Can B12 Deficiency Cause Hair Loss?

Hair loss can be attributed by lots of things. Even sometimes it signals particular conditions. In some cases, it is also linked to lifestyle factors. For such case, it is usually temporary when the underlying cause goes away. How about vitamin B12 deficiency? Can this dietary factor cause hair loss, too?

Hair loss and your diet

Hair follicles require plenty of adequate nutrients to keep them grow and regenerate continuously. Therefore, your diet can play a role.

Experts agree that a balanced diet, ‘especially with the right mix of iron, protein, or other essential nutrients’, is so crucial. It may be one of the best-kept secrets for your healthy hair!

The good news, your hair loss is very treatable and reversible if it is associated with poor diet. But if it is also linked to a medical condition, hormonal changes, or even the result of hereditary – your diet alone is not enough.

So, it’s important to find the cause of the problem. This also affects the kind of treatment you need to take! Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to diagnose the cause. Sometimes the cause of hair loss remains puzzling or is not fully understood.

The following are some common essential nutrients to help keep your hair healthy.

It may be the most essential nutrient needed by your hair to grow. In fact, a strand of hair is mostly composed by protein.

Most hairs are usually going with growing phase. Some are going with resting phase which then will fall out naturally, replaced by new ones – therefore, normally we can shed about 50 to 100 hairs a day and typically we don’t even notice this small amount.

If you have protein deficiency, this may increase the number of hairs that go into the resting phase. And the large number of hair with resting phase can make your hair loss become more noticeable.

Iron and other trace minerals (such as selenium, magnesium, and copper) are also essential to maintain your healthy hair. With other essential nutrients, these minerals are involved to help make various proteins that make up the hair follicles.

Meat is high in minerals, including iron. But if you concern about your blood cholesterol, you can consider eating more vegetarian sources of iron such as soybeans, white beans, spinach, and lentils.

Vitamins are essential for numerous different health benefits. They are also required to help maintain healthy hair. Does it mean that taking vitamin supplement is necessary to cope with hair loss?

As the name suggests, supplements are commonly used to help restore the deficiency of certain nutrient. However, when it comes to hair loss related to deficiency, a balanced diet is still the best answer.

But if you do believe that certain supplement may help, it’s better to talk first with your doctor!

The common symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency

You can get vitamin B12 through your diet, especially from animal-based foods. Like other vitamins, your body cannot make vitamin B12. Therefore, it should be consumed on a regular basis.

But some people don’t get enough B12. And this deficiency can lead to some problems. The common symptoms include:

  1. Anemia.
  2. Fatigue (including weakness and tiredness).
  3. Difficulty breathing such as shortness of breath.
  4. Change in tongue (smooth tongue).
  5. Change in the skin (like pale skin).
  6. Stomach discomforts (including bloating, constipation, or diarrhea).
  7. Decreased appetite.
  8. Decreased vision.
  9. Problems of nerves such as muscle weakness, tingling, or numbness.
  10. The deficiency may also cause some psychological problems such as memory problems and depression.

In addition, a mild deficiency usually doesn’t cause any symptom. The sign and symptom are likely to occur for a significant deficiency.

Sometimes vitamin B12 deficiency can cause hair loss, too!

All the vitamins, including B, C, D, and E are important. Even in general, any deficiency of these vitamins may have contribution to cause hair loss.

Cobalamin is another alternative name of vitamin B12. It is one of B complex vitamins, which is essential and required for healthy eyes, liver, skin, and hair.

It seems that vitamin B12 has lots functions in the body. Even it is also required to make red blood cells, DNA, and important to help keep nervous system work properly.

A challenging question, how does it contribute to cause hair loss?

