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Diet & Alopecia?
Has anybody noticed an improvement when they changed their diet? I saw an Ayurvedic doctor on Friday, and she recommended all sorts of changes, such as eliminating wheat, pizza, tomatoes, processed food, cold food...the list goes on! I can see myself making SOME changes, but not all the changes. I guess little changes are better than nothing.
I was just curious if anybody has noticed that their hair began to grow back after changing their diet. I feel like what I'm doing now is working, and a diet change can only make it better, but I also don't want to not enjoy life by never having pizza or cold foods again!
I was just curious if anybody has noticed that their hair began to grow back after changing their diet. I feel like what I'm doing now is working, and a diet change can only make it better, but I also don't want to not enjoy life by never having pizza or cold foods again!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Heather Bloom on
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What about those of us who are NOT celiac? What would AA have to do with it? BTW I've been tested for celiac. To me, that would be like saying why don't you eliminate anything-bananas, cucumbers or anything else for that matter.
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Permalink Reply by Amber Lounder on
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I"m not saying that hair regrowth is due to diet. I'm not even sure thats' what helped me. I'll never know if it was a coincidence or a result...
I know that living with AA AU & AT is hard and has some real unpleasant features--but there are much worse things to live with
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Permalink Reply by Neil on
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For anyone with too little time to read the following 'novelette' - in a nutshell YES ... for me no wheat = more hair :)
I'm 42 and I've had AA for about 24 yrs. to varying degrees. I didn't worry about it for a long time since it seemed (and I was told) that it was basically harmless and since I am a guy when it got really bad I just shaved my head completely and no one thought anything of it. But when my nose hairs fell out I came to the conclusion that this is not harmless and there are probably other effects of which I am not even aware of. So I went on a personal quest to find a cure for the root cause (not the symptoms - ie hair loss). I read a booklet by David W. Rowland - One's Food is Another's Poison. It made a lot of sense to me. First of all I suspect that autoimmune diseases are systemic especially since if you have one type you are more than likely to have another. I have always had allergies and eczema as well as mild asthma but never got the Flu or any of the usual childhood diseases (chicken pox, mumps, etc). To make a long story short I have been off of gluten for about a year and have noticed more hair regrowth than I've had in about 8 yrs and I am just getting over a case of the chicken pox (which suggests to me that my immune system is not as active as it was). For me it seems to be gluten (and possibly dairy and chocolate - I'm going to try them next)
A few things to keep in mind from what I've learned:
- hair growth will most likely not happen immediately after a change since hair follicles go dormant for 3mths to a year
- also noticeable improvements are delayed because it takes time for your body to heal from the damage caused
- also damage cause by a food intolerance may cause other problems (such as bacterial or yeast infection) that may need to be resolved before symptoms improve
- most likely different foods for different people
- if you have intestinal irregularities (like I did - I just didn't know it wasn't normal) definitely investigate food as a culprit
- when you go off of a problem food you may notice some short term reactions ( I had a skin rash)
- when you've been off of a problem food for a long enough time you may have more immediate and obvious negative reactions - I've had wheat a few times by accident and experiment and I have no doubt that it's a problem for me
- in my case I suspect an under active thyroid as a contributing factor, I also feel cold, the way to test this is to take your temperature first thing in the morning. I just haven't gotten around to buying a thermometer, maybe tomorrow.
- changing your diet is NOT simple, gluten from wheat is used in most processed foods but due to lax labeling laws (to the point of immorality in my opinion) it is hidden in ingredients like spices, natural flavouring, and many many others. This is just one example, I would suggest that whatever food you choose to try that you research all the aliases used in the food industry.
- with above point in mind the easiest way is to eat fresh foods only prepared by you during the identifying process then when you have made a possible negative food list then do the research.
Since I am new here I am going to post more details of what I have learned and some of my opinions on doctors and medical treatments in a separate post. I will start off with a repeat of what I've just mentioned for those who have not read your post.
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Permalink Reply by Diana on
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Wow this is really interesting - Do you have AU? I am around same age and have all the same things as you eczema, food allergies, asthmas and never get flu etc - wild - so I am really thinking about trying the gluten free if not for hair gain.... then to get rid of the eczema!
