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Showing posts with label nutrients. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nutrients. Show all posts

The Top 3 Reasons For Losing Your Hair

According to scientists, there are three causes of alopecia in either men or women.

Too much DHT

Pseudo-oestrogen chemicals

Lack of vital nutrients

DHT

Free testosterone is broken down into DHT (a more potent form of testosterone). This chemical binds to the hair follicle receptors blocking vital nutrients from accessing the hair. The hair becomes miniaturized and thin and eventually dies. It is what’s called the “peach fuzz” look on young men with hair loss.

This is why eunuchs never had any hair loss which got Plato wondering. It is also why only men get male pattern baldness and women don’t. Hair loss in women is more evenly distributed with a thinning over the whole scalp. Also, effective DHT inhibiting treatment was only effective on young men with hair loss and not older men or women. Excessive DHT is therefore not the only reason for losing your hair.

PSEUDO-OESTROGEN CHEMICALS

It is normally unheard of for women in China to get hair loss at any age. Over the last 20 years increasing number of Chinese women in the industrialized areas of China are experiencing hair loss. This has been put down to chemicals form the industrial process which mimic the chemical effects of oestrogen. These pseudo-oestrogen chemicals bind tighter to the hair follicle receptors than normal oestrogen does, starving the hair follicle of vital nutrients, similar to the way DHT does.

Also, this seems to the reason for hair loss in obese men. Fat cells in obese and balding men contain more of the enzyme aromatase (responsible for converting testosterone into oestrogen). Also bacteria in fat cells produce oestrogen-like chemicals.

LACK OF VITAL NUTRIENTS

The hair needs a variety of nutrients to sustain itself. The theory is that both DHT and estrogen-like chemicals block the hair follicle by binding to it too tightly. Even without these chemicals, a person lacking in these nutrients will experience hair loss.

There have been experiments on mice which show the effect of a deficiency of certain vitamins or minerals. Scientists knocked out the genes in mice responsible for the regulation of the hair and scalp. These genes are in turn normally regulated by vitamin D. The result was rickets and hair loss with dermal cysts appearing quite early on. When scientists injected naturally “nude” mice with vitamin D, they started sprouting hair at an alarming rate.

It has been shown that copper and zinc, if lacking together, increase a loss of hair. In fact, a copper peptide was shown to induce hair growth in the skin around the wound of a person. The copper peptide was first used as healing accelerant.

For women, a lack of iron and the essential amino acid L-lysine has been associated with losing one’s hair. This therapy has proven to be very beneficial for women who are losing their hair.

Is There A Role For Nutrition In Dealing With Hair Loss

Could something as basic as inadequate nutrition really contribute to excessive shedding of hair?

Does sensible nutrition have a role to play in helping hair to regrow?

The answer to both questions is yes! There is no doubt that poor nutrition and hectic lifestyles can contribute to hair loss. Modern diets can be associated with a number of nutritional deficiencies that are thought to contribute to hair loss:

1. The refining of whole grains reduces the B vitamin content.

2. Over cooking of vegetables destroys B vitamins.

3. Raw leafy greens are absent in most diets.

4. The vitamins that have been ingested are often re-directed to facilitate the digestion of nutritionally sterile carbohydrates like sugar and white flour.

5. Stimulants like caffeine, nicotene and alcohol rob the body of vital nutrients.

6. Excessive salt intake can encourage hair loss because of its tendency to accumulate in tissue.

7. Low fiber intake inhibits digestion thus reducing the body’s ability to deliver nutrients to the blood stream.

Clearly poor nutrition can cause hair loss because the body will ration nutrients in a hierarchy of vital organs first and hair last. It is unlikely that improved nutrition alone will result in new hair growth but it will minimize shedding and support other treatments that encourage regrowth.

Hair Loss Due To Various Diseases Or Surgery

Most times, hair loss is explained in the context of genetics and a change in the hormonal balance of one’s body. However, hair loss can also be a symptom of an underlying disease or a result from a surgery.

Skin diseases that affect the scalp form one disorder that can result in hair loss. The nutrients, minerals and supplements are lost rapidly in the hair and scalp. With any of these skin diseases, it will usually cause hair loss either because of the effects from the immune system or because of the lack of nutrients that are not available from the disease.

Cancer, lupus or diabetes are other conditions that can cause your hair to fall out. Because the nutrients are not balanced in the body from these diseases, it may cause side effects or problems with hair loss. This is known as a side effect of an underlying problem that is more severe.

When you are losing hair from a surgery, it is usually either a side effect of the disease, or from excess stress that occurs from the surgery. This is especially known to be a problem if the surgery is major. In other instances, the hair loss may be a result of part of the surgical procedure, such as chemotherapy, which will cause temporary hair loss.

Knowing how your disease or the aftermath of a surgery can result in hair loss is important as it can mean that your falling hair may just be a temporary situation as you recover from a weakened immune system and body.

Once your body hormones begin to balance again and your organs are working optimally, hair will begin to grow back at a normal rate. Don’t worry excessively if your hair takes some time to grow. It takes time for the proteins and nutrients to take effect on your scalp and hair. In fact, a period of between four to six months is usually the case before you have a good amount of hair back on your head again.

If you are losing your hair because of a disease, then you can expect that the hair will grow back. In order to make sure that your hair grows back, you will need to take proper specific steps in order to remove toxins from your body and rebalance the hormones internally. In effect, your scalp and hair area will gain more nutrients and will have the ability to become healthy again. Over time, your hair loss will diminish and will grow back, despite the effects from any type of disease that has affected your body.