Vitamins are organic compounds necessary to sustain life. You need to get your vitamins from food or dietary supplements, because you can’t make them yourself. Most vitamins work to speed up critical chemical reactions in the body.
Vitamins are important nutrients for healthy hair. Don’t start taking vitamins by the handful to make sure you’re getting your daily requirement, though; doctors have linked hair loss to both deficiencies of some vitamins and excesses of others, and some vitamins can be dangerous to your overall health if you take too many.
The following sections run through the vitamins you need and the quantities that are helpful for your hair — and the rest of you!
Vitamin A
Vitamin A protects hair follicles from damage by free radicals, which are atoms with an unpaired electron. A diet deficient in vitamin A is also known to cause dry hair.
Too much vitamin A has been linked to hair loss. Vitamin A is a fatsoluble vitamin, which means that excess amounts are stored in the body and not washed out in urine, so it’s essential to keep vitamin A intake within normal limits.
Foods high in vitamin A include carrots, broccoli, and liver. The current recommendation of daily vitamin A intake is 900 micrograms (mcg) (3,000 IU) for men and 700 micrograms (2,300 IU) for women.
B-complex vitamins
The B vitamins include thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pyridoxine, cobalmin, and pantothenic acid. B vitamins are believed to contribute to the nourishment of the hair follicle.
You can get B vitamins from foods such as potatoes, bananas, tuna, and turkey. Deficiency in B vitamins has been associated with anemia and neurologic problems.
Biotin: Also known as vitamin H or B7, biotin is a watersoluble B-complex vitamin that’s required for cell growth, the production of fatty acids, and the metabolism of amino acids. An adequate amount of biotin is about 30 to 100 mcg daily. Biotin is found in many foods including beans, bread, fish, and legumes.
Biotin deficiency has been strongly linked to hair loss and, when severe, can even lead to loss of the eyebrows and lashes. Deficiency is rare but can be caused by excessive consumption of raw eggs, which contain high levels of the protein avidin, which strongly binds biotin.
Folic acid: This is the synthesized form of folate, which is important to maintain hair follicle cell division and growth. Rich sources of folate include leafy vegetables such as spinach, lettuce, dried beans, and other fruits and vegetables. The current recommendation for folate intake is 400 mcg per day. However, if you’re pregnant or nursing, you should ask your doctor for a recommended dosage.
Signs of folic acid deficiency include anemia, increased fatigue, sore tongue, and graying hair. There’s evidence that exposure to ultraviolet light, including the use of tanning beds, can lead to a folic acid deficiency. In addition certain medicines, such as methotrexate used to treat severe psoriasis and some forms of cancer, can lead to deficiency.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C is required to maintain healthy collagen in the connective tissue in your body and also around hair follicles. It also protects your cells because it’s a strong antioxidant (a substance that reduces damage caused by free radicals, which contribute to aging changes and can cause problems in many body systems). Citrus fruit is a rich source of vitamin C. Currently, the recommended dose of vitamin C is 90 milligrams per day and no more than 2 grams per day.
The most famous condition associated with vitamin C deficiency is scurvy, which results when collagen stops functioning properly. Symptoms of scurvy include bleeding gums, nose bleeds, sunken eyes, dark purplish spots on the legs, pinpoint bleeding around hair follicles, as well as unique “corkscrew hairs.” Fortunately, this disease is rare in industrialized countries where fruits and vegetables are plentiful in the diet.
Vitamin E
Vitamin E is the collective name for a set of eight related fat-soluble vitamins with antioxidant properties. Vitamin E provides physical stability to cell membranes, including cell membranes of hair follicles. Nuts, corn, and asparagus are just a few foods with high vitamin E levels. The daily recommendation of vitamin E for adults is 8 to 10 mg.
Vitamin E deficiency is rare and usually manifests first with neurologic deterioration, such as loss of reflexes.
A recent study from Johns Hopkins University showed that taking vitamin E supplements in amounts greater than 400 IU a day may actually be harmful to your health, increasing your risk of death from a number of causes.
IU is dependent on the potency of the substance, and each substance would have a different IU to milligram conversion. For example, 1,000 IU of Vitamin C would have a different weight than 1,000 IU of Vitamin A. Because each substance would have a different conversion ratio, we cannot state a conversion for IU to milligrams that covers everything, or even most things. There are just too many different substances.
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06192010
1. Hair loss and the Traditional Chinese medicine
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