Vitamin B and Hair
What’s the link between vitamin B and hair health?
Vitamin B is very important for the health of your hair. However, your hair shares the same nutritional requirements as your overall health. In other words, good overall nutrition is vital to having terrific, shiny looking hair.
The lack of nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes and trace elements show your overall health status clearly through limp, lifeless, dull, brittle, or worn out looking hair.
Nutritional biochemistry is very complicated at best.
Did you know that taking high doses of isolated B vitamins have been shown to cause the depletion of other B vitamins? It's also important to note that no nutrient is an island unto itself, meaning every nutrient requires other nutrients as cofactors, either for activation or function from each of the nutrient categories, vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. For example, for activation, vitamins, minerals, and amino acids require enzymes, and for function, essential fatty acids are also needed.
So, to make sure that you're giving your crowning glory its due, you have to make sure that your diet is a healthy one. However, in our chemically polluted and stress-filled world it is often difficult, if not impossible to get all the nutrients needed for optimum health from fresh, healthful foods. Moreover, our foods over the years have seriously lost their nutritional value due to modern farming methods, processing, improper storage, and many other factors.
Here's food for thought. Two peaches back in 1951 would have provided the current RDA requirements of vitamin A for adult women. Today, a woman would have to consume almost 53 peaches to meet her daily requirements of vitamin A.
Bottom line….
It has now become necessary for optimum health to take nutrients in a supplement form along with eating a healthy diet.
Now, let's take a look at the B vitamins in regards to hair health.
Vitamin B and Hair
The B complex vitamins are indeed very important for the health and growth of your hair, particularly vitamins B3, B5, and biotin.
Vitamin B1 (Thiamine)- Needed for health and growth of your hair.
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) - Needed for health and growth of your hair. A deficiency may lead to possibly hair loss.
Vitamin B3 (Niacin) - Needed for health and growth of your hair. Promotes scalp circulation.
Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid)- Needed for health and growth of your hair. Helpful in preventing hair loss, dandruff, and gray hair.
Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine) - Needed for health and growth of your hair. Deficiency can lead to possibly hair loss.
Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin) - Needed for health and growth of your hair.
Biotin - Very important for health and growth of your hair. A deficiency can lead to possibly hair loss. Unfortunately, biotin will not prevent general hair loss, however, it can help restore hair growth in persons whose hair loss is due to nutritional deficiencies.
It's important to note that the B vitamins all work together as a team and, as such, they should always be taken together.
Beyond Vitamin B and hair ……
Vitamin C is an antioxidant that helps maintain hair health. Vitamin C also aids in improving scalp circulation.
Vitamin E is an antioxidant that enhances scalp circulation. Vitamin E also improves health and growth of hair.
Inositol is vital for hair growth. A deficiency can lead to possibly hair loss.
L-Methionine is a sulfur-bearing essential amino acid that helps prevent brittle hair. It is necessary for hair and muscle production.
Iodine is a trace mineral that helps to regulate thyroid hormone production. The condition of hair is dependent upon a well functioning thyroid gland, thus preventing dry hair and hair loss.
Beta Carotene works with the B vitamins to keep hair shiny.
PABA (Para-aminobenzoic acid) is a co-enzyme necessary for healthy skin and hair pigmentation. PABA may restore gray hair to its original color if the graying was caused by a nutritional deficiency or stress. In addition, it may prevent hair loss.
Sulfur as MSM helps to nourish hair, thus promoting thicker and shinier hair.
Omega 3 fish oil – Essential fatty acids are known for their ability to improve hair and nail health. It helps to improve lustre and prevents dry, brittle hair, as well as many other powerful healthful benefits.
Healthy Body and Healthy Hair Diet
Our bodies need more than just the B vitamins and hair nutrients....
For terrific, shiny looking hair eat a diet that focuses on whole, unprocessed foods such as whole grains, legumes, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds. Fruits and vegetables are high in antioxidants that may help protect hair from oxidative damage. You may also want to consider eating plenty of foods high in biotin such as wheat germ, soybeans, brewer's yeast, brown rice, bulgur, green peas, lentils, oats, walnuts, and sunflower seeds. Biotin is one of the most well renowned vitamin B and hair vitamins.
In addition, some experts recommend a diet that includes cold water fish because it harbors essential fatty acids that are known for its ability to improve hair health. However, err with caution on heavy fish consumption. We all know fish is good for us, but at the same time many health professionals send out warnings about eating contaminated fish. It's important to note that all fish contain toxins, while some may be lower than others. Therefore, to be on the safe side we recommend incorporating a high quality fish oil supplement to one's daily regimen.
Vitamin B and Hair - Our Opinion
Besides the aforementioned dietary recommendations, we believe that if want to make sure you're giving your crowning glory its due, you may want to consider incorporating a comprehensive high quality multi nutrient supplement with a broad spectrum of nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes and trace elements among others.
Going beyond just the vitamin B and hair vitamins...
Nowadays, there are comprehensive multi nutrient supplements designed to support optimum whole health, including the health of your hair. In fact, some multi nutrient supplements include most of the nutrients listed above - not just the vitamin B and hair vitamins, plus other powerful nutrients needed for optimum whole health. Therefore, it is important to understand the how and why of what makes some of these comprehensive multi nutrient supplements useful - an important factor in making an informed choice. However, ensure that your supplement is produced at a pharmaceutical GMP facility because such places adhere to the stringent manufacturing standards. The nutritional supplement industry is not strictly regulated in the U.S. and, as such, manufacturers do not have to guarantee the safety, effectiveness, or even the true content of their products. Click here to learn more about this industry-wide problem.
And, as always, speak to a physician before taking any type of dietary supplements, including vitamin B and hair vitamins.
We hope this Vitamin B and Hair web-page was useful to you.
To Your Health!
The Editors
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