Strong and healthy hair is desirable not only by women, but by men too. Luscious and strong hair does not come by just using expensive hair products, but instead just like a skin it’s what you intake that matters. The food choices that you make can either do wonders for your hair or cause severe damage. There is no doubt that pollution and stress can cause havoc on your hair, but what we don’t realize is that certain foods are also a culprit in contributing to hair thinning and hair fall.
Along with a person’s genetics and stress problems, a person’s diet plays a huge role in the health of his hair. There are foods bad for your hair that can even cause various hair loss problems in men like male pattern baldness, alopecia areata, and telogen effluvium!
Here is a list of five foods that cause and aggravate hair loss in men
Table of Contents
1. High Glycemic Index Foods
High glycemic index foods are the ones which cause insulin spikes! Foods like bread, refined flour, cakes, pasta, white yam and sugar are all foods with high glycemic index. They can create hormonal imbalances, while causing a spike in insulin and Androgens, which leads to hair fall. They cause your hair follicles to shrink, making your strands brittle and deprived of nourishment. High sugar intake also leads to diabetes, obesity and even balding!
2. Alcohol
Keratin is one of the main proteins which hair is made of. It gives structure to your hair and is responsible for strength and lustre. Alcohol has a negative impact on the keratin synthesis, which can make your hair weaker and seen without any lustre. Heavy alcohol consumption can also cause nutritional imbalances, which promotes follicle death. Binge drinking can also cause you to experience extreme dehydration, which can dry your hair follicles and cause hair thinning over time.
3. Junk Food
Junk foods are mostly made with monounsaturated and saturated fats, which not only make you overweight, and cause cardiovascular diseases, but can also make you lose your hair. A diet which is rich in MUFA and SFA, can elevate the level of test testerone, and increase the level of the DHT hormone. This androgen is related to alopecia. oily foods can also make your scalp greasy, which clogs your pores and prevents the growth of new hair follicles. Even certain sodas like diet sodas contain artificial sweeteners known as aspartame, which can also damage your hair follicles, and cause hair loss in men.
4. Raw Egg White
Drinking raw eggs has been a common practice among bodybuilders and people who want to intake direct protein. But the drawback is that eggs are great for health but they should not be consumed raw. Raw egg whites can lead to Biotin deficiency, a vitamin that is the major source for production of keratin. The avidin present in raw egg whites, also hinders intestinal absorption and combines with the biotin. Some other symptoms of Biotene deficiency caused by raw eggs are severe dermatitis and neuromuscular dysfunction.
5. Fish
High levels of mercury can also be a major cause of sudden hair loss! The most common source of high mercury exposure is fish, as the concentration of mercury in fish has been increasing in the past few decades due to overfishing and climatic change. Seawater fish like mackerel, swordfish, shark and a few varieties of tuna are very high in mercury, and with regular consumption can lead to hair loss. You can eat fish with lesser mercury, like salmon, shrimp, tilapia , cod, trout or flounder. It is also best to minimize eating fish to 2 times a week, to minimize the exposure of mercury.
There are many reasons that cause hair loss in men, but food intake is one of the crucial factors behind it. After all, your body is made up of what you eat, and there is a high chance that you are experiencing hair loss because of eating the wrong food. Now that you know the various foods that can aggravate or cause hair loss, it is time to re-evaluate your diet. Eat the right food, avoid the wrong ones and prevent hair loss!
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