Losing your hair? Foods that cause hair loss could be the culprit. Hair loss is a condition that affects millions of people worldwide, and it can be challenging to deal with.
The food we eat is directly reflected in our bodies. Eating foods that cause hair loss like dairy, meat, and sugar are some of the leading causes for thinning or shedding hair – contrary to what you may think!
The health of your follicles depends on specific nutrients, too: a diet deficient in protein will lead to brittle locks while one rich in iron helps maintain their luster.
The good news is that you can do many different things to try and prevent or reverse this condition. In this blog post, we will discuss what foods might cause hair loss and how to stop it from happening in the first place!
7 Foods that cause hair loss
In this article
Processed foods
Processed foods are one of the leading causes of hair loss because they’re often loaded with harmful chemicals.
Foods that contain preservatives, additives, and flavor enhancers such as MSG can end up damaging your follicles over time. Foods like these will make you feel sick to your stomach – even before any noticeable symptoms show on your scalp!
Don’t worry, though: just by eating a more wholesome diet rich in veggies, fruits, and whole grains, and you’ll be able to prevent this condition from happening in the first place. It’s not hard at all when there is so much information about how food affects our bodies.
Sugar
Sugar is not just bad for your teeth; high sugar intake can also lead to hair loss. One of the ways it does this is by increasing androgens which cause shrinkage in follicles, leading them to shut down entirely eventually.
Protein promotes healthy hair growth, but when you consume too much sugar at once, you inhibit protein absorption so that your locks don’t have a chance to grow as fast or thickly as they could otherwise do without interference from sugary snacks!
Alcohol
Alcohol is another nutrient that can lead to hair loss. When you drink, your body has a hard time absorbing nutrients from the food you eat. The worst part? It could take up to 72 hours for this effect of alcohol on your nutrition levels to subside!
It means that if you consume too much at one sitting. It will have an even more substantial negative impact on follicle health as well – leading not only to thinning or shedding hair but also weakened nails and skin discoloration issues in some cases.
It’s not just the act of drinking itself that causes these symptoms: when consumed with certain foods (namely fried foods), alcohol can make them more toxic by inhibiting our cells’ ability to break down toxins.
It’s important to remember that alcohol is a toxin and should be avoided entirely if you want to have healthy hair!
Smoking cigarettes
Smoking cigarettes is one of the worst things you can do for your body. Smoking causes a whole range of health issues, including hair loss!
Smoking damages both your follicles and blood vessels, which leads to premature thinning or shedding from repeated exposure.
It also reduces iron levels in the body – essential for solid locks. Nicotine constricts blood flow with immediate consequences on skin cells, too: nicotine decreases collagen production while increasing elastin production.
This alters how our bodies respond to sunlight and thus compromises what we can do about luscious locks that are as healthy as they should be!
The best thing you can do if you smoke is quit now because it’s never too late! The sooner this happens, the healthier your scalp will be in the long run.
High-Glycemic Foods
Foods with high glycemic content are bad for your hair even if you don’t consume excess sugar.
Increased consumption of these foods can lead to increased insulin androgens in the body, which has adverse effects on how healthy your hair is and blocking up some natural defenses against stress that then aggravates stress-inducing types of hair loss.
Foods with high glycemic content also make you feel hungry faster, so it’s more challenging to maintain a healthy weight.
Lack of protein in the diet
Just like high-glycemic foods, a lack of protein in the diet can lead to hair loss. When you overeat sugar at once, it inhibits protein absorption and leads to increased insulin levels – both of which are problematic for healthy locks! Dairy items are often touted as a way to maintain healthy hair, but it’s the opposite.
Dairy contains high levels of fat that increase testosterone and lead to thinning hair.
It also exacerbates problems such as dandruff or psoriasis, which can cause people even more grief when dealing with an already sensitive scalp, making them susceptible to different hormonal reactions from dairy products like lactose intolerance in their body.
Greasy Food
Greasy food is not just bad for your body, and it’s also terrible for your hair. Grease clogs pores and leaves an oil slick that can cause hair to fall out more quickly.
Grease from everyday foods like french fries or fried chicken won’t make you lose any weight, but greasing up the scalp will lead to dandruff which causes a greater chance of losing their locks. It might be hard avoiding these types of dishes when they’re as delicious as grease-dripping bacon.
However, with some care taken into account, such as washing regularly and using products explicitly meant for healthy-looking tresses, everyone should have no problem protecting their mane!
Conclusion
The hair loss that we experience is often caused by a nutrient deficiency and changes in hormone levels. To help you get back on the right track, here are some foods you can try adding to your diet for improved health of your hair.
These include leafy greens such as spinach or kale, avocados, egg yolks, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds. You should also eat plenty of proteins like eggs and lean meats if you’re experiencing other symptoms related to protein deficiency, including weight gain or fatigue.
If these dietary changes don’t help with your particular condition, it’s essential to see a doctor for further evaluation.
