Nutrition really important for health & its related to our hairs too. There are many health issues arise due to not having the good nutrition. Nutrition is very complex topic but it affects our hairs in very simple way. Hair is slow in responding to any stimulus.
Fig-Nutrition
Before going to discuss how nutrition affects our hairs, I would like to give light on different types of nutrition. Generally we need 6 kinds of nutrients in our daily life-Carbohydrates, Fats, Minerals, Proteins, Vitamins & Water.
Formulating the hair nutrition for any hair problem is very important part of the treatment because its basic things to be corrected for any hair problems. That's why the only reason we should always take a balanced & nutritious diet for healthy hairs. A person's good hair completely depends on how good nutrition he is taking. Its very important to include all the nourishment in our diet so our hairs get it through us. But now a days youngsters are having spicy, junk & fast food which do not have the basic nutrients required for our hairs and not only that it produces harmful effects on our health & hairs too.Nutritionists have also suggested that deficiency of some nutrients can cause dry, frizzy & dull hairs & hair loss too to some extend.
Basically we need to have all the nutrients but some in large & some in small amounts. And on this basis these nutrients are classified into two major categories-A)Macronutrients including Carbohydrates, Fats ,Proteins Water B) Micronutrients including Minerals & Vitamins.
A)Macronutrients
1)Carbohydrates:- Rice,noodles & grains are the good source of carbohydrates & they are of 3 basic types Monosaccharide,Disaccharide & Polysaccharide depending upon the single,double & three sugar chain respectively. Polysaccharides are generally complex carbohydrates.
Now a days people prefer the NO CARB diet but they don't know these kind of diet is mainly associated with Diffuse Hair Loss and that's why people should take that kind of diet which must have good source of dietary fibers. Cakes, biscuits & flour are the refines carbs which contain high amount of sugar & low amount fiber & these food leads to hair loss indirectly because high content of sugar in blood inhibits you to handle your stress & stress could be reason for hair loss. Always prefer to complex carbs like meat flour, beans & fruits in your diet because it makes your body able to deliver the required nutrients to the blood stream as well as hair follicles .
2)Fats:- Fats are nothing but fatty acid bonded with glycerol and termed as triglycerides. There are two types of fats depending upon the carbon atoms involved Saturated & Unsaturated. Saturated fats are single carbon atom bonded with hydrogen atom whereas Unsaturated fats are double carbon atoms with less hydrogen atoms bonding. Unsaturated fats again divided into two monounsaturated & polyunsaturated depending upon the one double bond & many double bonds.
Now these unsaturated fatty acids depending upon the locations of bond are termed as Omega 3 or 6 fatty acids. These unsaturated fatty acids are good for our health & good sources are olive oil & flax seeds. And these fatty acids are good for our hairs & scalp too. They nourish our hair & scalp & keep them shiny. Omega 3 fatty acids also prevent the drying of our hairs because it keeps our hairs hydrated. Flax seeds, olive oil, avocados & walnuts are rich source of omega 3 fatty acids.
3)Proteins:- Proteins are nothing but the basic stones for building the structure of our body like muscle,skin & hairs. Proteins are composed of amino acids and there are two kind of amino acids a)Essential amino acid(those animal can not produce by themselves) & b) Non-essential amino acid(can produce by themselves). There are about 20 amino acids in our body & out of that 20 amino acids 10 amino acids are essential one and must be included in our diet.
Keratin is a hair protein & composed of amino acids and its a building material for our hairs. That's why a protein rich diet we should always ensure to repair the damaged hairs & it also help in proper hair growth cycle. So,basically protein is the one of the most important nutrient for hairs & we should have it proper in our diet so hair reproduced on regular basis.
Good source of proteins food are meat,eggs,fish & milk. Some kind of grains & seeds are also good source of proteins. These are all natural source of protein & nothing is compatible with nature because now a days taking protein supplement is in trend but its very important for you to understand that these protein supplements are not as good as natural one. They will not produce a sufficient help to reproduce our hairs, which actually needed.
As stated above there are 20 essential amino acids but not all required for hairs. For hair following two(2) essential amino acids are needed:-
a)Methionine: This is one of essential amino acids. It simply means that it should be obtained from the outside because our body could not produce it. Meat & fish are the good source for this kind of protein. L-methionine is also essential amino acid which generally helps to prevent the Male Pattern Baldness & enhances hair growth. Its four sulfur containing amino acids which gives sulfur to the hair cells needed for hair strength. Because our hairs needs sulfur for normal hair growth.
b)Lysine: This essential amino acid is generally needed for formation for protein fibers. We have to take it also from outside.It also helps to absorb the calcium which is required for collagen. And we know better how collagen is important for making our bones. As it required for protein building so we can very clearly understand that how important is it for our hairs because hair is make up of protein fibers. It also responsible for normal healthy skin of scalp. And its very useful for treating the Tellugen Effluvium. It generally increases the growth phase of hair cycle & decreases the hairs in falling phase.
