Nutrition has always been linked to healthy hair and normal growth, which is why a poor diet can negatively affect it. If your diet is lacking in certain nutrients, vitamins and minerals, you could potentially experience some degree of hair loss.

One of these important nutrients is iron, which is needed for making red blood cells, carrying oxygen from the lungs to the tissues via haemoglobin and helping with enzyme reactions. If you have too little iron in your body, you may suffer from iron deficiency anaemia. This can happen due to:

• Chronic bleeding
• Malabsorption syndromes, or a substance interfering with iron absorption
• Blood donation
• Inadequate intake – this can occur if you don’t get enough iron in your diet.

Hair loss

Amongst other symptoms including fatigue, irritability and weakness, people with iron deficiency anaemia often experience hair loss. Along with grooved or brittle nails, this is an outward sign of the deficiency, one which tends to cause the most distress for sufferers.

Diagnosis and treatment

In order to treat your iron deficiency and in turn, your hair loss, you need to first see your GP for a formal diagnosis. You are then likely to be advised to take iron diet supplements or increase the amount of iron-rich foods you eat (i.e. red meats, leafy vegetables, poultry etc).

If you are worried that your child is suffering from hair loss, you are likely to have been scouring the internet for potential causes and solutions. One cause you may have come across is fungal infection, but can this really cause hair loss in children?

The short answer to this question is yes – fungal infections of the scalp can cause children to lose their hair in patches through a condition called Tinea capitis. This condition, also known as ‘ringworm of the scalp’ often occurs in pre-pubertal children, and it is uncommon in adults. It is also more likely to occur in boys rather than girls.

Symptoms to look out for

If your child has Tinea capitis, you will notice one or many of the following symptoms:

• Scaly or thickened swellings
• Expanding red rings
• Dandruff
• Severe itching of the scalp
• Bald patches

If you notice these symptoms or any others indicative of hair loss, it is important to take your child to your GP or hair loss specialist for a formal diagnosis.

Treatment

Treating Tinea capitis is relatively straightforward, as it simply requires a safe and affordable medication to be taken orally by the affected child over a period of six to eight weeks.

If you have noticed that your hair is falling out, thinning or is more brittle than normal, it’s important to try not to panic. You may not be suffering from a serious hair loss condition such as alopecia or telogen effluvium; you might find it’s just a temporary problem.

Temporary hair loss can be caused by any of the following:

Medical

• Medical conditions – i.e. diabetes, thyroid disease.
• Drugs and medication – i.e. hormone replacement therapy medication, contraceptive pills
• Cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy

Diet

• Lack of essential vitamins and minerals such as vitamin B-12, protein and iron
• Eating disorders – i.e. bulimia or anorexia

Poor hair care

• Aggressive over-brushing
• Too much heat used in styling
• Hairstyles which put too much tension on the scalp – this can cause a female hair loss condition called traction alopecia
• Excessive application of hair dyes, highlights or other chemical or bleaching treatments

A number of these factors and causes are easy to remedy, meaning that your hair loss is preventable. However, for hair loss caused by cancer treatment or a hereditary condition (i.e. telogen effluvium, or pattern baldness), you may have to face up to the fact that you will lose some of your hair.

If you are suffering from a hair loss condition or are worried about losing your hair, it can be useful to know more about the hair growth cycle itself.

There are three main stages in a normal hair growth cycle:

Anagen phase

This is the growth phase, which can last up to eight years. During this time, the hair grows approximately 0.5 inches per month or 6 inches per year. The longer the follicles remain in the anagen phase, the longer and faster the hair will grow.

Catagen phase

This is known as the transitional phase, in which the hair follicles renew themselves before the next phase begins. It generally lasts around two weeks.

Telogen phase

The telogen phase is also known as the resting phase, as it involves the follicles remaining dormant for an extended period of time. This phase generally lasts between one and four months, and 10 -15 per cent of a person’s hairs are in this phase at any one time. Telogen also causes normal hair shedding; it is only when a person develops the hair loss condition telogen effluvium that massive, diffuse shedding is experienced.

Most people know the hair loss condition telogen effluvium by another name – pattern baldness. However, not a lot of people properly understand what causes male or female pattern baldness or how the condition makes the hair fall out. As a starting point, read the following explanation…

There are two phases affecting hair growth cycles – anagen (the growing phase) and telogen (the resting phase). Telogen effluvium involves the hair follicles prematurely entering the resting phase. This causes massive hair loss, staring with generalised thinning hair.

What causes telogen effluvium?

The condition is believed to be caused by emotional or physiological stress on the body, triggering an interruption to the normal hair cycle. This sort of stress can be caused by a number of factors or conditions, such as:

• Chronic illness
• Childbirth
• Eating disorders
• Hyperthyroidism
• Drugs and medication
• Major surgery
• Anaemia
• Severe emotional disorders
• Crash diets or poor nutrition

Is there a cure?

In most cases of telogen effluvium, the condition improves and the hair will grow back on its own over time. Although most people find that the condition clears up within six months or so, some find that it recurs or becomes chronic.