Nutrition for Healthy Hair

The quantity and quality of the hair are closely related to the nutritional state of an individual. And yet, there is hardly another field with so much prejudice, misconception, and debate as diet and health, let alone hair health. Pharmacy aisles and Internet drugstores are full of nutritional supplements promising full, thick, luscious hair for prices that range from suspiciously cheap to dishearteningly exorbitant. Since there lies an important commercial interest in the nutritional value of various nutritional supplements, a central question that arises is whether increasing the content of an already adequate diet with nutrients may further promote hair growth and quality. This book aims at distinguishing facts from fiction, and at providing a sound scientific basis for nutrition-based strategies for healthy hair, at the same time acknowledging the problems and limitations of our current understanding and practice.

Auteur

Ralph M. Trüeb is Professor of Dermatology. He received his MD and Swiss Board Certification for Dermatology and Venerology as well as for Allergology and Clinical Immunology from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. 1994-5 he spent a year at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas with Rick Sontheimer and at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Dallas with Bruce Beutler to complete his Fellowship in Immunodermatology. After 20 years tenure at the Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Zurich, where he established and was head of the Hair Consultation Clinic, he established in 2010 his private Center for Dermatology and Hair Diseases in Zurich-Wallisellen, where he offers since 2013 doctors-in-training and dermatologists international traineeships in Dermato-Trichology. He is founding President of the Swiss Trichology Study group (founding year: 1999), and past-President of the European Hair Research Society (2008-11). His clinical research interests focus on hair loss, inflammatory phenomena, hair aging and anti-aging, hair and nutrition, hair care and cosmetics, and patient expectation management. He is currently author of 224 peer-reviewed scientific publications, and 7 textbooks on hair.

Résumé

The quantity and quality of the hair are closely related to the nutritional state of an individual. And yet, there is hardly another field with so much prejudice, misconception, and debate as diet and health, let alone hair health. Pharmacy aisles and Internet drugstores are full of nutritional supplements promising full, thick, luscious hair for prices that range from suspiciously cheap to dishearteningly exorbitant. Since there lies an important commercial interest in the nutritional value of various nutritional supplements, a central question that arises is whether increasing the content of an already adequate diet with nutrients may further promote hair growth and quality. This book aims at distinguishing facts from fiction, and at providing a sound scientific basis for nutrition-based strategies for healthy hair, at the same time acknowledging the problems and limitations of our current understanding and practice.

Contenu
Preface.- 1. Introduction.- 2.Brief History of Human Nutrition.- 2.1 Prehistory.- 2.2 Antiquity.- 2.3 From Galen to Lind.- 2.4 From Lavoisier to the Modern Sciences.- 2.5 From Hopkins to the Present.- 3. Nutrition Basics.- 3.1 The Food Pyramid.- 3.2 World Nutrition Facts.- 4. The Hair Cycle and its Relation to Nutrition.- 5. Nutritional Disorders of the Hair and their Management.- 5.1. Inborn Errors of Metabolism.- 5.1.1 Copper.- 5.1.2 Zinc.- 5.1.3 Biotin.- 5.1.4 Amino Acids.- 5.2 Acquired Deficiency Disorders.- 5.2.1 Protein-Calorie Malnutrition.- 5.2.2 Biotin Deficiency.- 5.2.3 Vitamin C Deficiency.- 5.2.4 Vitamin B12 Deficiency.- 5.2.4 Niacin Deficiency.- 5.2.5 Deficiency of Essential Fatty Acids.- 5.2.6 Iron Deficiency.- 5.2.7 Zinc Deficiency.- 5.2.8 Copper Deficiency.- 5.2.9 Selenium Deficiency.- 5.2.10 Vitamin D Deficiency.- 5.3 Complex Nutritional Disorders.- 5.3.1 Gluten Sensitivity.- 5.3.2 Junk Food and Obesity.- 5.3.3 Deficiencies from Bariatric Surgery.- 5.3.4 Anorexia and Bulimia.- 5.3.5 Deficiencies of Alcoholism.- 5.3.6 Aging and Diet.- 5.3.7 Controversies in the Oncologic Patient.- 6. Value of Nutrition-Based Therapies for Hair Growth, Colour, and Quality.- 6.1 Traditional.- 6.2 Evidence-Based.- 6.3 From Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda.- 7. Safety and Efficacy of Nutrition-Based Interventions for Hair.- 7.1 Bioavailability.- 7.2. Circulation.- 7.3 Clinical Efficacy.- 7.4 Safety Issues.- 7.4.1 Hypervitaminosis A.- 7.4.2 Hyperselenosis.- 7.4.3 Iron Overload.- 7.4.4 Zinc.- 7.4.5 Toxicities from Chinese Herbs for Hair Loss.- 8. Concluding remarks.