Did you know that being iron deficient can affect your hair?

Chances are, like most people, this information might be new to you. It’s one of those everyday things that we don’t really think about until someone points it out to us and then it makes sense. It’s hard to do everything right for our bodies all the time, and vitamins like iron can certainly slip under the radar.

Getting enough iron from your diet is especially difficult as many people are unable to easily absorb iron from their diet alone (1 in 8 people!), even if that diet contains iron-rich foods like dried beans and legumes, dark green leafy vegetables, dried fruits, nuts and seeds, wholegrain cereals, breads and red meats.

Therefore, iron deficiency is one of the most common nutritional deficiencies affecting 1 in 8 Australians today. So what does that look like?

With symptoms such as headaches and fatigue, that can often be attributed to many things including stress, iron deficiency is hard to catch. So let’s talk about one of the lesser known symptoms: hair!

A lack of iron affects the way your blood carries oxygen and other vitamins around the body, due to reduced hemoglobin in the blood. This affects the amount of oxygen in the whole body, and it can show in your skin and hair as the cells that stimulate hair growth are deprived of their essential oxygen flow. When skin and hair lack oxygen, they become dry and weak, meaning more breakage, frizziness and even greater than normal hair loss, in both men and women. When paired with dry, flaky skin, dizziness and headaches, these are strong signs that you may have an iron deficiency.

The good news is, iron deficiency is easily treated, with iron! Even the most extreme hair damage due to iron deficiency is repairable and should be short term, when treated properly. In addition to having healthier hair, there’s also an improvement in overall health by treating an iron deficiency with an iron supplement. So do your body and hair a favour today if you want to maintain your iron levels, and supplement your intake with our one-a-day iron gummy to meet your recommended daily requirements!

References:https://www.healthline.com/health/iron-deficiency-and-hair-loss