Low Protein and Hair Loss
Protein is not only a macromolecule that is absolutely essential for human life, it’s also essential for healthy hair. Fortunately, we tend to naturally consume protein in many of the things we eat every day. But the quality of the proteins we take in highlights an entirely different issue altogether. Some of us may manage to fool ourselves into thinking that the fast food burger we just slammed down will help us reach our daily requirement for protein, but you’d need three of those burgers to match the complete protein chains found in wholesome milk. While a low protein diet can be disastrous to your overall health, it has also been directly linked to hair loss.
Proteins are considered to be the building blocks of the body as they are found to be a fundamental part of countless synthesis processes. For example, hair is created with miniature pockets of skin called follicles. At the base of the follicle is found a structure called papilla. Papilla is the actual site where hair grows when a selection of cells converts amino acids into keratin which is the specific type of protein that is considered hair. The rate of your hair growth is directly related to the rate of conversion of amino acids into keratin which averages at 1.1 to 1.3 em per month.
This raises a popular question of whether eating excessive protein amounts can actually speed up our hair growth rates. Unfortunately, it’s not quite possible to achieve a super rate of hair growth through a protein packed diet, but a diet low in protein most certainly will adversely affect your rate of hair growth. One of the most prominent contributors to the low protein and hair loss relationship is the crash diet which has become so popular among today’s impatient dieters.
Since our bodies are constantly programmed for survival, a diet too low in protein will actually cause our bodies to go into reserve power and functioning. Although hair growth is linked to a primitive survival need, helping us to insulate our bodies and maintain proper body temperatures, this is seen as an auxiliary function for the body. This is where we see a direct link to low protein and hair loss—the body will shift growing hairs into the resting phase so that the minimal amount of protein that the body is getting can be used for functions more vital to survival. Unfortunately, your body doesn’t consider looking fabulous at your next social event as crucial to survival, so your hair growth will take a backseat to protein conversions for major organs and internal life processes, leading to massive shedding.
While hair loss in itself is a serious problem, it can actually serve to be a warning sign that there’s something seriously wrong with your body. Our bodies actually find ways to communicate with us and warn us of pending danger. For example, aside from you chocolate lovers, we sometimes crave a particular food or beverage because our body is actually telling us that it’s lacking the nutrients found in those items. Hair loss can then be considered a mixed blessing as it warns us before it’s too late that we need to drastically improve our daily protein intake.