So, deficiency of protein called Hypoproteinemia is responsible for dry,brittle lusterless hair & Diffuse Hair Loss.
4)Water:- How water is important for us you can simply understand by this that it regulates our body.Its just like an oil for a machine.Do you know at least 3 quarters of water excreted from our body on daily basis so its very simple that we should have that minimum quantity of water on regular basis for smooth functioning of our body. Each & every organ of our body needs water for their proper functioning & Hair is the last one where water reaches.
Generally hair roots soak up water from our body & then it reaches to hair for proper growth of hairs. Actually water maintains the moisturizing effects so its deficiency cause dry,brittle & rough hairs. For healthy body we should take 2-3 lit water per day.25% of weight of single strand of our hair is maintained by water. Due to dehydration our hairs are affected first resulting in dry frizzy hairs & also split ends .
B)Micronutrients
1)Vitamins:- Vitamins are those nutrients which are needed in very minor quantity but their effects will be major due to deficiency.Some vitamins are essential nutrients & required in our diet for good health. Due to deficiency of vitamins certain health issues we have to face like Scurvy,osteoporosis, immune disorder, premature graying etc.And not only that high level of vitamins in blood also not good for healthy & it induces heath problems especially vitamin-A.
Vitamins are very important for healthy hairs. They prevent dry & frizzy hair, hair breakage, early balding & Pre-Mature Graying(PMG) Diet enriched with vitamins helps to make dry, rough dull & weakened hairs into shiny,glossy & healthy hairs. Taking of Vitamins B complex can reduce Diffuse Hair Loss & make our hairs thick & healthy.
Vitamin-A- It is one of most important vitamin for hairs. Its a fat soluble vitamin & good sources are egg yolks, spinach sweet potatoes.crots,apricots,pumpkins & mangoes help to maintain the vitamin-A level. Generally vitamin-A is important for nails & skin & for hairs too, which promotes the healthy hairs. One of important function of vitamin-A is to maintain the healthy condition of scalp. Sebum is a natural conditioner of scalp & vitamin-A help in its production. Vitamin-A acts as an antioxidant which help in making the healthy scalp.
Vitamin-B- Vitamin-B is a group of vitamins in which there are 8 essential vitamins called Vitamin-B complex. And they are essential for hair growth. They area as follows:-
Vitamin-B1 called Thiamine
Vitamin-B2 called Riboflavin: Its an important vitamin for maintaining healthy & strong hairs. Diffuse Hair Loss is often related to low level of iron in our blood. Deficiency of this vitamin causes the poor absorption of iron resulting in iron deficiency so a good source of vitamin-B2 are eggs, dairy products,meat & fish.
Vitamin-B3 called Niacin & very helpful for making strong hairs. Vitamin-B3 helps in digestion of protein resulting in protein absorption for hairs. Its deficiencies decreasing the cells ability for poor generation of protein. So,it gives strength to the hairs.
Vitamin-B5 called Panthonic acid is known as anti-stress vitamin. Its is produced in our body by intestinal flora. It helps in prevention of Diffuse Hair Loss & Graying of hairs.
Vitamin-B6 called Pyridoxine has multiple functions including the hormone circulation. There is a co-relation between hormone & hair loss resulting in speculation that it helps in hair regrowth. A good source of vitamin-B6 is grains cereals.
Vitamin-B7 called Biotin known as vitamin-H also helps in making of healthy hairs by forming fatty acids in hairs. Its one of most important vitamin for preventing Diffuse Hair Loss & Graying of hairs. It also maintains the elasticity of hairs. As we know that our 90% of our hair is made up of a protein called keratin & this vitamin acting as coenzyme helps in building up this protein. Good sources of biotin are brown rice,walnuts,sunflower seeds,oats,soya beans,eggs,bananas & mushroom etc. So, deficiency of this vitamin triggers dry scaly skin, hair loss, brittle nails etc. Cigarette smoking can induce the deficiency of biotin.
Vitamin-B12 called Cobalamine helps in prevention of Diffuse Hair Loss. Some serious health problems are enhances by its deficiency like pernicious anemia, nerve disorder & GI disorders too.
