory foods can lead to hair loss and slower-growing hair.
Integrative Nutrition Health Coach Maria Marlowe has partnered with NIOXIN, the No. 1 globally selling salon brand for thicker, fuller-looking hair, to spread the word about how nutrition contributes to achieving a beautiful mane. Here are her best tips about what to eat – and what to avoid – for optimal hair health.
What to consume:
Iron
Iron helps boost circulation and carries oxygen to your hair’s roots, which helps the hair grow faster and longer. An iron deficiency can lead to hair loss. Some good sources of iron include clams, beans, lentils, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, oysters, grass-fed beef and bison.
Zinc
B vitamins
Omega-3
Vitamin C
Supplements
What to avoid:
Benefits Of Zinc Pyrithione For Hair
The benefits of zinc pyrithione extend beyond the skin of the scalp. By improving the health of the scalp, the health of the hair benefits as well. While not specifically formulated to help with hair, by helping to treat the scalp and improving overall scalp health, it is thought that zinc pyrithione may help promote hair regrowth. “One study showed that daily use of 1 percent pyrithione zinc shampoo over 26 weeks showed an improvement in hair growth,” Garshick shares. Engelman agreed that zinc pyrithione can have the potential to impact growth. “Since a number of thinning hair and hair loss concerns are related to the scalp, zinc pyrithione can help clear dead skin cells or conditions that prevent hair growth and thus promote fuller, healthier hair,” says Engelman.
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The Best Hair Growth Stimulating Shampoo: Pure Biology Shampoo
Price: $27.99
Jam-packed with a breakthrough revitalizing complex infused with natural extracts, Pure Biology Growth Stimulating and Anti-Hair Loss Shampoo will add volume to thin hair while preventing breakage and hair loss. This shampoo offers the best hair growth blend of amino acids, biotin, keratin, natural extracts, vitamins, and more! All to give your hair and scalp the essential nutrients it needs for sturdy hair growth.
Rosemary oil is a special ingredient in this hair growth shampoo as it is known for treating alopecia and thinning hair. Pure Biology has a cruelty-free, non-GMO, paraben-free formula thats safe to use on any hair type, even curly or damaged hair. Its recommended to use Pure Biology Conditioner to complete the set of hair growth stimulating properties for best results.
So What Does This Mean
What you need is the right balance of zinc in your diet. If you have too little, you can lose your hair. If you have too much, you can also lose your hair.
You might get by on the minimum amount of zinc in your diet without a supplement or adjusting your diet and not suffer too much further loss of hair, but zinc is also needed for more than hair growth, and if you want to noticeably increase your hair growth and your overall health, it pays to take a supplement or to consume more zinc-rich foods, or both.
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Other Hair Loss Treatment Options
Although research is mixed on the effects of zinc as a hair growth supplement, there are several real, science-based treatments that you may want to consider if youre losing your hair.
Currently, the most effective treatments for male pattern baldness are the medications minoxidil and finasteride:
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Minoxidil is a topical medication that stimulates hair growth. It works by moving hairs into the anagen, or growth, phase of the hair growth cycle. It also stimulates blood flow to the scalp.We offer minoxidil solution and minoxidil foam online. You can find out more about using minoxidil in our guide to applying minoxidil for hair growth.
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Finasteride is an oral medication for hair loss. It works by inhibiting 5-alpha reductase and blocking the conversion of testosterone to DHT, protecting your hair follicles from damage caused by DHT exposure.We offer finasteride online, following a consultation with a licensed healthcare provider who will determine if a prescription is appropriate.
Our guide to what you should take for hair loss provides more information on medications and hair care products for treating male pattern baldness.
Hairmax Prisma 9 Lasercomb
HairMax uses a technique called low-level laser therapy to directly stimulate hair follicles to produce more and stronger hair. The scientific evidence for this treatment is sparse, but there are some studies that exist supporting it.
Its not as easy to use as some of the other treatments on this list, so thanks to this and the inconvenience of using the comb, it doesnt rank particularly highly, but its worth a shot if you want to attack your hair loss with every available tool.
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Best Vegan Formula: Seed Phytonutrients Volume Shampoo
Grapefruit seed oil acts like a toner for your scalp to help remove impurities and keep oil production in check. Meanwhile, rice protein helps build up strands to look fuller while also making them stronger over time. Another bonus: The patchouli and orange peel scent.
This shampoo “addresses the factors that contribute to progressive and reactional hair thinning in men and women,” Hill says. Hair will be visibly thicker, denser, and more resilient thanks to encapsulated essential oils like orange, lavender, and rosemary in the formula. “It promotes microcirculation when massaged in,” she adds.
