What You Eat Is What You Are.

We know it all to well how important healthy diet is. Consuming healthy, nutrient dense foods have a direct positive impact not only on the way we feel but also on our appearance.

Unless we are dealing with issues of heredity, certain medications or an underlying medical condition, the health of our skin, nails and hair is a reflection of our nutritional status.

All those who had to experience excessive hair loss at some point in their life understand how difficult it can be to mitigate this problem. Most of us spend significant amount of money on hair care products throughout our lifetime, and while these are important, we fail to pay enough attention caring for our hair from within.

Hair loss can very often be resolved by making sure we get the necessary amount of vitamins and minerals, especially of those that serve as fuel to hair growth. As hair loss is often the pure sign of vitamin deficiency, addressing this underlying issue will be more likely to generate results that are longer lasting and more visible.

Vitamin B-Complex

Vitamin B is especially important for the health and growth of your hair. Hair loss has been associated with deficiency in B vitamins, especially B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9 and B12. Generally, people believe that it is enough to take one or two members of the vitamin B-complex in order to combat vitamin B-deficiency. This is not true however, as these vitamins work in synergy with one another, and are most effective when taken together.

Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) is needed by the body to use oxygen, it also metabolizes carbohydrates, amino acids and fatty acids. Vitamin B2 activates vitamin B6 and helps produce vitamin B3, which is very important to hair growth.

Blood circulation to the scalp is promoted by Vitamin B3 (niacin).

Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) plays a key role in preventing hair loss and promotes hair regrowth as it helps convert food into energy.

Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) is used to produce melanin, determining hair color and it helps prevent hair loss. There is clinical evidence demonstrating the ability of vitamin B6 to stimulate hair growth. It plays a major role in red blood cell metabolism and cellular growth, producing hemoglobin, a compound within red blood cells that carries oxygen to body tissue.

Vitamin B7, also known as Biotin or Vitamin H, is one of the most well-known in the complex for its ability to aid in hair growth. Biotin occurs naturally in our bodies  protecting our hair against becoming dry, thickening cuticles and increasing hair elasticity.

Vitamin B9 (folic acid), helps maintain hemoglobin levels in the blood. Vitamin B9 along with vitamin B12 (cobalamin) helps the transport of oxygen to body tissues, including hair follicles which require enough oxygen to sustain hair growth. Many who suffer from hair loss are found deficient in Vitamin B12.

Vitamin E

Another important contributor to hair health is vitamin E. Vitamin E improves circulation to all parts of the body, increasing oxygen uptake, which improves circulation to the scalp. It contains valuable antioxidants that help keep your immune system strong. As hair health is a reflection of immune system health, it is believed that vitamin E stimulates hair growth by enhancing immune function.

Amino Acids

L-Cysteine and L-Methionine are the sulfur amino acids that form “keratin,” which is the protein structure of hair. Studies have shown that supplementing with L-cysteine may prevent hair loss, as well as increase the diameter of the hair shaft. These amino acids have been found to increase hair growth by as much as 100 percent.

Vitamin A

Vitamin A is an antioxidant, important to hair follicles, by producing sebum in the scalp, which keeps the hair roots lubricated. A lack of Vitamin A causes a dry scalp, dandruff, and dry unhealthy-looking hair. Besides, vitamin A is essential for overall health. Beta-Carotene, a vitamin A precursor, is an excellent source to enable your body to produce vitamin A.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C is important in maintaining strong, healthy capillaries that carry blood to hair follicles, thereby improving scalp circulation. Suggested dose is one to two grams daily of Vitamin C with bioflavonoids.

Natural vs Synthetic Vitamins

Many health conscious consumers are concerned with exposure to potentially dangerous chemicals. And they have a good reason. They try to avoid artificial, unnatural and synthetic chemicals, but often consume these in dietary supplements. This is largely due to misleading information on supplement labels. Published research in the last few years has concluded that synthetic vitamins are mostly ineffective in preventing disease, and that these chemicals may be dangerous to your health.

When choosing your vitamin B product for example, keep in mind, it has been scientifically proven that natural vitamins are far better alternatives to their synthetic counterparts. Almost all the B vitamins on the market are synthetic. The common synthetic B vitamins are usually listed by one of various synthetic names (i.e., folic acid). The truly natural ones, on the other hand, are referred to as active B vitamins. Some common names of natural (active) B vitamins for example are:

Thiamine (B1): Thiamine pyrophosphate; Thiamine triphosphate

Riboflavin (B2): Riboflavin-5-phosphate; Flavin mononucleotide (FMN)

Read labels carefully and try to find a product that contains the natural form of vitamin E (d’alpha tocopherol) and carefully avoid the synthetic form (dl’alpha tocopherol), a petroleum derivative.

Almost all vitamin C in dietary supplements is synthetic, and as such is listed on the label as “ascorbic acid.” The dose also helps identify it as synthetic — it’s almost impossible to get much more than 100-150 mg of vitamin C from food into a tablet or capsule.

United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) synthetic vitamin B isolates are not food, they are synthesized, standardized chemical isolates. What does that mean? An animal study for example found that a natural food complex vitamin B1 was absorbed 1.38 times more into the blood and was retained 1.27 times more in the liver than an isolated USP thiamin hydrochloride. This is just one of many studies conducted in this subject. Many concluded that the bioavailability of natural food complex B vitamins is better than that of isolated USP vitamins. This may suggest that natural vitamins may have better effects on maintaining aspects of human health.

In conclusion, addressing certain vitamin deficiencies may be your best bet to help stop hair loss. Take high quality vitamin supplements formulated specifically to address this issue. Read the labels carefully and try to spot the products superior to the rest, the ones that are most likely to work the best.