What Vitamins Cause Hair Loss

An Overview Of Vitamin Deficiencies That Cause Hair Loss

There are lots of reasons that you might be experiencing hair loss, including genetics, a hormonal imbalance, immune disorder, emotional trauma, side effects from medications, and more.

But another common reason that you might notice thinning or the loss of some of your hair is diet.

Building healthy, strong hair requires a variety of vitamins and minerals. If you’re not getting enough of certain essential nutrients in your diet, you may experience hair loss. The good news is that making changes to your diet and even taking supplements can help to reverse this type of hair loss, and you may not have to seek out more serious hair loss treatments.

Medically Endorsed Hair Loss Treatments

In the UK, only two hair loss medicines are actually endorsed by the medical community, and have been proven to treat hair growth.

Prescription tablets:Finasteride

The most effective treatment for male pattern baldness is Finasteride . This prescription treatment is not available on the NHS, but you can order it through affordable services like our own LloydsPharmacy Online Doctor. Finasteride has been proven to stop hair loss in 90% of men with male pattern baldness.

Medicated foam/lotion:Minoxidil

Minoxidil is a lotion or foam that is applied to the scalp every day as an effective hair loss treatment. It is not as effective as Propecia, but has still been proven to stop hair loss and promote hair regrowth in 60% of men with male pattern baldness. Minoxidil is available without a prescription, through high street pharmacies or supermarkets. You can also order it online from our website.

References

Diet Tips To Improve To Prevent Hair Loss

• In addition to taking supplements, you can also make the following changes in your diet:
• Make sure your hair gets the nutrition it needs by eating a balanced and nutritious breakfast.
• Snack between meals on complex carbohydrates like fruit, vegetables, whole grain bread, and crackers to keep your hair follicles energy levels high.
• Having high levels of ferritin is extremely important for hair growth. In addition, eating lean red meat twice a week is strongly recommended, especially when you are menstruating. Alternatively, consider supplementing your diet with iron nutritionally.
• You should drink roughly 1.5-2 liters of water per day, depending on how much you exercise and how hot it is
• You must consume vitamin C with iron to absorb it as effectively as possible. So drink fresh orange juice or eat fruit to help absorb iron.
• Breakfast and lunch should contain protein-rich foods .
• You will be better able to get sufficient vitamins and minerals with a varied diet.
• In general, dairy products are excellent sources of calcium. However, if you suffer from any of the conditions mentioned above, dairy products can make it worse.

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What Can You Do If You Have Hair Loss From Medications

Discuss with your doctor if your dosage can be adjusted or if you can switch to another medication that also helps your condition without the hair loss side effect. Never do this without the strict supervision of your doctor.

In most cases, hair loss from medication will stop a few weeks after you discontinue the drug. However, new hair growth can take a while and might not return to its original texture or volume.

If you have been taking the medication for a long time, you might also develop chronic telogen effluvium. That means you might continue losing hair even after stopping the medication. Chronic telogen effluvium can last up to 7 years.

Discuss your hair loss with your doctor. Discontinuing the drug is not always the only solution. Sometimes, adjusting the dosage or adding a supplement can help a great deal.

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What Are The Best Vitamins For Hair Loss

Vitamins that contain the aforementioned ingredients will help support healthy hair growth. However, if you are having pattern hair loss or more specifically androgenetic alopecia or female pattern hair loss, you may also need to use a DHT Blocker along with your hair vitamins.

Here’s our article on how to tell the difference between different kinds of hair loss.

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What Vitamin Deficiency Causes Hair Loss: 4 Vitamins Linked To Hair Loss

Experiencing hair loss from chemotherapy or alopecia is jarring and frustrating. But what do you do when you’re experiencing hair loss and you have no idea why? If you find yourself pulling way more hair out of your hair brush than normal or find that you have to unclog your shower drain every morning, you may have a vitamin deficiency. In some instances, vitamin deficiency causes hair loss, among other baffling side effects.

To get this hairy situation under control, weve included details regarding how certain vitamins can affect your body differently, especially when it comes to your luscious locks.

Can Hair Grow Back After Thinning

Although hair re-growth may be possible, you should also know when to seek professional help. If the reason for thinning hair is genetics, it will not grow back on its own. To grow back a healthy, full head of hair, youll need to take action, and that involves reviewing different hair loss options.

