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Weight Loss and Hair Loss

Are weight loss and hair loss related? In short, the answer is yes. But it’s a yes which is complicated by the fact that numerous biological mechanisms link weight loss and hair loss. Commonly when the two are observed to coincide the underlying cause is telogen effluvium. This condition results when fluctuations in weight cause hair follicles to move into a dormant resting phase. Fortunately, telogen effluvium is temporary and its effects can be reversed if calorie intake is normalized. If you experience these conditions, get help and find an emergency doctor in Sydney.

Indeed, nutritional factors are critical to explaining much of the coincidence between losing weight and losing hair. For example, dieting commonly leads people to unintentionally over-restrict their protein intake. In response, the body reacts by effectively rationing protein. However, since hair is non-essential to survival, it receives little if any of the available protein. The aggregate of this protein shortfall can ultimately manifest as hair loss. It is advisable, therefore, to ensure that any diet contains the recommended daily intake of protein.

Similarly, shortfalls in iron can induce the body to redirect oxygen supplies to support critical functions. Again, since hair plays a peripheral role in survival it is starved of its typical oxygen allocation and suffers as a consequence.

Research has suggested that adherents of the ketogenic diet have elevated biotin demands. Biotin encourages hair growth by helping hair follicles to absorb an array of vitamins, of which vitamin B is the most crucial. As a consequence of the fact that biotin deficiency can ultimately result in alopecia, it is recommended that anyone following the ketogenic diet should seriously consider taking biotin supplements.

weight loss and hair lossLikewise, dramatic cuts to zinc intake can also provoke episodes of hair loss. At root, this is due to the fact that zinc deficiencies critically impair the hair’s ability to grow and repair itself. Overall, indeed, hair loss is intimately linked to diminished zinc levels. As stands to reason, therefore, consuming foods which are rich in zinc such as broccoli, spinach, avocado, and lean beef can help mitigate against hair loss.

It’s worth considering that weight loss needn’t necessarily engender hair loss. The excessive calorie-cutting which characterizes crash dieting is behind many of the nutritional deficiencies implicated in hair loss. As a result, in order to effectively decouple weight loss and hair loss, it is best to reduce calorie intake progressively over an extended period.

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