An article I'm sure you will find interesting.

Regards
Kieran
http://www.kentmasseur.co.uk


Introduction

The human body is an amazingly complex and wonderful machine, but it
cannot function without a supply of food. The nutrients in food are
needed for energy, movement, heat, growth, repair, hair growth and
sometimes reproduction.

The body needs to be able to digest the foods it takes in so that it
can be used in various ways.

There are six basic types of nutrients and two basic non-nutrients
found in food. The six nutrients are carbohydrate, fat, protein,
vitamins, minerals, trace elements; the two non-nutrients are fibre
and water.

Generally speaking most foods contain several nutrients, in varying
amounts. Carrots, for instance, contain a little protein, a trace of
fat, some carbohydrate, a good deal of water, a little sugar, fibre,
and a selection of vitamins and minerals such as potassium, sodium,
calcium, iron, zinc, vitamins B6, C and E, folic acid, biotin and
pantothenic acid, etc.

We need a combination of all the above nutrients to maintain a normal
and healthy body.



Para-Aminobenzoic Acid
(PABA) as this vitamin is commonly known is one of the lesser known
members of the B complex family, has been shown to be an anti-grey
hair vitamin.

In tests in black animals that were feed with a diet deficient of
PABA, they developed grey hair, when the animals were reintroduced to
the vitamin, normal hair colour was restored

Research on humans with grey hair being given 200mg of PABA after
each meal produced results that showed that a study of the hair
afterwards resulted in a seventy per cent result of the hair
returning to its original colour.

Other research claims that PABA combined with folic acid also helps
restore hair to its original colour.

Deficiency of PABA, Biotin, Folic Acid and Pantothenic Acid appears
to affect hair colour.

Hair colour can normally be restored with a diet rich in the B
vitamins and in the few cases where colour is not restored the hair
will improve in quality and strength of growth.

PABA and the B vitamins are found in foods such as liver, kidney,
whole grain and yeast. The richest source being liver.



Inositol

Inositol is also a member of the B vitamin group. It is a compound
occurring in the brain, muscles, liver, kidney and eyes.

In laboratory animals, a diet lacking Inositol produced baldness, but
when the vitamin was added to the food of these animals, the hair
grew back again.

It was also observed that male animals lost hair twice as fast as
female animals.

The result of this experiment would suggest that males require a
higher Inositol intake than females. An Inositol deficient diet can
also cause eczema, a form of skin irritation.

One doctor in a series of experiments prescribed Inositol together
with other sources of B vitamins to all his balding patients. In
almost all case's hair loss was arrested, in some case's hair growth
was noticeable in as little as one month.

In one case hair recovery was total and not one bald spot remained.

Inositol, also appears to reduce the amount of cholesterol in the
blood.



Biotin
Biotin often called vitamin H, is yet another B complex component.
Biotin is a proven hair growth vitamin and a preventative to
excessive hair loss.

It appears to metabolise fatty acids. Fatty acids are a valuable
growth factor in numerous processes in the body including the hair.
Biotin is also seen as an aid in preventing hair turning grey.

Biotin is found in egg yolks. Raw egg whites actually hinder
effectiveness, but when the albumen (egg white) is cooked, the
culprit - a substance called avidin is destroyed by heat. Biotin is
also present in liver, milk, yeast and kidney.

Balding men might find that a Biotin supplement may keep their hair
longer.



Zinc

In laboratory tests animals fed with a zinc supplement showed signs
of more hair growth, as opposed to loss of hair in animals that were
deprived of zinc in their feed.

It was discovered that there was a change in the hair protein
structure when zinc was deficient in the diet.

Severe zinc deficiency in humans has been shown to produce baldness
and scalp problems that were reversed when zinc was returned to the
diet.

Zinc has also been shown to stop hair turning grey. One doctor taking
zinc for a year reversed the grey hairs which returned to their
original colour.

Zinc can be depleted by high stress levels. For a good source of
zinc, wheat germ is the best, other sources are brewer's yeast,
pumpkin seeds, oysters and mussels, shrimps and egg yolks.

One delightful effect of zinc is that it has long been regarded as an
aphrodisiac, and as such it can be very beneficial for your sex life,
which is not a bad side effect to have.



Protein

Protein is a basic ingredient in many hair shampoos and conditioners
and is also the major ingredient of hair itself, which is at least
ninety per cent protein.

Whilst this should not necessarily be the main ingredient in your
diet, its importance should not be ignored.

In controlled tests volunteers, supplementing their diets with
protein in the form of 14g of gelatine daily, found it increased the
thickness of individual hair strands by as much as 45 per cent in
only two months.

Diet can influence both hair growth and quality and gelatine has
exhibited one of the highest specific dynamic effects of any food or
supplement.

Given that a strong hair is a healthy hair, the study noted that the
gelatine induced increases in the diet constituted an improvement in
the mechanical properties of the hair, including strength.

When the volunteers stopped eating the gelatine, their hair returned
to its original diameter within six months.



Vitamin E

A Canadian physician who started going grey was able to reverse the
process by taking 800iu of Vitamin E in capsule form daily.

At the age of 68 after some 15 years of taking vitamin E he still has
a healthy head of thick black hair, and is the envy of men half his
age.

Vitamin E has also been shown to retard the ageing process. It has
been suggested that grey hair is a symptom of body degeneration so a
supplement of vitamin E can only be beneficial whether you have grey
hair or not.

The best natural sources of Vitamin E are wheat germ, Soya beans,
broccoli, brussel sprouts, spinach and eggs.