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I'm actually a little unclear on the definitions but my hair loss is all over my body but in patches. It started on my head as one patch and at it worse I was about 3/4 bald. The patches elsewhere are small and come and go more frequently than on my head. I am mostly gluten free but am still learning of hidden sources (milk chocolate for example) and I have hair regrowth everywhere where I was bald including nose hairs, eyebrows, scalp.
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I just watched Anna's speech to her school and she set me straight - I have AA :)
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Permalink Reply by Patricia Hutchings on
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I have a few thoughts on this:
A food that would cause your hair to fall our, would surely show up in an allergy test, so might be safer route through the Doctor.
Less foods mean less nutrients, the more varied a diet the more chance I would say you would have a healthy diet.
I would personally add more varied foods, then cut anything out.
Iv noticed hair fall out has been worse after cutting out chocolate, and fried food, but that may have been due to a zinc and selenium deficency I had.
They usually say if you crave a food then its got something your lacking.
PS I lived on a gluten free diet for 10 years, and it didnt make a difference to my hair loss or gain.
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Permalink Reply by Stephanie on
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I agree with Patricia about eating a variety of foods with the exception of gluten and sugar. They provide no nutritional value and cause a variety of health problems. Our bodies are made of water, protein, and fat and these are the things we need to consume to keep the body working well. Easier said than done. Just walk down the aisles of your local grocery store and it's mostly crap. All those man-made, sugary carb foods are cheap, appealing to the eye, and best of all, "no assembly required". It's costly and time consuming to make you own foods from natural ingredients but they really do taste much better. After eating well for a few months try to enjoy a twinkie or a frozen dinner. Yuk!
My approach is to have all the right things in my home and then be flexible everywhere else. At a friend's house for dinner, for example, I eat everything that is served. If the majority of the time you follow a good diet it can definitely be beneficial. There's no question that our diet effects our outward appearance. That said, I don't expect it to "cure" my AA as there are other factors involved.
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The test for gluten allergies or celiac is quite invasive. I personally doubt the safety of any such test but will concede that you would likely get a faster result.
I guess I needed to be more clear on the idea of eliminating foods. A very basic diet is only used to find what may be causing a problem. Eliminating dairy and gluten is more likely to cause issues with caloric intake than nutrient intake especially if you include foods to replaced the nutrients you may be removing. An example would be to eat broccoli, salmon, or almonds to replace the calcium provided by dairy. In fact, my diet is more varied now that I have eliminated gluten than it ever has been in my life. I no longer "fill up on bread" or pasta which are actually pretty empty nutrient wise.
I work in a chocolate factory so it is very hard for me to eliminate it but I know I have to because it definitely causes me intestinal problems. After a while without any chocolate I will try an experiment with dark chocolate since I heard it is less likely to contain gluten.
I heard that about the craving for foods too and it may also be valid. But my experience has been that I crave the foods that I am allergic too (most of which were confirmed by allergy tests).
Not to be argumentative but are you absolutely sure you were gluten free. I keep thinking I am but I keep finding out I am just gluten reduced. Gluten is hidden in lots of foods under lots of names and sometimes not named at all. The closer I get to gluten free the more of my hair grows in.
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Permalink Reply by Chris Jeffer on
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Actually, in natural medicine, cravings are an indication of what your body is addicted to; it is a reaction to an excessive disorder. So it is the opposite - not what you are lacking but what you are getting too much of.
Also, for each person getting the digestive system cleaned up will be different. What one person is sensitive to, another may not react to. The key is to clean the digestive system by eliminating candida (which most people have and don't know they have) and second, experiement and see wht your body responds to - again this will be different from person to person.
I did a 12 week macrobiotic diet (lots of veg and brown rice) and my hair responded so well to this. It has been a hard thing for me to maintain, but I intend to get back on it because the results were fantastic.
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I agree..I'm still on thr GF diet and no dairy and my hair has come back--maybe not because of it,but I feel much more nergetic for it.
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Yeahhhhhhhh!!!! I love it when people share these stories - it inspires all of us to get to the bottom of what is going on - great news, Amber!
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