Vitamins and Supplements for Hair Loss

Vitamins and Supplements for Hair Loss

A well balanced diet along with vitamins and supplements definitely promotes optimal health, but it also promotes healthy hair, and in the process slows down hair loss. Vitamins and supplements are able to reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease, so why not hair loss? While there are no miracle cures to be found at the health food store, there are quite a few vitamins and supplements that can improve the quality of your hair.

While you should always make sure that you are getting enough of every vitamin and mineral in your diet, there are a few vitamins and supplements that be taken to specifically stop hair loss to some degree. Therefore, it is important to make sure that you are getting enough of these vitamins and supplements in your diet to promote healthy hair.

PABA, vitamin B12, vitamin B6, and folic acid are considered to be the most important vitamins for the hair. These vitamins not only improve the overall quality of the hair, but they also reduce the amount of grey in the hair. It has been shown in studies that these four vitamins used together significantly reduced the amount of grey hair in test subjects in a recent study. Brewerís yeast, a supplement rich in vitamin B, is also shown to darken hair as well.

Vitamin E is another important vitamin for the hair. The beauty industry has promoted Vitamin E for many years as a hair improvement supplement, and with good reason. Vitamin E has been proven to work to make hair healthy, thick, and luxurious. Besides taking the vitamin itself, there are many other ways to get healthy doses of vitamin E in your diet. Wheat germ and wheat germ oil, rich in Vitamins E and B, are great dietary supplements for getting enough vitamin E to stimulate hair growth.

Minerals are also important to promote healthy hair. Two minerals that promote hair growth, magnesium and potassium, can be found in common multivitamin supplements. Silicon (Silica) is a supplement usually sold as a ìhealthy nails, skin, and hairî supplement. Silicon is necessary for bone and connective tissue (collagen) formation. Iodine is another trace mineral helpful for hair quality, usually purchased in the form of kelp tablets. The recommend daily dose of vitamin D, which is found in a multivitamin, is important for the proper assimilation of these minerals in the intestines.

Vitamin A and Vitamin F are also important vitamins to take when you want to have healthy hair; however, the best way to get them is through food intake. Vitamin A is more of a benefit to the scalp. It can be helpful with dandruff, and also a dry itchy scalp associated with other medical conditions. It is usually included in a multivitamin in small amounts, but the best place to find it is in cod liver oil. Vitamin F, or the essential fatty acids, are abundantly present in all unsaturated vegetable oils and in raw seeds and nuts. Unsaturated oils in the diet are considered to be valuable to the sebaceous glands, which are located in and around the hair follicles.

While a multivitamin can take care of the basics needed to stop or slow down hair loss, the extra benefits come from the vitamins and supplements that can be found at your local health food store. Taking vitamins and supplements aimed specifically at hair loss is the best way to stop it and the best way to keep a fuller head of hair.

Vitamins and Supplements for Obesity

Obesity, in the most basic terms, is an excess of body fat. Anyone who is over the normal weight for their age and height by 20% or more is considered obese. This is the clinical definition, and no matter how you try to get out of it, being 20% over the norm when it comes to weight makes anyone clinically obese. This is different from being overweight. Being overweight is subject to interpretation, and being slightly over the norm may be just how you are. Obesity is a medical condition and for health reasons should be treated as such. This is because anyone who is obese runs quite a few health risks.

Those who are obese are more likely to experience kidney trouble, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, complications of pregnancy, and psychological problems. Some of the causes of obesity are glandular malfunctions, malnutrition, emotional tension, boredom, bad habits, and love of food. The most important cause of obesity with regards to vitamins and supplements is the issue of malnutrition. This is because your obesity may be partially caused by your body not getting enough of the right vitamins and minerals.

If you are not getting enough of the basic vitamins and minerals needed to function, then it will be harder for your body to metabolize fat. Taking a multivitamin is a good place to start, because if you arenít eating healthy, itís not only the extra calories that are causing obesity, itís the lack of nutrition in your body. Multivitamins are good for obesity because they are readily available, inexpensive to buy, and easy to take. They also contain most of the nutrition that you need when you are losing weight. For example, vitamin B6 removes excess water. Vitamin E is important for fat metabolism. Vitamin C is necessary for normal glandular function. The list goes on, but most of the vitamins and supplements in a multivitamin can help with obesity, including replacing vital nutrients as you lose weight.

Researchers have also found other vitamins and supplements that can help with obesity. Studies have shown that weight reduction can be improved with the use of the combination of the amino acids L-ornithine and L-arginine, enhanced by L-lysine. L-ornithine helps to release a growth hormone lacking in adults that builds muscle and burns fat. This combination works best when the body is at rest. In the same family of amino acids, L-phenylalanine is an appetite suppressant that tells your body you are not hungry. These amino acids are all available at health food stores everywhere.

Getting the right vitamins and supplements is the best place to start if you are obese and want to lose weight, because when you are getting all of the nutrients that you need, you start feeling better. Thatís when you will be more successful at a weight loss plan. Simply cutting calories or going on a crash diet will only make you feel worse and can actually endanger your health.

Once you have the right nutrients in your system, you are ready for a diet and weight loss plan. At this point, you can start sensible eating and moderate exercise. Remember, if do start losing weight you can deplete your system of precious vitamins and minerals. No matter what kind of diet you attempt, always keep taking a multivitamin; because if you are cutting calories you may also be cutting nutrients out of your diet.