Is your hair loss due to these 6 nutritional deficiencies?

Lack of certain nutrients in the body can lead to hair loss. Find out which ones you cannot afford to miss.

Hair loss is caused due to a lot of factors, including a poor diet. When your body lacks certain nutrients, you are likely to lose hair. In order to prevent this from taking place, make sure you feed your hair the right nutrition which will fasten hair growth. Here's what you need to include in your diet to prevent hair loss.

Nutrient	Required for	Effect of deficiency on hair	Vegetarian sources	Non-vegetarian sources
Protein	These are building blocks of every tissue of the body including hair and scalp. It helps in new hair generation to replace the ones that are lost.	Dry and brittle hair; thinning of hair due to non-replacement of the shedding hair.	Protein from beans, nuts, grains, etc. are good but not optimal since they contain protein in the incomplete form. Here are some more veg protein sources.	Protein from animal sources are the best eg: meat, chicken, fish, eggs, milk, cheese.
Vitamin C(If you are a smoker, your requirement for Vitamin C doubles)	This vitamin is required for producing collagen which is essential for holding tissues in the hair together.	Weak and brittle hair leading to split ends and hair loss.	Oranges, lemon, sweet lime, berries, watermelon, palak, methi, tomatoes and potatoes.	Not available from animal sources
Iron(If you are a woman, your requirement for iron is even more since you lose blood and iron during menstruation. Pregnant and lactating women also need more iron)	Required for formation of hemoglobin in turn providing enough oxygen and blood to the hair.	Weakening of the hair and hair loss.	Non-heme iron from palak, rajma, dal,chana, soyabean.	Meat, chicken, eggs, fish are the better sources since heme iron from animal sources is more easily absorbed.
Copper	Same as above	Weakening of the hair and hair loss.	Sesame seeds (til), soya, cashews.	Meat (especially liver), seafood.
Zinc	Helps the oil glands in the hair follicle to function normally.	The oil glands do not produce enough oil leading to dry scalp, dandruff and hair loss.	Nuts, whole grains, dals.	Meat, seafood.
Vitamin B complex	Helps hemoglobin which helps supply oxygen to the scalp and hair and hair follicles.	Weak, undernourished and damaged hair.	Not available from vegetarian sources	Tuna fish (bangda) and salmon fish (rohu), chicken.

Image source: photos.com

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