Beauty

Many people view healthy-looking hair as a sign of health or beauty. Like any other part of your body, hair needs a variety of nutrients to be healthy and grow. In fact, many nutritional deficiencies are linked to hair loss.

What is hair loss?

The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) notes that 80 million men and women in America have hereditary hair loss (alopecia). It can affect just the hair on your scalp or your entire body. Although alopecia is more prevalent in older adults, excessive hair loss can occur in children as well.

Eating a well-balanced diet that contains all of the 13 essential vitamins can help maintain hair health. Although there is no evidence to suggest that individual vitamins can encourage the hair to grow faster, deficiencies in specific vitamins can lead to hair loss or thin, brittle hair.

What causes hair loss?

It's true that men are more likely to lose their hair than women, but thinning hair, shedding hair, and hair loss actually affects both sexes. But here's the thing: There's no one reason behind hair loss—causes can range from the simple and temporary (like a vitamin deficiency) to the more complex, like an underlying health condition.