Post Menopause Exhaustion

Why Iron Deficiency Causes Hair Loss

In women below the age of 50 with hair loss, the first place one should look is at their iron stores.

Hair loss studies:

During a study, 153 women who had been diagnosed with telogen effluvium (rapid shedding) were examined. The cause of the hair loss was found to be higher that 70% in women with low iron.

Reference ranges are around 40ng/mL. However this needs to be higher if you are looking to regrow lost hair.

While iron deficiency is the most common cause of Telogen Effluvium in pre-menopausal women, medications and hormone changes are the most common cause of Telogen Effluvium in post-menopausal women.

Besides being a trigger for Telogen Effluvium where the majority of hair shedding occurs, iron deficiency can also be the most likely underlying cause when hair loss is subtle; slowly thinning out over many months or even years. This is more common among women of childbearing age due to menstruation and pregnancy. Iron is found mainly in the blood, and accordingly substantial amounts can be lost in childbirth.

Iron helps blood transport oxygen. Iron play a significant role in various body functions, but it is also essential for sustaining normal growth and maintenance of hair.

In order for the body to maintain a sufficient balance of iron, the amount excreted must be replaced by the amount ingested in the diet. When the amount of dietary iron absorbed is insufficient, a negative iron imbalance occurs, and consequently iron stores are exhausted to recoup the deficit. The fall of iron stores normally passes through several stages: low ferritin, depletion and then amenia.

Only about 10% of ingested iron is absorbed and this is dependent on the type of food in the diet. Certain foods may inhibit the absorption of iron, tea and coffee, bran and egg albumin.

Whereas other foods may enhance the absorption of iron, i.e. vitamin C, and flesh foods. (The Vitamin C and iron rich food must be eaten at the same time).

In meat, 65% of iron is bound to the heme molecule (from hemoglobin and myoglobin), which is relatively easily absorbed. The rest of the iron in meat and all iron in plants is non-heme iron which is nore difficult to absorb.

Hair follicles are known to contain ferritin, and when the circulating stores of ferritin decline then these stores are called upon to ensure support for more essential cells, such as bone marrow.

The removal of ferritin from the hair follicle brings about the hair loss. This leads to the development of fine non pigmented hair.

The Reference Nutritional Intake daily

Men aged 11-18 - 11.3 mgs Men aged 19 + - 8.7 mgs Women 11- 49 - 14.8 mgs Women 50+ 8.7 mgs

The Reference Nutritional Intake (RNI) for iron is shown above and this should supply you with enough iron for your daily needs.

Supplements are available which can boost your iron intake on a daily basis, and help reach the normal level within a few months. As soon as the required level is reached, hair growth should return to normal. Only take iron supplements under a doctor's supervision.

Diffuse Hair Loss

No diffuse alopecia (thinning of the hair) should be ignored. It can be an early manifestation of several underlying conditions.

Dietary sources

Iron tablets can make you constipated so we look to nature where we can: eat more red meat and spinach.

Molasses not only contains high levels of iron, but a number of other essential nutrients too (it also helps with bowel movements due to its potassium levels).

Vitamin C - helps increase iron stores so increase your citrus fruit intake too.

About the Author

Having dealt with the more difficult forms of
alopecia areata
and
children's hair loss
we have found that there is a lot of confusion over areas like optimum iron stores. This is because most reference ranges are based on clinical conditions and not hair loss which is not life threatening. Our experience is that "Alopecia can be beaten"

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