Dietary Advice to Prevent Hair Loss

A common complaint today is that many experience periods of hair fall and most of us are confused as to how to control this. Tension itself along with an imbalanced diet can be the cause for hair fall. So first of all relax. Secondly make a promise to yourself not to skip any meals. Your body requires certain nutrients in specific quantities daily and they can be provided and absorbed only if you eat all three meals. Today most people are skipping meals in order to control or lose weight.

Please understand that skipping meals does not help losing weight. You have to eat all meals with a proper balance of all foods but only learn to skip and say no to FATTY FOOD. Your body requires water, minerals, vitamins, carbohydrates and protein daily and a tiny amount of fat.

Your body requires 50-70 gm protein daily, which is important for growth and maintenance of hair. This has to be provided as 20 gm at breakfast 20 at lunch and 20 at dinner. This protein is essential for your hair and skin daily. If you miss a meal once, 20gm protein is lost and surely the hair becomes weak and falls out. Similarly the body requires 500 gms of calcium daily. If you are not taking milk/curds 400-500 ml daily then this calcium need is not met and this may lead to hair loss.

Therefore we advise never to skip meals and please make sure protein rich foods like dhal/pulses, milk and egg or non-veg are included in every meal. Also 2 glasses of milk is a must daily for all ages and fruits and salads too must be eaten daily to keep up a good supply of vitamin and mineral.

2 glasses of milk/curd
2 servings of dhal/pulse (lunch and dinner)
2 servings of salad (lunch and dinner)
2 servings of fruit (11 am and 6 pm)

Another reason for hair fall is that the hair is not kept washed and cleaned regularly. Dust, dirt and other pollutants deposited on the scalp may get lodged in a pore of a strand of hair and this will not enable proper breathing of the hair and then that strand of hair dies and falls out. Regular shampooing and a good diet are important for thick strong hair.

Those who regularly consume non-veg and suddenly decide to stop it may experience hair loss. This is due to the reduction in protein intake. Protein in the form of dhal, sambar and pulses like channa, rajma, moong, lobia and skimmed milk/curd must be increased to compensate for the reduction of the non-veg. I would advise those giving up non-veg to at least continue consumption of eggs.

Paneer, nuts and soya are other good sources of protein but we must be aware that all these contain very high amounts of fat and can be dangerous for those with heart disease, diabetes and all those who are trying to lose weight. We would recommend that you will avoid these as even small amounts can result in weight gain and blood lipid levels and sugar levels can be raised rapidly by their consumption.