Vitamin B12
Hair cells are the 2nd fastest growing cells in the body (2nd only to intestinal cells). However, hair is a non-essential tissue, so your body will never send nutrients its way if another part of you is lacking, and is usually one of the first things to suffer when there is an imbalance in the body. Hair needs a mixture of both vitamins and minerals to grow, vitamin B12 is one of these essential vitamins.
Vitamin B12 is an essential water soluble B Vitamin. It helps to keep your body’s nerves functioning efficiently, plays an important role in DNA production, and, importantly for your hair, helps to keep your red blood cells, which carry oxygen to your tissues, healthy.
Vitamin B12 Deficiency
Lack of Vitamin B12 is called Vitamin B12 deficiency anaemia, whereby your body produces larger than normal red blood cells that don’t work as well as they should. While some people’s bodies are unable to absorb Vitamin B12, deficiency can also occur when there is a lack of Vitamin B12 rich foods in the diet. This means it is very important to incorporate enough of it into your meals. Deficiency symptoms are similar to iron deficiency anaemia and include unusual tiredness, lethargy, pallor and diffuse hair loss from the scalp.
It is preferable to obtain the Vitamin B12 you need through your diet, rather than supplements. However, sometimes this is not possible, either due to dietary restrictions, illness, stress, the consumption of too many processed foods and/or a hectic lifestyle. In these cases, and when hair loss is an issue, a combination of both supplements, such as Philip Kingsley TRICHO COMPLEX, and an improvement to the diet, is best for encouraging re-growth of hair when loss and/or thinning is an issue. Unfortunately, and again because your hair is a non-essential tissue, it is also usually the last thing to benefit from improvements to the diet and so supplements can be extremely helpful.
Foods Rich in Vitamin B12
Poultry
Liver
Eggs
Salmon
Cod
Milk
Fortified Soy Milk
Fortified Cereals
Yeast