Zinc And The Hair Growth Cycle
To understand hair loss and how nutrition can reverse it, its important to understand how our hair grows and falls. Our hair experiences three phases:
- The Anagen Phase which is the growth phase, that can last anywhere from 2 to 6 years, depending on your genetics. Our hair grows approximately ½ inch per month , but there are those whos hair grows faster or slower than the average.
- The Catagen Phase this transitional phase begins when the anagen phase ends. Its a short phase, approximately 2-3 weeks long. During this phase the hair is cut off from the blood supply and the cells that will produce a new hair. Meanwhile a nascent hair is being nurtured to take its place.
- The Telogen Phase this is the resting phase, when the hair is released from the follicle to eventually fall out. This phase lasts from 2 to 4 months. When the telogen phase ends, the anagen phase starts anew.
Research has proven that nutritional deficiencies decrease the length of the anagen phase and causes more hairs than is normal to enter the telogen phase at the same time, leading to unmistakable thinning of the hair, bald spots and if the deficiency continues long enough, baldness.
In a 2013 study, published in the Annals of Dermatology, all of the hair loss patients had significantly lower zinc levels than the control group studied.
Based on the evidence, the researchers concluded that zinc metabolism disturbances played a key role in hair loss, especially alopecia areata and telogen effluvium.
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Hair Growth Support + By Nuzena
Nuzena is a brand-new supplement company known for their potent formulas.
Nuzenas Hair Growth Support + contains several ingredients that help to promote hair growth such as biotin, folic acid, and Fo-Ti ingredients we have seen before, but are in larger dosages here.
It also contains several vitamins and trace minerals that help to support hair volume and nourish hair quality something we know is also important for people looking for hair growth supplements.
Nuzena claims that their formula will support hair growth, hair volume, and hair structure and by looking at the ingredients inside the formula we can certainly see why.
Another encouraging sign for first time buyers is that there are plenty of verified positive customer reviews on their website a great sign to see.
Easily a top-3 option and one of the cheapest options, too.
Best Overall: Biolage Advanced Full Density Thickening Shampoo
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Fortifies hair with coconut and argan oils
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Too much product may cause stickiness
Part dry shampoo, part styler, this is an easy way to boost limp locks, fast. Volcanic spring powder coupled with argan and coconut oils gives it its creamy consistency. To use, massage a dime-sized amount into your roots with your fingertips and repeat as needed. Not only will it absorb excess oil, but it also bulks up the hairs for an instantly fuller look.
Sulfate-Free: No | Size: 2 oz. | Cruelty-Free: Yes | Yes
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How Much Do You Need
For safety, and to determine the amount of zinc your body requires for good health, the Food and Drug Administration has established the recommended dietary allowance based on age and gender. These values include the total zinc intake from food sources, including fortified foods, forms of supplements and multivitamins, medications and household items containing zinc.
- Children, to 3 years of age: 3 milligrams 4 to 8years of age: 5 milligrams 9 to 13 years of age: 8 milligrams
- Men, age 14 and older: 11 milligrams
- Women, 14 to 18 years of age: 9 milligrams age 19 and older: 8 milligrams
- Pregnant and lactating women: 11 to 13 milligrams
Best Vitamins For Hair Growth Thickness And Hair Loss
As human beings, that shock of hair on top of our heads is difficult to miss, and so our health and beauty is often tied up with how it looks is it a good colour? Is it well styled? Is it healthy?
This last question is a big one. Despite the fact that hair cells are technically dead, we do have an idea of what healthy hair looks like. Shiny, thick, not frizzy or broken, and generally speaking the more the better. This isnt just aesthetics either hair loss, dull hair, and brittle hair can each be signs of other underlying health problems and nutritional deficiencies.
In order to give your hair what it needs to look its best, and therefore help you to look your best, youll need to ensure you take in the right vitamins and other nutrients for healthy hair growth. Here are five of the key vitamins to take in, and a few other nutrients to help your hair grow strong and healthy-looking.
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Should You Take A Hair Supplement
There is no doubt that the best way to get the vitamins and nutrients you need is through a good diet. If you are unsure if your diet is sufficient to bring in the nutrients you need, you may want to make sure by taking a supplement. Supplements work best for those who have deficiencies, but they are not harmful to people without deficiencies.
If you are unsure if you have a deficiency or not, your doctor or dietician can help you determine if you need to alter your diet, or start taking a supplement.