Essential vitamins for hair loss treatment

Hair loss is a frightening issue that most people don’t like to talk about as it’s typically associated with aging. However, in reality hair loss could be related to many things including low thyroid levels, stress and a lack of vitamins & minerals. In this article we will focus more on the role of specific vitamins and mineral that play a crucial part in treating hair loss:

Vitamin D

This is probably one of the first one to keep your eye on as Vitamin D is one of if not the most common vitamin deficiency that people suffer from so do check this out on your next blood test. This was especially more prevalent during the COVID period as people were forced to stay home and go out less. Naturally, you can only get vitamin D from food mainly meat and also from exposure of sunlight.

Vitamin D deficiency has been correlated with the development of autoimmune diseases which can lead to Alopecia Areata (sudden round bald patch) and also Androgenetic Alopecia (receding hairlines). It has strong anti-inflammation and immunoregulatory effects in addition to having a role in ensuring calcium and phosphorus absorption.

A way to increase your Vitamin D levels is to go out for walks since it helps you to keep healthy anyway but be cautious not to get exposed the sun’s UV is high. Food wise, go for fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, eggs and beef. Nowadays, a lot of bread and cereals are also fortified with Vitamin D.

Vitamin B

There are 8 types of Vitamin B but only Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin), Biotin (B7), Folate (B9) and Cobalamin (B12) have been related to hair loss according to the Journal of Dermatology and Therapy.

Biotin is an interesting one as there’s a quite a few that believe that biotin helps your hair growth when you take an overdose amount of biotin. While we have not seen enough scientific proof of this, we can say that taking biotin at the recommended RDI level helps as it has been proven that biotin deficiency leads not just to hair loss but also to skin issues like rashes and also brittle nails.

Cobalamin (B12) is the type of Vitamin B that you should really keep an eye on as well as it is the most deficient B vitamin that people will have especially if you are a vegan. Vitamin B12 is essential in the proliferation of new hair follicles as your body needs Vitamin B12 to create red blood cells which carry oxygen and nutrients to your hair, skin and nails.

Vitamin B12 is sourced from animal products, milk and eggs so if you are vegan, you need to ensure you are either taking in food that are fortified with Vitamin B or take a supplement.

Iron

Another common nutritional deficiency, iron is crucial in the formation of hemoglobin which is part of the red blood cell that carries oxygen. Although research still is unable to pinpoint the exact correlation, there are enough studies to indicate that iron deficiency does cause hair loss. It is good to have iron rich foods such as meat, beans, legumes and dark greens.

Zinc

Very similar to iron, zinc supports the growth and repair of your hair. It is an important cofactor for multiple enzymes involved in maintaining healthy hair follicles. Zinc rich foods typically come from seafood and meat, otherwise take a supplement to cover this.

Iodine

Your thyroid gland which functions to control growth, energy metabolism and repair requires iodine to produce T3 and T4 hormones which has been studied and shown to be related to hair loss. The thyroid gland is the only body part that can absorb iodine. Iodine is typically hard to get as it comes mainly from seafood and seaweed so most people would either require to use “iodized salt” or have a supplement.

We have tried to shed knowledge on some of often missed important vitamins and minerals but we would like to stress that a balanced diet is important as ensuring you also have adequate levels of other vitamins such as Vitamin A, C and E and minerals such as selenium, protein and healthy fats such as Omega 3 is equally important. If you are strapped for time, having a good supplement is paramount, check out product Regenerate and Radiance which have been specifically designed to tackle root cause of concerns for healthy skin, hair and nails.

Written by Maeraki team