Best foods for healthy hair and hair growth

For healthy hair and healthy hair growth, consuming a diet rich in vitamins, minerals and compounds is necessary. These nutrients enter the blood stream to nourish the scalp and hair follicles to support and maintain healthy, shiny, strong hair.

If you are lacking the necessary nutrients that support and maintain hair health, no amount of styling or hair products will help. Your hair follicles and scalp must be healthy and nourished. Lean proteins, healthy fats and fruit, nuts and vegetables need to be included in your regular diet.

Below are the top 10 foods recommended to support hair health. 

1. Eggs are a great source of protein and biotin. Biotin is essential for the production of a hair protein called keratin. Eggs are also a great source of zinc and selenium.
2. Berries are loaded with beneficial compounds and vitamins that may promote hair growth. This includes vitamin C, which has strong antioxidant properties. Antioxidants can help protect hair follicles against damage from harmful molecules called free radicals. The body uses vitamin C to produce collagen, a protein that helps strengthen hair to prevent it from becoming brittle and breaking. What’s more, vitamin C helps the body absorb iron from the diet. Iron helps red blood cells carry oxygen throughout the body to fuel your metabolism and aid growth and repair. Iron deficiencies have been linked to hair loss
3. Spinach is loaded with beneficial nutrients like iron, and vitamin C, which may promote hair growth.
4. Fatty fish such as salmon is a great source of protein, selenium, vitamin D3 and B vitamins, nutrients that may help promote strong and healthy hair
5. Nuts provide a wide variety of B vitamins, zinc and essential fatty acids. A deficiency in any of these nutrients has been linked to hair loss.
6. Capsicums are an excellent source of vitamin C, which may aid hair growth. In fact, one yellow capsicum provides nearly 5.5 times as much vitamin C as an orange. Vitamin C helps promote collagen production, which can help strengthen your hair strands. It’s also a strong antioxidant, which can protect hair strands against oxidative stress. Oxidative stress occurs when free radicals overwhelm the body’s antioxidant defense system. It has been linked to hair loss and the greying of hair.
7. Oysters are one of the best food sources of zinc. Zinc helps support hair growth and repair. A lack of zinc in the diet may cause hair loss.
8. Prawns are rich in many nutrients that have the potential to promote hair growth. They are a great source of protein, B vitamins, zinc and vitamin D.
9. Beans are a great plant-based alternative source of protein. Like oysters, beans are a good source of zinc, which aids the hair growth and repair cycle and a good source of biotin.
10. Meat is rich in nutrients and provides collagen that aids hair growth and helps repair and strengthen hair.

Even eating a heathy diet, the amount and variation of foods that you need to consume to get the right type and amount of vitamins and minerals can be incredibly challenging. Did you know that to get the recommended daily intake of biotin you would need to eat 21 cups of carrots or 16 eggs!

If you think you can’t eat enough to get the necessary nutrients to support and maintain healthy hair, consider taking a supplement such as trico.lab Good Hair Vitamins which include many of the same essential vitamins and minerals found in the healthy foods listed above (like vitamin C, zinc and protein), plus a few others that are necessary to promote existing hair growth. Not only are the nutrients contained in these capsules the most effective in assisting in hair health, but the amounts contained in each capsule are also of optimum daily intake.