Zinc is a nutrient that you can find throughout your body, it helps the immune system and metabolism to function correctly. The nutrient is also important to wound healing and for healthy hair growth. Food sources that contain zinc are chicken, red meat and fortified breakfast cereals. A deficiency of zinc can lead to hair loss and an unhealthy scalp condition. That is why we use it in hair growth products to keep it healthy.
In this blog you can read what a zinc is, the health effects, zinc and hair growth, other nutrients for hair growth and treatments for hair growth.
What is Zinc?
Zinc is considered an essential nutrient, meaning that your body can’t produce or store it. This means that eating a healthy diet or using nourishing supplements is important for numerous processes in your body such as: Gene expression, enzymatic reactions, immune functions, protein synthesis, DNA synthesis and wound healing.
It is considered that zinc is the second most abundant trace mineral in the body after iron. It is present in every cell of the body and is necessary for the activity of over 300 enzymes that aid in metabolism, digestion, nerve function and other processes. And is critical for the development and function of immune cells.
This mineral is also fundamental for skin health, DNA synthesis and protein production. Body growth and development relies on the role of cell growth and division. One of the enzymes of zinc is also crucial for proper taste and smell. A deficiency can reduce the ability to taste or smell. The deficiency can also, lead to an unhealthy scalp and hair condition.
What are the health effects of Zinc
Zinc has various effects on your health, these effects we have summoned for you here below:
- Taking the nutrient by mouth seems to help treat acne. Applying it to the skin alone in an ointment does not help.
- You can treat disorders and hair loss, because of zinc deficiencies by taking it by mouth.
- Eye diseases that are leading to vision loss, zinc in combination with antioxidant vitamins, might slow down the vision loss and prevent age-related vision loss from becoming more advance in people at high risk.
- It might help reduce ADHD symptoms in children.
- Sucking on lozenges containing zinc gluconate or zinc acetate helps shorten the length of a common cold in adults.
- The blood sugar might improve by a small amount of zinc and help against diabetes.
- Resolving zinc deficiency with supplementation may reduce deficiency-related hair loss.
OTHER HEALTH EFFECTS
- Taking zinc by mouth might help prevent pneumonia in some children. But it doesn't seem to help children who already have pneumonia.
- Taking zinc by mouth improves the ability to taste foods in most people who have this condition.
- Zinc in combination with antidepressants seems to improve depression. It might also help in people who don’t respond to antidepressants.
- Applying zinc sulfate or zinc oxide to the skin, alone or in combination with other ingredients, seems to reduce the duration and severity of cold sores.
Zinc and hair growth
Zinc plays an important role in hair tissue growth and repair. It also helps keep the oil glands around the follicles working properly. Hair loss is a common symptom of zinc deficiency according to Yanagisawa (2008), zinc deficiency can be reduced with supplementation. It keeps hormone levels regulated and has effect on the DHT levels in your body.
Other nutrients for hair growth
Iron is a nutrient that plays a crucial role in making hemoglobin, which is a compound that carries oxygen to cells. Oxygen is essential for the body to function correctly. A deficiency of Iron can lead to hair loss, especially by woman. Fortunately, a deficiency of Iron doesn’t damage the hair follicles, that means it can effectively regrow.
Protein is a nutrient that has impact on your body. Hair follicles are mostly made out of protein. A lack op it can promote hair loss and dry, brittle hair.
A few vitamins also support hair growth, these are vitamins A, B, C and D. Vitamin A stimulates cells to grow and also helps skin glands to make an oily substance called sebum. This sebum moisturizes the scalp and helps to keep the hair healthy. Low levels of vitamin B can cause to hair loss, skin rashes and brittle hair.
Vitamin C, is a powerful antioxidant that helps against oxidative stress caused by free radicals. In addition your body needs to create a protein, called ‘collagen’ that supports your hair structure. Vitamin D helps to strengthen your bones and it absorbs calcium more efficiently. According to dermatologists, people with prematurely greying hair often tend to have vitamin D deficiencies.
Products for hair growth
Hair Growth Supporting Tablets; these tablets combat hair loss. The ingredients are vitamins that stimulate hair growth and contain essential vitamins and nutrients as well as plant-extracts that counteract, the formation of DHT in the hair follicles. In the tablets 15mg of Zinc are used, what is a safe amount but you need to balance it.
Anti-Grey hair tablets; the Anti Grey Hair Tablets are a dietary supplement, developed to effectively combat the greying of the hair and maintain the natural hair colour. This is an anti-grey hair treatment that combats the causes of greying hair. In the tablets 10mg of Zinc is used, which is a completely safe amount.
Conclusion
Zinc is a nutrient that has multiple health effects also on the hair. Neofollics uses zinc in their tablets to make sure the nutrients get into your follicles, to stimulate hair growth.