Many people want strong as well as healthy hair, especially as they grow older.
Interestingly, one’s hair does grow around 0.5 inches (1.25 cm) per month and 6 inches (15 cm) per year. How fast it grows much depend on factors such as age, health, genetics as well as one’s diet.
Although one cannot change factors such as age as well as genetics, diet is one thing one does have control over. Having a diet that is lacking in proper nutrients can rather lead to hair loss.
On the other hand, it is better to eat a balanced diet with the right nutrients that can help promote hair growth, especially if one is experiencing hair loss due to poor nutrition.
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10 Amazing Foods for Hair Growth
1. Eggs
- Eggs are no doubt a great source of protein as well as biotin, two nutrients that may help promote hair growth.
- Eating adequate protein is very important for hair growth because hair follicles are made of mostly protein. A lack of protein in one’s diet has been shown to treating hair loss.
- Biotin is indeed essential for the production of a hair protein referred to as keratin, which is why biotin supplements are often rather marketed for hair growth. Research has also shown that by consuming more biotin one’s hair growth will improve
- However, biotin deficiencies are uncommon if one consumes a balanced diet. There is little evidence that does show healthy people benefit from consuming more biotin.
- Eggs happen to be a great source of zinc, selenium and other hair-healthy nutrients. This does make them one of the best foods to consume for optimal hair health.
2. Berries
- Berries are rather loaded with beneficial compounds and vitamins that may promote hair growth.
- This includes vitamin C, which has strong antioxidant properties.
- Antioxidants can indeed help protect hair follicles against damage from harmful molecules referred to as free radicals. These molecules do exist naturally in one’s body as well as the environment.
- Our body does make use of vitamin C in order to produce collagen, a protein that does help strengthen one’s hair to prevent it from becoming brittle as well as breaking.
- Vitamin C does help the body absorb iron from one’s diet. Low iron levels may actually cause anemia, which has been linked to hair loss.
3. Spinach
- Spinach happens to be a healthy green vegetable that is rather loaded with beneficial nutrients such as folate, iron, and vitamins A and C, all of which may indeed promote hair growth.
- Vitamin A does help the skin glands produce sebum. This oily substance doe help moisturize the scalp to keep one’s hair healthy.
- Spinach also happens to be a great plant-based source of iron, which is essential for one’s hair growth. Iron does help red blood cells carry oxygen throughout one’s body to fuel one’s metabolism as well as aid growth and repair.
- Iron deficiencies have been indeed linked to hair loss.
4. Fatty Fish
- Fatty fish such as salmon, herring, and mackerel do have nutrients that may help promote hair growth.
- They are rather excellent sources of omega-3 fatty acids, which have been linked to hair growth.
- Fatty fish also is a great source of protein, selenium, vitamin D3 and B vitamins, nutrients that can help promote strong and healthy hair.
5. Sweet Potatoes
- Sweet potatoes happen to be a great source of beta-carotene. The body does convert this compound into vitamin A, which is linked to good hair health.
- Research has indeed shown that vitamin A promotes the production of sebum, which helps keep one’s hair healthy.
6. Avocados
- Avocados are very delicious, nutritious and also a great source of healthy fats.
- They also contain an excellent amount of vitamin E, which may indeed promote hair growth. Vitamin E does protect areas of the skin, such as the scalp, from oxidation stress as well as damage. Damaged skin on one’s scalp can result in poor hair quality and fewer hair follicles.
- Avocados contain plenty of fatty acids. These fats cannot actually be produced by one’s body, but are essential building blocks of one’s cells. A deficiency in essential fatty acids has indeed been linked to hair loss.
7. Nuts
- Nuts are indeed tasty, convenient and also contain a variety of nutrients that can promote hair growth.
- They contain a wide variety of B vitamins, zinc, and essential fatty acids. A deficiency in any of these nutrients has been linked to hair loss.
- Nuts have indeed been linked as well to a wide variety of other health benefits besides hair growth that include reduced inflammation and a lower risk of suffering from heart disease.
8. Seeds
- Seeds do contain a massive amount of nutrients with relatively few calories. Many of these nutrients may in fact also promote hair growth. These include vitamin E, zinc and selenium.
- They also contain such as flaxseeds and chia seeds that also provide omega-3 fatty acids.
- Flaxseeds do provide a type of omega-3 fatty acid that is not made use of by the body as efficiently as the omega-3s found in fatty fish.
9. Sweet Peppers
- Sweet peppers are indeed an excellent source of vitamin C, which may aid one’s hair growth.
- One yellow pepper does provide nearly 5.5 times as much vitamin C as an orange.
- Vitamin C does help promote collagen production, which can help strengthen one’s hair strands. It is also a strong antioxidant, which can protect hair strands against oxidative stress.
- Oxidative stress does occur when free radicals tend to overwhelm the body’s antioxidant defense system. It has also been linked to hair loss and the graying of hair.
- Sweet peppers are also an excellent source of vitamin A.
- This vitamin may indeed help speed up hair growth while stimulating the production of sebum, which also helps keep hair healthy.
10. Oysters
- Oysters happen to be one of the best food sources of zinc.
- Zinc is a mineral that does help support the hair growth and repair cycle.
- A lack of zinc in the diet may indeed promote telogen effluvium, a common but reversible form of hair loss that does cause a lack of nutrients in one’s diet.
- Studies have shown that taking a zinc supplement can indeed reverse the effects of hair loss caused by a zinc deficiency.
- Taking too much zinc can also promote hair loss. Therefore, it is better to have zinc from oysters rather than taking supplements.