The Hair Follicle Factory
It turns out that your hair follicles
are actually miniature factories that
are constantly manufacturing the
complex strands of keratin filaments
that we call human hair.
And like any factory, hair follicles
require two things: sufficient raw
materials… and energy.
Yet researchers are discovering
that that many people who suffer
from thinning or unhealthy hair have
deficiencies in key nutrients your hair
follicles need to remain healthy and
productive.
Strong, healthy hair begins in the
tiny follicles beneath your scalp where
the nutritional needs are immense. To
properly condition your hair you must
get to the root of the matter, your hair
follicles.
For example, a recent study showed
that women whose blood ferritin (iron)
levels dropped from a normal 70µg per
liter to 40µg per liter had a 28% higher
chance of suffering from severe hair
loss.
Another study found the role of the
essential amino acid l-lysine in hair
loss also to be important.
Still another study found that, for
healthy hair growth, the average person
needs TEN TIMES the amount of
biotin (vitamin B7) that is found in the
typical “healthy” diet.
A Growing Problem that Affects Tens of Millions
Thinning or unhealthy hair is a far
more common problem than people
realize. Hair loss affects about 35
million men and 21 million women in
the United States alone. It’s estimated
that fully 40% of men have noticeable
hair loss by age 35 and 65% by age 60.
Too often, people who suffer from
hair loss assume that it must be due
to genetic pattern baldness… and that
therefore there is nothing that can be
done to slow or stop it.
Sometimes that’s true... but more
often than many people realize, there
are other causes of thinning hair or
hair loss. While the most common
cause of hair loss in men appears
to be a genetic hyper-sensitivity to
the hormone dihydrotestosterone
(or DHT), which leads a gradual
“miniaturization” of hair follicles until
they no longer produce strands of hair,
that is by no means the only cause.
Researchers now believe that
many factors can trigger biochemical
changes that lead to thinning hair,
including thyroid problems, vitamin
and mineral deficiencies, sudden
weight loss, sudden fevers, a severe
illness and stress.
In women, hair loss is even more
complex and mysterious. Women do
not typically have the dramatic hair
loss associated with male baldness,
yet millions of women do suffer from
thinning or unhealthy-looking hair.
However, women tend to lose their
hair more gradually – and the causes
may not be directly related to DHT.
Scientists believe that female
hair loss is often caused by hormone
imbalances, which can occur during
menopause, as well as by nutritional
deficiencies.
Female hair loss is still largely
misunderstood, but there is new
evidence of the role played by different
types of enzymes as well as hormone
receptors and blockers.
New Evidence That Nutritional Support Can Help Thinning Hair
For decades, researchers and
ordinary people attempted to meet
the challenge of thinning hair with
a variety of topical creams, gels and
potions. Yet new research suggests that
many people may be helped by a potent
new formula that restores key nutrients
vital for healthy, growing hair and
which, in addition, block the chemicals
that cause hair loss in many men.
Normal hair loss is 50 -100 strands
each day and after a few weeks most
hair will regrow from the same follicle.
A full head of hair can number between
90,000 and 180,000 strands. According
to one theory, the occurrence of
increased hair loss or slow hair growth
is partly due to the body’s inability to
provide the scalp with the nutrients
required for proper hair growth.
This results not only in slow hair
growth, but also in the individual
strands becoming thinner and wispy,
before ceasing to grow at all. In this
state, the follicles become dormant, but
they are still intact in the scalp.
If the follicles receive the necessary
nutrients then new hair may start to
grow again at a faster rate. The best
and most efficient way of providing
the follicles with the needed nutrients
is through the bloodstream.
Could insufficient nutrients be a hidden cause of thinning, unhealthy hair?
For years, the conventional wisdom
has been that if you eat a varied diet
full of fresh fruits and vegetables, your
body will get or will produce all the
nutrients you need to stay healthy.
But now more and more medical
researchers and doctors point to
nutrient deficiencies as a leading cause
of many chronic health conditions,
including thinning and unhealthy-
looking hair.
Plus, scientists have discovered
that certain types of nutrients, such
as l-lysine – an essential amino acid
that is vital for overall health and for
healthy hair – isn’t produced in your
body at all. The only source of this
vital nutrient is either specific foods or
supplements.
Other nutrients essential for healthy
hair, such as biotin, are very difficult
to get in sufficient quantities even from
a healthy diet. In fact, dermatologists
now recommend that people have TEN
TIMES more biotin daily (300 mcg)
than they get from the average U.S.
diet (30 mcg).
What’s more, many of the
nutrients naturally present in the foods
Americans eat are actually destroyed
through modern food processing
methods, such as cooking at high
temperatures and microwave ovens.
And research has confirmed
that the amount of nutrients your
body produces actually decreases
dramatically with each passing year.
One study conducted at a major
hospital in Chicago found that key
nutrients in the saliva of young adults
is 30 times higher than that in people
over 69 years of age.
There are two basic types of
nutrients present in your hair follicles
that they need to produce a continuous
supply of strong, healthy hair: Key
Nutrients that are needed to create
new hair are biotin and vitamin B12,
and other Special Nutrients that block
follicle-shrinking chemicals, such
as DHT. Hair-supporting nutrients
are what your follicles need to grow
enough hair. Special nutrients that
block hair-thinning chemicals are what
your follicles need to keep the hair it
does have.
There are at least 16 hair-
supporting nutrients that help your
hair follicles manufacture a continuous
supply of hair on your head. Without
a sufficient amount of these hair-
supporting nutrients from foods or
supplements, your follicles may not
have enough raw materials and energy
to produce healthy, strong hair on a
continuous basis.
What’s more, hair loss or thinning
hair can be a cause of enormous stress
for the average person – and can lead
to other health concerns.
Also, unhealthy-looking hair or
sudden hair loss can be a sign of other
health problems that may be related to
poor nutrition. Sometimes supporting
hair follicle health with proper
nutrition can have the added benefit of
improving your health generally.
In short: If your body isn’t getting
the nutrients it needs to maintain a
healthy head of hair, you may be facing
a host of other chronic health concerns,
including lethargy and fatigue...
unexplained weight gains... intestinal
complaints... even recurrent yeast and
other infections.
Selected References
Rushton, D. H. (2002), “Nutritional factors
and hair loss,” Clinical and Experimental
Dermatology, 27: 396–404.
SM Innis and DB Allardyce, “Possible
biotin deficiency in adults receiving long-
term total parenteral nutrition,” American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 37, 185-
187, 1983.
Zhongjion Xie, László Komuves, Qian-
Chun Yu, Hashem Elalieh, Dean C Ng,
Colin Leary, Sandra Chang, Debra
Crumrine, Tatsuya Yoshizawa*, Shigeaki
Kato* and Daniel D Bikle, “Lack of the
Vitamin D Receptor is Associated with
Reduced Epidermal Differentiation and Hair
Follicle Growth,” Journal of Investigative
Dermatology (2002) 118, 11–16.
Leonid Benjamin Trost, Wilma Fowler
Bergfeld, Ellen Calogeras, “The diagnosis
and treatment of iron deficiency and its
potential relationship to hair loss,” Journal
of the American Academy of Dermatology,
Volume 54, Issue 5, Pages 824-844, May
2006.
Nelson Prager, Karen Bickett, Nita
French, Geno Marcovici. “A Randomized,
Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial to
Determine the Effectiveness of Botanically
Derived Inhibitors of 5-α-Reductase in the
Treatment of Androgenetic Alopecia,” The
Journal of Alternative and Complementary
Medicine. April 2002, 8(2): 143-152.