Vitamin A has been linked to hair loss if you have too little or too much. Learn about the hair loss and Vitamin A connection.
While most causes of hair loss are due to your genetics (as it is in male pattern and female pattern hair loss), there may also be some situations where unbalanced nutrition can cause hair loss.
Below, we will talk specifically about Vitamin A since it is kind of a tricky one that may cause hair loss issues when it is too low or too high.
We will cover just what role Vitamin A plays with hair to begin with, if a vitamin A deficiency can cause hair loss, if too much vitamin A can cause hair loss, how you can go about checking your vitamin levels, and review what foods naturally contain vitamin A.
Vitamin A is a necessary vitamin that plays a role in healthy immune function and supports cell division. Vitamin A is also a pretty potent antioxidant.
Since having a lush and fast-growing head of hair has to do with lots of cell division, and fighting off free radicals can be protective against cell damage, it can be easy to see why an adequate amount of vitamin A is important for general hair health.
One study done in animals that were fed a vitamin A-deficient diet found that the rats developed clinical signs of anemia from the deficiency. Anemia can lead to hair loss, ocular lesions, and low levels of vitamin A in the liver and blood. This study suggests that vitamin A deficiency may be a component of anemia development in some cases.
This suggests that a severe vitamin A deficiency may lead to hair loss, among other health concerns. However, it is relatively uncommon for people that eat enough calories and a diverse diet to have a vitamin A deficiency.
There is also data that consuming too much vitamin A can lead to hair loss, either in the form of eating way too much vitamin A-dense foods or from excess supplementation.
In a mouse model trial, reducing the amount of vitamin A in the diet actually delayed the onset of hair loss in one study.
In humans, too much vitamin A can result in hypervitaminosis A which is strongly linked to hair loss as well as skin, bone, and vision changes.
It seems like there can definitely be too much of a good thing when it comes to vitamin A.
It is unusual for someone to have a vitamin A deficiency if they are eating a relatively balanced diet and enough food. And, it is also unusual that someone has an extreme vitamin A surplus unless they are constantly chowing down on beef liver or supplementing heavily with vitamin A.
But, if you are concerned about any recent hair loss and wonder if a vitamin or mineral deficiency (or surplus in the case of vitamin A) may play a role, it is important to talk with your doctor about your worries. Your doctor will be able to run some tests and review your vitamin and mineral levels to see if any of the common hair loss culprits might be causing or contributing to the issue.
It is important to not try and jump to conclusions about your vitamin status or try and supplement without knowing if you are deficient or not. If your doctor finds a deficiency, they will work with you to come up with a plan to get your levels to normal, whether that be through dietary changes or supplementation.
Many plant and animal foods contain vitamin A. The highest levels of vitamin A per serving can be found in foods including: beef liver (6,582mcg per serving), sweet potatoes (1,403mcg per serving), frozen spinach (573mcg per serving), pumpkin pie (488mcg per serving), raw carrots (459mcg per serving), pickled herring, ice cream, fortified milk, and others.
As you can see from above, even the runner-up foods highest in vitamin A are still multiples below beef liver. This is why beef liver is one of the foods to keep to moderate levels to avoid too much vitamin A intake.
There is a delicate line between too little and too much vitamin A in the human body for optimal hair health. To quote one study, “precise levels of retinoic acid [vitamin A] are needed for optimal function of the hair follicle”.
However, most people are probably getting enough vitamin A through their diets by eating enough and including some of the vitamin A foods mentioned above regularly (go easy on the liver, though!).
If you are more concerned about too much vitamin A and hair loss, it is important to mention that it is uncommon for that to happen through your diet, hypervitaminosis A occurs more commonly when taking too many vitamin A-containing supplements.
It is pretty uncommon for a vitamin A deficiency or surplus to be the sole root cause in a case of hair loss, but if you are concerned, you can talk to your doctor about maybe measuring your levels.
Here at Strut, we offer customizable hair loss medications for the most common causes of hair loss -- male pattern hair loss and female pattern hair loss.
We utilize active ingredients like Finasteride, Dutasteride, Minoxidil, Biotin, and Spironolactone. Our formulations can combine more than one active ingredient into one formula, and the strengths and medications chosen are customized to your individual hair loss situation and preferences.
If you want to see if a prescription hair loss medication is right for you, simply select the product you are considering, and complete a free online questionnaire and image-based consultation in under 15 minutes. Our U.S. doctors will review your information and put together a treatment plan for you, if appropriate. Then, your treatment will be made at a U.S. compounding pharmacy and shipped to your front door with our free shipping.
If you have any questions during your hair loss treatment, feel free to reach out to our team and doctors as often as you like. Follow-ups are free and unlimited to help you through the process.
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