Can Nutrition Affect Hair Health? Understanding the Connection Between Diet and Hair Loss
Hair loss is often attributed to genetics or hormones, but nutrition and lifestyle may also play a role in hair health. Research suggests that chronic stress, inadequate sleep, restrictive eating, insufficient energy intake, and nutrient deficiencies can affect the hair growth cycle and contribute to increased shedding. One mechanism explored in research is oxidative stress, […]
Nutrition, Insulin Resistance, and Hormonal Health: A Personalized Approach to PCOS
Hormonal health and metabolic health are more connected than many people realize. For individuals with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), nutrition can play an important role in supporting insulin sensitivity, hormone regulation, reproductive health, and long-term wellness. Emerging discussions around renaming PCOS to polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS) reflect a growing recognition that this condition involves […]
Nutrition and Fertility: How Your Diet Can Support Reproductive Health
When it comes to fertility, nutrition is about more than what you eat during pregnancy. The foods you eat, your metabolic health, and your nutrient status before conception can all play a role in supporting reproductive health. Preconception nutrition is an opportunity to build healthy habits, address potential nutrient deficiencies, and support both partners as […]
Could Poor Nutrient Absorption Be Behind Your Hair Shedding?
Hair shedding can feel confusing when you are trying to eat well but still noticing more hair in the shower, more strands in your brush, or a thinner ponytail. Sometimes the issue is not only what you eat. It may also be what your body can absorb. Poor nutrient absorption, also called malabsorption, happens when […]
The Gut-Hair Connection: How Absorption May Affect Hair Health
Hair health is not only about what you put on your scalp. It is also connected to what your body can digest, absorb, and use. If your gut is not absorbing nutrients well, your hair follicles may not get the protein, iron, zinc, vitamin D, B vitamins, and other support they need to stay in […]
When Hair Loss Is Autoimmune: Testing, Overlap With Thyroid, and Next Steps
Hair loss can happen for many reasons, including stress, low ferritin, thyroid imbalance, menopause, PCOS, medications, rapid weight loss, nutrient deficiencies, and genetics. But sometimes, hair loss is autoimmune. Autoimmune hair loss happens when the immune system mistakenly targets the body’s own tissues. In alopecia areata, the immune system attacks hair follicles, leading to patchy […]