Did you know that how you handle stress and the foods you eat may increase or lower your risk of gray hair?
If you want to keep your hair free of grays, it’s important to be aware of the importance of a balanced diet that’s rich in nutrients.
Research on the role of diet in gray hair prevention notes that it may be possible to not just avert graying, but also reverse it by introducing healthier lifestyle habits.
When exposed to age and stressors, the hair follicles may start to produce less color in every phase of growth. As strands grow, the strands pass through regeneration cycles and then die. The cycle continues again and again throughout one’s life as long as the follicles are active.
The Cause for Gray Hairs
Genetics plays a huge role in whether and when we will go gray. Aging is also a contributing factor. The chance of going gray, on average, increases 10 to 20 percent every decade after the age of 30.
Interestingly, our hair is primarily white and as it grows, the body adds natural color in the form of melanin. There are two types of hair pigments, i.e. dark and light.
These pigments combine and produce the hair colors we see on ourselves or other people. For example, black, brown, blond, etc.
When hair grows from the follicle, the melanocytes add pigment via melanin into the cells of the hair that have keratin. This is the building protein of our hair, skin, and nails.
Research indicates that the body may have a so-called melanogenic clock that may slow down or stop this melanocyte activity which is controlled by our DNA and the environment.
The pigment-producing cells die off as we age and there are fewer and fewer colors that can be added to the strands.
Eventually, the hair becomes colorless, i.e. gray.
Helpful Foods to Add to Your Diet & Prevent Hair Graying
Following a diet abundant in anti-inflammatories can help with the prevention of hair graying or at least delay it. Introducing foods with anti-inflammatory properties may help protect the pigmentation cells.
A diet abundant in added sugars, processed food, and a lot of saturated fat has been linked to inflammation. On the other hand, a plant-based diet, low in added sugar and balanced in high-fat animal proteins, has anti-inflammatory characteristics.
Therefore, people who want to prevent hair graying should enrich their diet with antioxidant foods to help neutralize the damage to the pigmentation cells.
Some of the best antioxidant food options are the following:
- Dark and leafy greens
- Berries
- Red wine (in moderation)
- Red grapes
- Fresh spices and herbs
Moreover, being deficient in some vitamins and minerals may increase the chances of gray hair. This is why getting enough D3 and B12 is vital. Other necessary micronutrients for healthy and color-rich hair are vitamins A and E, zinc, iron, selenium, magnesium, and copper.
You can acquire these nutrients from supplements, but many of them can also be obtained from a variety of foods:
- Zinc (beef, crab, lobster, baked beans, oysters)
- Iron (cereals, oysters, dark chocolate, white beans, lentils)
- Copper (shitake mushrooms, potatoes, oysters, beef liver)
- Selenium (tuna, sardines, shrimp, Brazil nuts)
- Magnesium (chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, spinach, almonds)
- Vitamin A(sweet potatoes, spinach, ricotta cheese, cantaloupe, beef liver)
- Vitamin E (sunflower seeds, sunflower oil, hazelnuts, almonds)
- Vitamin D (egg, milk, salmon, mushrooms)
- Vitamin B12 (clams, tuna, salmon, clams)
To decrease inflammation in the body, you should limit the consumption of the following foods:
- Candies
- Commercial baked goods
- Sugar-rich drinks
- Soda drinks
- Processed and high-fat meats
Sources:
