You Are What You Eat: How Diet Affects Hair Health

A nutritious and balanced diet is essential if you want to keep your body in prime condition,

so it stands to reason that eating the right foods can boost your hair health.

Here, we take a look at some of the foods that may help to give you strong, lustrous locks –

and examine other factors that can impact on the condition of your tresses.

Getting the Nutrients Your Body Needs

Protein can play a crucial role in keeping your hair healthy.

If your diet is short of this vital component, your locks can become dry, weak and brittle.

Foods that are protein-rich include meats and meat substitutes, dairy products, eggs, fish,

nuts and legumes.

Iron is important too.

In fact, having too little of this mineral is thought to increase your risk of hair loss.

Red meats are especially high in iron content, and spinach, broccoli, kale and lentils are also

good sources of the mineral.

You should make an effort to get enough vitamin C in your diet too.

This makes it easier for your body to absorb iron it aids in the production of collagen.

Good sources include blueberries, oranges, kiwi fruits, black currants and sweet potato.

Make sure you get enough vitamin A as well.

Your body needs this to make an oily substance called sebum, which helps to prevent your

scalp from becoming itchy and dry.

Orange and yellow vegetables, like pumpkins and carrots, contain lots of this vitamin.

The omega-3 fatty acids found in foods like mackerel, salmon, avocado and pumpkin seeds

also play an important role in keeping your hair and scalp hydrated.

Can a Good Diet Cure Hair Loss?

Although food plays an important role in helping to keep your hair healthy, it can’t mitigate the

effects of generic hair loss.

If you have male-pattern baldness, no amount of meal planning will keep your tresses in place.

There are effective treatment options though.

For example, Regaine hair foam contains the active ingredient minoxidil, which has been proven to

help reduce the effects of male-pattern baldness.

The foam, which is applied twice daily to the scalp, can start to show positive results after around

eight weeks.

Regaine is available online and in high street pharmacies.

Propecia is another popular hair loss treatment.

Also used to tackle male-pattern baldness, it comes in tablet form and it contains the active ingredient

finasteride.

Both Propecia and Regaine must be used on a continuous basis and, if you stop taking them, any

improvements may be reversed.

When it comes to achieving a healthy, full head of hair, it’s important not to underestimate the

importance of your diet.

However, no matter how healthy your meals, food can’t fend off genetic hair loss.

So, if you think you’re losing your locks because of male-pattern baldness and you want to take

action to stop this process, it’s worth investigating your treatment options.

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