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Uncoupling Protein Is A Misleading Name It Makes It Sound Like Something Its Not

Thats because shortly after a scientist named David Nicholls discovered it in the late 1970s in brown adipose tissue, he started calling it uncoupling protein.

Originally it was called thermogenin because of its ability to raise body temperature in fat cells in mice.

But Dr. Nicholls wrongly assumed that the mice were creating heat without affecting their metabolism in any way.

He thought the heat was created by uncoupling the mitochondria from ATP synthesis and energy production.

Is Hair Thinning The Same As Hair Loss

Unlike widespread hair loss, thinning hair doesnt necessarily cause baldness. It does, however, give the appearance of sparser spots of hair on your head. Thinning hair typically happens gradually, which means you have time to pinpoint the causes and figure out the best treatment measures.

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Best Hair Growth Products & Hair Regrowth Vitamin Supplements

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We lose about 50-100 strands of hair every day. This amount is normal and unavoidable. If you lose any more hair than this, you may be suffering from hair loss. The American Hair Loss Association says that about 5 out of 10 women experience hair loss in their lifetime, and 80-85 percent of men are bald by 50. 95% of it is caused by androgenic alopecia, also known as male pattern baldness. In comparison, 29% of women with excessive shedding showed symptoms of depression.

Hair fall is a genuine concern for most people, regardless of gender, because hair fall leads to low self-esteem and low self-confidence. Several factors cause hair fall, but most of them are curable if addressed correctly. For example, extrinsic factors such as free radicals and environmental pollution can be fixed if appropriately treated. Inflammation and stress also can be treated. Hair follicle disorders are treated with the proper ingredients.

Can Vitamins Cause Hair Loss

Most vitamins are essential to ones health, but all things should be taken in moderation, including vitamins. While the recommended daily value of vitamins can help to slow down hair loss, too much of a good thing has been proven to be a bad thing.

Vitamin A for example is one vitamin that has been linked to hair loss when excessive amounts are consumed. The RDAs, or recommended dietary allowances, for vitamin A are 900 mcg for adult men, or 700 mcg for adult women . When taken within the recommended values it is actually good for hair growth and maintenance as it aids in the reproduction of cells. However, vitamin A is fat-soluble, so your body stores any excess of the vitamin that you take in. This can lead to toxicity, and one symptom of that includes hair loss.

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Vitamin A And Hair Loss: What Is The Relationship

The relationship between vitamin A and hair loss, like other vitamins and minerals, is dependent on a healthy balance. Although hair loss can be caused by a lack of or improper intake of this vitamin, if it is solely due to vitamin intake, it is a relatively simple problem to resolve. Many people with hair loss, however, have a genetic predisposition to it. If this is the case, our doctors will perform a thorough review in order to diagnose and treat the disease. Our surgeons have a clear understanding of the causes and treatments for hair loss, and they provide patients with the best possible recovery care.

Are You Vitamin D Deficient

If youre shedding more hair than normal and think that you could be deficient in vitamin D, the best thing to do is to talk to a healthcare professional.

Your healthcare provider will be able to diagnose vitamin D deficiency via a 25-hydroxy vitamin D blood test.

This is a type of blood test that checks for 25-hydroxyvitamin D a common form of vitamin D that circulates in your blood.

Vitamin D deficiency is surprisingly common. According to the book, Vitamin D Deficiency, up to one billion people worldwide, approximately 13 percent of the worlds entire population, are deficient in vitamin D.

If youre severely deficient in vitamin D, you may notice certain symptoms other than hair loss. According to the Cleveland Clinic, common symptoms of vitamin D deficiency include:

• Fatigue

• Slow healing of cuts and wounds

• Changes in your mood

• High blood pressure

Certain factors, such as your age, ethnicity and habits, may increase your risk of being deficient in vitamin D. You may have a higher risk of vitamin D deficiency if you:

Vitamin D deficiency is also common in breastfed infants. If you have an infant who is breastfed, your healthcare provider may recommend providing them with a vitamin D supplement to avoid developing a vitamin D deficiency.

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How Much Is Too Much

For an adult over 19 years of age, 4300 International Units of Vitamin A per day is considered sufficient for the proper functioning of the organism. These are normally ensured by a balanced diet, with little need for supplementation in a healthy person.

