[노윤정 약사의 건강교실]
There is a question that is often encountered in online health counseling. The question is, ‘Can hair loss due to extreme dieting be prevented by taking biotin?’ In conclusion, it is not. Diet hair loss is a result of a lack of overall nutrient intake and is difficult to manage simply with biotin intake.
There are many people who are looking for various nutritional supplements to solve various health problems that appear during dieting. What are some nutritional supplements for a healthy diet?
If you drastically reduce your food intake, it is recommended to take a multivitamin & mineral
Vitamins and minerals are essential nutrients for maintaining the physiological function of our body. It cannot be synthesized in the body and must be obtained through food. In particular, vitamins and minerals are essential nutrients for various enzymes in our body, and if we do not eat enough of them, overall health problems occur. For example, insufficient intake of vitamin B can cause muscle pain, fatigue, stomatitis, or lip gloss.
If you have drastically reduced your diet, I recommend taking a multivitamin & mineral. There are ways to take multivitamins & minerals, and it is also possible to use shakes for diet, such as weight control formulas that can take protein along with vitamins & minerals.
If you are concerned about hair loss due to diet, sufficient protein intake is essential
If you drastically reduce the amount of food you eat, hair loss may increase suddenly after the end of the diet. When caloric intake is reduced through diet, our body suppresses the activity of hair follicle cells that are less important for life to conserve nutrients. In this case, the hair follicle cells enter the dormant phase and the hair cannot grow properly. Hair that is not normally formed is embedded in the scalp for about 3 months and then begins to fall out.
This situation does not improve immediately after stopping the diet. At this time, the hair that fell out entered the dormant phase three months ago. Even after that, the hair follicle cells were not normally active, so it takes quite a while for the existing hair thickness to recover. In particular, diet hair loss occurs more severely if protein intake necessary for the formation of keratin, which constitutes hair, is neglected. Biotin is a vitamin necessary for the use of protein in our diet. Biotin cannot make up for the lack of protein. Therefore, if you do not want to suffer from hair loss after dieting, sufficient protein intake is essential.
For diet constipation, dietary fiber is recommended over lactic acid bacteria.
Constipation is the most common complaint when dieting. Diet constipation usually occurs when stool is not formed sufficiently due to a decrease in food intake. In this case, it is more effective to eat dietary fiber, which increases the volume of stool and improves intestinal motility, rather than lactic acid bacteria, which increase beneficial bacteria to improve intestinal motility and help bowel movements. Lactic acid bacteria usually increase beneficial bacteria in the intestine, and beneficial bacteria help improve intestinal motility by increasing the production of short-chain fatty acids.
If the amount of stool itself is insufficient due to a decrease in food intake, it is difficult to relieve constipation with lactic acid bacteria alone. It is for the same reason that constipation in the elderly associated with reduced food intake is not well resolved with general lactic acid bacteria. In this case, dietary fiber supplements can help. Some people use magnesium-containing products that thin stools for a long time to relieve diet constipation. This method shortens the intestinal transit time of food, hinders the growth of beneficial bacteria in the intestine, and damages intestinal cells, which can negatively affect overall health. If you want a healthy diet, it is recommended that you manage constipation with dietary fiber in a healthy way.
