Best Food for Healthy Hairs.

A luxurious dark hair or somewhat thin hair and its distribution at its place of eminence on your top is mainly determined by your genetic make up. This can be further influenced beneficially or adversely by all the massage, lather and rinse etc externally or by the kind of food that you take or the amount of stress that you face in your day to day life. What you are internally and what you take orally to nourish the all important hair roots is far more important that all the shampoos, conditioners and nourishing agents you apply on top!
Unfortunately you cannot choose your parents and influence your genetic make up till now and hence try to get the best possible results in terms of your scalp hair by either external measures or building up the inner core and strength to the hairs. The external measures however are beneficial if there is some kind of disease or some abnormality in the skin of the scalp. These external diseases resulting in excessive hair loss can often be treated by various local applications and sometimes internally administered medications*. But the more important, but often ignored measure for healthy hair growth depends on the kind of food you take on a regular and ongoing basis. A healthy and well nourished body as well as mind will be associated with a fine truss of hairs to show. And you are substantially as strong and healthy as the brick and mortar you are made up of.

Essential Food Items for best possible hairs on your head.

Certain essential amino acids(proteins), vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other vital micro nutrients and chemicals in optimum quantities support normal hair growth, that a person is genetically destined to get. Hairs grow by about 6-12 mms a month and this depends very much on the nutrients we take in our daily food. The following are the type of food materials, you should take regularly:
# High quality proteins with high degree of bio-availability necessary for health of hairs are found in poultry, eggs, fatty fish like salmon. For vegetarians : Low fat milk products and various types of beans.
# Vitamin A & some C too go into formation of sebum secreted by hair follicles to be even called as “body’s natural hair conditioner” are to be sourced from.For Vegetarians : various green leafy vegetables like spinach, basale leaves, broccoli and others. Carrots also are a good source of this vitamin. These also contain minerals like Iron and Calcium needed for hairs.
But excess of Vitamin A, however leads to hair loss.
# Vitamins Biotin and B 12 – Biotin deficiency can produce brittle hairs.in found in Eggs and Salmon.For Vegetarians : Beans and whole grains.
# Minerals like Iron, Calcium, Selenium, Calcium and Zinc are also supportive to hair growth. They are found in Salmon (Iron),Oysters, Beef and Lamb(Zinc).For Vegetarians : dark greens ( Iron , Calcium), Beans ( Iron, Zinc), Nuts like Walnuts, Cashews, Almond etc (Iron, Zinc and Selenium) , whole grains and products (Zinc, Iron), low fat diary (Calcium).
Zinc, a powerful antioxidant, if deficient can lead to hair loss.
# Omega-3 fatty acids are also needed for healthy hairs. Salmon is a rich source of this micro nutrient. For Vegetarians : It is also found in Flax seeds and walnuts.
Deficiency of these can lead to dull hairs and dry scalp.
Dietary restrictions for reducing weight particularly crash weight reduction programmes may affect health of hairs or even result in severe hair loss. But it is reversible if normal diet is restored.
Prolonged and severe mental stress also is an important cause of reversible hair loss.
In summary** have an overall balanced diet incorporating whole wheat bread or whole grain cereals, weekly thrice green leafy vegetables, a cup of beans on alternate days, a small fist of nuts as snacks almost daily, some carrots biweekly, a couple of tablespoons of powdered Flaxseeds thrown in and low fat diary products daily – in addition to other regular food items.
Non vegetarians** may take in addition some poultry on alternate days and beef or lamb on other days, an egg daily in some form, high fatty fish like salmon now and then.
*Read Newsletter on “Hair Loss and Dandruff”
http://www.mohanraohospital.com/hairloss_dandruff.html
** To be balanced and adjusted to maintain daily calorie needs and also incorporating daily fresh vegetables and fruits, bearing in mind that a variegated and multicolored food items add spice and variety and more importantly quality to our daily food!
For problems relating to hairs apart from investigating and treating any external factors like dandruff, a balanced healthy diet and relative freedom from stress are far more important.
Best wishes,
Dr. M.Mohan Rao , Dr Anuradha Rao.Consultants, Dr U Mohan Rau Memorial Hospital, Chennai.
Visit: http://www.mohanraohospital.com/index.asp