Thinning hair, bald patches, hair breakage, and a “more than normal” hair fall can set alarm bells ringing in our minds. This is the time when some of us would be frantically searching for instant fixes that promise to effectively fight back sparse patches, receding hair lines, flaky scalp, and other signs of hair loss. However, in all the chaos, we need to bear in mind that the health of our hair depends to a large extent on the diet we take. There are a few well documented nutritional deficiencies that can cause hair fall. Once we know what these are, we can easily plan our daily diet and take the first and most important step towards healthier and shinier locks.
Zinc
Hair loss in men and women happens mostly due to the deficiency of zinc in their diet. Zinc plays the vital role of accelerating the regeneration of skin and hair cells; it means that zinc is needed to help grow new hair.
Include nuts, lentils, eggs, oysters, and seeds in your daily diet to get the necessary zinc intake for healthy hair. You can also take a zinc supplement to make sure that your body is getting the zinc it needs for hair cell regeneration.
Proteins
Did you know that your hair is made up of 90% protein? If you are not eating easy to digest proteins every day, the health of your hair is bound to suffer.
Vegetarians can opt for lentils, beans, spinach, kale, nuts, almonds, and pumpkin seeds to get the necessary intake of proteins. Non-vegetarians can include fish and eggs in their meals to stimulate healthy hair growth as well as skin renewal.
Vitamin A
This is one of the key nutrients for the health of your hair, skin, and nails. The deficiency in vitamin A can lead to joint pains, poor eye sight, pale skin, and also hair loss.
Include oranges and other fruits in your diet to get the requisite dose of vitamin A every day. Other good sources of this essential vitamin are sweet potatoes, carrots, winter squash, and green leafy vegetables.
Vitamin C
This is another critical nutrient necessary to maintain the health of your hair. A deficiency of vitamin C can also lead to a weakened immune system, brittle nails, and pale skin. This vitamin is responsible for producing collagen, regenerating skin cells in the process. It is also necessary for a large number of enzymatic reactions in the body, responsible for growth, maintenance, as well as repair of your system.
Eat strawberries, lemons, tomatoes, broccoli, oranges, grapefruits, and leafy greens to get your intake of this essential vitamin.
Iron
Iron is an important nutrient responsible for carrying oxygen to the hair follicles, very much necessary for hair growth and hair regeneration.
Food such as kale, spinach, lentils, quinoa, and soybeans are excellent sources of this essential nutrient needed to maintain the health of your tresses. Make sure to eat one to two servings of any of these foods every day to ensure that you are getting the necessary amount of iron needed by your body.
You can also include food rich in vitamin C with your proteins; the vitamin C can make it easier for our body to absorb the proteins. For instance, you can squeeze a lemon over your kale and hope to get the benefits of both vitamin C and iron in one go.
A steady intake of iron in your daily diet can boost hair growth, increase hair strength, and also prevent hair from breaking.
Healthy Fats
There are a few fats that can keep your hair and body looking great. You can get these fats from nuts, seeds, avocadoes, coconut butter, coconut oil, and cold pressed olives.
Sulfur
This is a mineral that can help clear the skin while also strengthening your hair and nails. Eat sulfur rich food such as papaya, eggs, watermelons, coconut, and bananas to witness positive improvements in the condition of both your hair and skin within a short span of time.
So, if you are dealing with signs of hair loss you can begin the fight against this very distressing trend by eating right. Get acquainted with the essential nutrients needed for the health of your hair and include these in your daily diet to stop hair fall and get back the volume, shine, and buoyancy in your tresses.
