Pennies-per-day supplement may stop male and female hair loss — even stimulate regrowth

by Ken Winston Caine

Cleveland Clinic medical researchers think they have uncovered a major nutritional factor in several common types of hair loss plaguing both men and women.

Even better, they report that a pennies-per-day nutritional supplement can regrow lost hair.

However, the supplement they use, elemental iron, can be dangerous, even fatal, so don’t rush out and buy a bottle of cheap iron pills.

Iron toxicity can build up without obvious symptoms. Iron supplements are best taken with periodic medical monitoring.

About 15 percent of people are super sensitive to iron and can quickly develop toxicity. If you don’t know whether you are one, ask your doctor to test you. And ask also for a ferritin test to determine your true iron levels.

Oft-ignored, minor deficiency of iron implicated in balding

Medicine has long recognized that severe iron deficiency could lead to hair loss, but the Cleveland Clinic researchers contend that even slightly lower than optimum blood levels of iron seem to be implicated in commons types of hair loss.

The ferritin test detects even low-level early-stage deficiencies.

It’s those low-level, early deficiencies that, when treated, are likely to result in regrowth of hair, the researchers said.

The doctors reviewed 40 years of studies and found what they believe is a pretty convincing link between even minor iron deficiency and hair loss.

At their clinic they routinely test for iron deficiency in cases of hair loss in both men and women, and treat minor deficiencies through supplementation — with good results, they say.

Their findings are reported in the the May issue of the Journal of American Academy of Dermatology.

Doctors conventionally haven’t paid attention to minor iron deficiencies. They’ve tended to treat only the more severe iron deficiency anemia.

The Cleveland Clinic researchers believe the low level deficiencies require attention.

They stopped short of recommending all doctors routinely run ferritin tests in cases of hair loss. They called for more research.

A number of things can cause iron deficiency, including menstruation, hemorrhaging, cancer, insufficient dietary intake, poor metabolism of iron, and more.

Dark green vegetables are a good natural source of iron

Most people only need a few milligrams of iron daily in their diet to maintain healthy levels.

If you need more iron, consider getting it from food sources, rather than taking elemental iron pills.

Most dark green vegetables contain a highly assimilative form of iron. People eating diets rich in dark green vegetables rarely have iron deficiencies.

A kinder, gentler supplement

Beet root powder capsules provide a relatively safe form of supplementation. Beets contain no more iron than most other iron-containing vegetables, but the form they contain is easily used by the body. And beets contain a number of other friendly, synergistic compounds, vitamins, enzymes and minerals that act as blood builders and which aid in iron assimilation.

Nature’s Way manufactures high-quality, inexpensive beet root powder capsules. Two capsules, three times a day is the usual recommended dose.

More:

• Nutritional doc Leo Galland on the dangers of iron supplementation.

• Medicinal qualities of beet root from acclaimed science writer Stephen Nottingham’s book, Beetroot. Scroll down to find modern, scientific information.

• How iron is metabolized – various types, etc.