In order to overdose on Vitamin A, you would have to consume around double your recommended daily intake. According to government guidelines, the upper threshold to which excess intake of Vitamin A is tolerated by your body is 10,000 IU. Exceeding this threshold over a prolonged period of time will lead to overdosing and Vitamin A Toxicity, with severe effects for your health.

If you are planning on taking any Vitamin A supplements, it is advised that you speak to your doctor first. It is relatively difficult to overdose on Vitamin A purely by eating the foods in which it is found.

Vitamin A can be ingested under two forms: retinol and beta-carotene .

However, as the same study cited above points out, Vitamin A toxicity does not occur from the ingestion of beta-carotene, regardless of the dosage. It is only reported when overdosing on retinol. This can only happen through supplementation, as the doses normally ingested through diet even in large portions, are far too small to do real harm.

Why Does Hair Shed Anyway

In order to properly treat hair shedding, its crucial to understand all of the culprits that could be driving this changeand there are more possibilities than you might think.

Healthy hair undergoes three stages during the life cycle, including a growing stage , a short preparation stage, and a few months of resting, explains Dr. Erica Walters, an aesthetic medicine practitioner and medical director at Park Avenue Skin Solutions and Tribeca Wellness Collective. When the resting stage is over, hair sheds normally and the cycle repeats itself. Walters notes that one of the most common causes of excess hair shedding is stress, especially in younger womenwhich may explain why youre losing hair before age 30 and years before menopausebut stress may not be the sole factor.

Other common causes include hormone imbalances , extreme dieting, anemia, thyroid dysfunction, and certain vitamin deficiencies, Walters says. Genetics and auto-immune disease can also cause hair loss and thinning. For all ages, I gather a detailed medical history including diet, exercise, life events and stressors, medication or drug use, and even patterns of hair styling and coloring. Basic lab work would include hormone and thyroid testing, vitamin levels, electrolytes, and a complete blood count to rule out any abnormalities.

One solution you likely wont encounter at Walters office? You guessed it: biotin.

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Which Vitamins Help In Hair Growth

In addition to biotin, the other B vitamins are important for healthy hair growth, including Vitamin B6, B12, and folic acid. In fact, Vitamin B12 helps hair cells and hair growth by promoting healthy hair follicles through the production of oxygen-rich red blood cells.

The B vitamins arent the only nutrients important for good hair health. To avoid any vitamin deficiency hair loss, your diet should include nutrients like Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, iron, magnesium, and zinc.

Vitamin D deficiency hair loss is also a problem. Vitamin D nourishes the hair follicles. Vitamin D deficiency is also common in people who suffer from alopecia areata, an autoimmune condition.

Can Supplements Cause Hair Loss

While we most often suffer from nutrients deficiency, too much of a vitamin can cause hair loss too. To avoid the problem, maintain a balanced diet, consult your doctor regarding taking the vitamins and minerals for hair and carefully follow the dosage prescriptions.

If your hair receives all necessary nutrients, it will look shiny, healthy, and appealing. Thus, start your hair care with adopting a healthy diet or taking carefully selected supplements.

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Saw Palmetto And Hair Loss

There are many treatments for hair loss. In recent years, hair pieces and hair extensions have gained popularity. Topical medications and oral drugs are other popular methods people use to treat thinning hair. Surgical procedures such hair plugs also work well. But medications can have side effects and surgery can be expensive.

Saw palmetto is an alternative remedy used to treat hair loss. Its a plant with small berries that has been used by Native Americans as medicine and food for hundreds of years. Theres evidence that this herbal remedy may treat an enlarged prostate. It also has been used to treat:

• hair loss
• prostate cancer

Research on whether saw palmetto works to treat hair loss is limited but promising. An extract of saw palmetto berries may block 5-alpha-reductase, an enzyme that converts testosterone to DHT. DHT is the molecule responsible for hair loss and also is involved in the enlargement of the prostate.

One study showed promise in saw palmettos ability to treat an enlarged prostate. Researchers hope it can slow or stop hair loss too. In fact, the components of saw palmetto that block the enzyme work in a similar way as synthetic ingredients in prescription medication for hair loss.

Saw palmetto comes in several different forms, including:

• whole dried berries
• liquid extracts
• powdered capsules