Hair Loss and Malnutrition

 

There are many diverse causes of hair loss, some are permanent, requiring surgery or medications in order to reverse or lessen the loss, and others which are reversible just by changing habits such as hair pulling or diet. Whatever the reason, there is no doubt that hair loss can be devastating. For women, it is hard on self esteem and can diminish the feelings of femininity. For men, it has associations with aging, which by the way, is not necessarily the case.

Malnutrition is one cause for hair loss that is preventable in most cases. Often used as a marker for social workers looking for signs of neglect in children, malnutrition is one of the more common causes of hair loss which is not genetic. Hair loss is also usually seen amongst those who suffer from malnutrition due to anorexia and bulimia.

Anorexia and bulimia are diseases in which a woman has an unrealistic self image. The distinction is that an a person with anorexia will force her/him self to not consume any food at all, and a person with bulimia will eat large quantities of food and then purge or throw up the food which was consumed.

Hairloss in the Anorexic and Bulemic 

In more severe cases, many times the anorexic or bulimic person may end up with serious, life long health problems; however, hair loss is not one of them. When the person suffering from anorexia or bulimia begins to consume more proteins and is getting adequate nutrition, their hair will begin to return to normal.

When the body is deprived of nutrients, it will move the nutrition that it is getting away from those parts of the body which is not needed for survival. The hair and scalp is one of these parts and therefore since the nutrition is not getting to the root of the hair, it begins to die and fall out. Usually hair loss does not being immediately in these types of cases instead it takes a couple of months.

Other Causes

Some people who are not ill also develop hair loss from malnutrition. Those who are on diets which exclude or severely limit protein intake also may experience hair loss. It is common for those who are living a vegan lifestyle to suffer some hair loss due to the fact that those people consume no protein/meat/animal products at all. Also, the less strict vegetarian will likely have thinning hair due to their eating habits. There are supplements that are available for these people which can help them to get the nutrients that they need in order to maintain hair growth. The good news is that hair loss due to malnutrition is easily cured. No medical treatment is required for the hair loss issue alone, nor is there anything special to you should do to help reverse the damage. Just by eating a protein rich diet, you can stop hair loss due to malnutrition, and you will have a full head of hair if this was in fact the basis for the hair loss in the first place.