Vitamin-C(Ascorbic acid)- This vitamin gives strength to the hairs. Our hairs get strength from the collagen fibers. These collagen fibers are protein fibers which make the structure of hair shaft.And this vitamin helps in production of collagen fibers.It is one of important antioxidant which fights against free radicals & preventing the hair damage.
Vitamin-D- Vitamin-D receptors has an important role in our hair growth cycle. Vitamin-D regulates those protein which are required for transition from telogen to anagen phase of hair cycle. So, alopecia also occurs in case of deficiency of this vitamin.
Vitamin-E- Vitamin-E stimulates the blood circulation of our scalp & promotes the hair growth. Its one of the essential vitamins for skin & hair. Good source of vitamin-E are peanuts,spinach,milk, whole grains etc.
2)Minerals:- Generally two(2) kinds of minerals are required in our body for a healthy hair. A-Macrominerals & B)Microminerals.
A)Macrominerals- Those minerals which are needed in relative quantity called Bulk minerals.Common macrominerals are calcium,chlorine,phosphorous, magnesium & potasssium,sodium & sufur which is one of the important mineral for hair,skin,nail &liver too.
Some of the minerals are needed in trace amount because they acts as a catalyst role in certain enzymes like copper, chromium, iodine, iron, nickel etc. Now we will discuss how these macrominerals are related to hairs & its health.
Calcium: It regulates the mechanism that produces the hair follicle cells.Calcium fluoride maintains the elasticity of hair.
Magnesium: Magnesium always work along with the calcium & that's the only reason most of hair supplements available in market contain both calcium & magnesium together because consumption of only calcium may cause the harmful effects in our body. Deficiency of magnesium can cause the muscle cramp as well as Diffuse Hair Loss.
Potassium: Potassium is very important for absorption of certain vital nutrients for hairs so it deficiency may cause our hairs to fall out.
Phosphorus: Phosphorus is essentially required for proper functioning of our bones,teeth & hairs. 80% of our body tissue is phosphorus & no other element is as important as phosphorus in structural mechanism of our body.
Sulfur: Its called "beauty mineral" for our body because it is very important mineral which is needed for various parts of our body. It provides the right nutrients for the growth of skin, hair & nails. In case of hair disulfide bonds are the strongest bonds responsible for the healthy hairs. Due to repeated chemical treatments this bond is damaged & ultimately cause dry,rough brittle hairs.
Chloride: Chlorides salts are necessary for smooth functioning of body cells. Different types of chloride salts are externally used for treatments of hair like sodium chloride,potassium chloride etc.
B)Microminerals-
Zinc: During the DNA synthesis zinc is utilized.DNA helps in cells division of hair follicle cells. Follicle use this mineral for hair growth.So, deficiency of zinc may cause the hair loss.
Iodine: As we know very well how this mineral is important for neck gland called thyroid gland. Iodine maintains the metabolism of thyroid gland along with selenium. Iodine deficiency may lead to thyroid dysfunction resulting in hair loss. generally there are two kinds of dysfunction of thyroid land one is Hypo & other is Hyper. Hypothyroidism is a condition where thyroid function is reduced & Hyperthyroidism is a condition where thyroid function is increased but both condition can trigger the hair problems.
Selenium: As we have seen earlier also how selenium is needed along with the iodine for proper health of hair but it is needed in minute quantity. Its deficiency alone may trigger the hair loss problem.
Copper: It has some important function for the strength,colour & growth of our hairs. Actually copper is required for the formation of melanin which is responsible for colour of hair. Deficiency of copper may lead to anemia also. Any defect in copper metabolism may also defect in hair shafts disorder like Menkes Syndrome. There is ratio of copper & zinc in our body for proper functioning of our body. Normal zinc & copper ratio is 1:1 means both should be in equal so deficiency of any one leads hormonal imbalance in our body resulting in PCOD, PMS etc. and these conditions affect our hairs too.
Iron: Iron is very essential part of heamoglobin & it helps us to prevent anemia. Anemia is very common now a days in young girls & its becoming one of the major cause of Diffuse Hair Loss. In tellogen effluvium & premanopausal syndrome iron deficiency is also a common cause. Not only that iron deficiency is also a reason for depletion of color from hairs that's Pre-Mature-Greying.
*HaveGoodHair & LiveGoodLife*
I am reading your blog about hair care. Thanks for publishing so much information. It will help many person who suffering for hair loss. Get to know more home remedies for hair fall problems.
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