The food we consume greatly affects how our body functions. Not getting adequate nutrients will damage processes such as the growth of our hair. If we lack specific vitamins and minerals, our hair can become brittle and lose its shine, even though it doesn’t literally fall out.
Diet is more under your control than other hair growth determiners, such as your genes or your age. Vitamins and minerals are responsible for a healthy hair growth cycle and cell turnover.
We will outline the best fruits and vegetables that contain the essential nutrients to promote healthy and shiny hair. Having a balanced diet of the following foods may put you in a better position to facilitate healthy hair growth.
The Power of Berries
Berries are massively beneficial for supporting your hair as they are full of helpful compounds and vitamins. Vitamin C present in berries contains strong antioxidant properties. These are very good for protecting hair follicles from unwanted molecules known as free radicals. These occur naturally within the body and can come from the surrounding environment.
Collagen and Iron Absorption
Strawberries are rich in vitamin C. One cup of strawberries meets your daily vitamin C requirement. Vitamin C is employed to make collagen. It serves to make your hair stronger so that it won’t get brittle and break.
Vitamin C also facilitates the absorption of iron from your diet. Dermatology and Therapy have associated low iron and iron deficiency anemia with hair loss.
Spinach as a Super Food
Spinach is a super food for a good reason. This healthy green vegetable is high in iron and folate. It also has vitamins A and C, which are important for hair growth.
Spinach is an important source of iron if you are unable to have red meat as part of your diet. Iron is needed to support the delivery of oxygen by red blood cells throughout the body. This energizes your metabolism and aids growth and repair. Baldness may result from iron deficiency.
Vitamin A and Supplementation
Supplementing vitamin A should be avoided because you should be in a place where you can get all the vitamin A your body needs from what you eat. Visiting a doctor is advisable if you feel you’re low in vitamin A before taking a supplement.
Too much vitamin A actually makes you lose hair. For this reason, getting the correct proportion matters.
Sweet Potatoes for Healthy Strands
Sweet potatoes contain beta-carotene. This is converted by the body into vitamin A and helps promote your hair’s health.
Sweet potatoes have over enough beta carotene to supply your entire day’s worth of vitamin A. Vitamin A is needed to produce sebum, reports Biochimica et Biophysica Acta. This is a natural oil that is present on your scalp and prevents your hair from drying out.
Healthy hair growth requires a healthy scalp. If you’re too sebum-deficient, your scalp can become flaky and dry. This will impact your hair’s health. Your hair follicles will clog, and you’ll lose hair if you’re too sebum-surplus. Thus, it is important to have the right amount of sebum.
Avocados and Vitamin E
Avocados are rich in healthy fats and also have vitamin E to promote hair growth. Vitamin E is an antioxidant, just like vitamin C. It works to deactivate free radicals, stopping oxidative stress.
Vitamin E protects the skin, including the scalp, from this oxidative damage. Hair follicles can be reduced, and it can lower the quality of hair if your scalp is damaged.
Vitamin E deficiency has been linked to loss of hair as well. Thus, vitamin E supplements have proven effective in stimulating hair growth. Tropical Life Sciences Research confirmed that 8 months of vitamin E supplementation resulted in a 34.5% increase in hair growth.
Beans and Soybeans for Hair Growth
Beans are chock-full of protein, which the hair must have to grow. They are also full of zinc to contribute to the repair cycle. Also, beans contain plenty of iron and biotin. Bean folate further makes them ideal as a food for hair growth.
Beans aren’t hard to incorporate into your diet because they’re so adaptable and cheap.
Spermidine and the Hair Growth Cycle
Soybeans have an abundance of spermidine. Dermatology Practical & Conceptual concluded that supplements containing spermidine helped to prolong the anagen phase of the hair growth cycle.
The hair growth cycle consists of 4 phases:
- Anagen Phase: This is the active growth phase where hair follicles produce new cells. This allows the hair to continue to grow longer. Depending on age and genetics, this can last from 2 to 7 years.
- Catagen Phase: This is a transitional phase that lasts for around 2 weeks. Hair follicles shrink and detach from the blood supply at this time.
- Telogen Phase: This is the resting phase. Hair stops growing but stays attached to the scalp. It prevents hair from shedding right away after the growth stage.
- Exogen Phase: As an extension of the telogen phase, this is where old hair is shed so that new hair growth can continue. If there are more follicles in the exogen phase than the anagen, it can result in noticeable hair loss.
When your hair follicles are in the anagen phase for longer, it keeps them producing strands. They may also promote hair growth.
Learning About Fruits and Vegetables and Their Function in Hair Health
Your diet might have a direct impact on your hair’s health. Vitamins A and C might not just cause hair to look dull and lifeless but also make it more susceptible to damage because of dryness and brittleness.
Having enough vitamin E and iron can help make sure that your hair growth is not impeded or causes hair loss. Nutrient deficiencies cause many medical issues, like hair loss. Talk to your doctor if you think you have a nutrient deficiency. A blood test will usually tell you if you are deficient in a specific vitamin or mineral.
Supplementing may benefit you if you are unable to obtain enough nourishment through diet due to hormonal or genetic disorders, but supplementing excessively in certain vitamins like A and E will result in hair loss. Speak with your medical practitioner before trying any vitamin supplement.
Author Bio:
David Donovan is a freelance writer for Hairy Hair
