Can Iron Deficiency Cause Hair Loss?

Losing a hundred strands every day is considered pretty normal. But if you are shedding more than that, chances are high that you are suffering from hair loss and need a help. Most people associate hair loss and baldness with age, but there are numerous other reasons that can cause you lose hair at a very tender age – even in your late teens or early 20s. Causes of hair loss vary greatly from genetics to fungal infection to nutritional deficiencies. One nutritional deficiency that is most commonly associated with hair loss is the iron deficiency. Yes! Iron deficiency can cause hair loss.

A latest research has found that iron deficiency has much more influence on healthy hair growth than most doctors and the patients realize. Getting enough iron through diet is the key to preventing hair loss and restoring hair growth. An article published in the Journal of American Academy of Dermatology quoted the researchers as saying, “We believe that treatment for hair loss is enhanced when iron deficiency, with or without anemia, is treated.”

Studies also show that low levels of iron in the blood further worsen the hair loss due to any other cause. Iron plays a vital role in production of hemoglobin, a protein present in the blood that helps red blood cells deliver oxygen to all parts of the body. Low levels of iron affect the blood’s ability to carry oxygen to the scalp and hair follicles. This weakens the hair follicles and causes them to shrink. If not treated in time, this iron deficiency can cause the hair follicles to shed.

5 Signs You May Have Iron Deficiency

Here are 5 signs that show a person is iron deficient. Check out these symptoms, if you have them and you are shedding hair as well, you are most probably suffering from Anemia Hair Loss.

1. You Are Exhausted

The most common symptom of iron deficiency is that the person feels exhausted all the time for no apparent reason. It is the easiest but at the same time the most difficult one to detect, because people relate fatigue and exhaustion with their routine activities and ignore considering it as part of life. If you also feel overly exhausted and lethargic all the time, go get a blood test to check hemoglobin levels in your blood.

2. You Are Pale

The most visible symptom of iron deficiency is that the person starts looking pale. Hemoglobin adds the red color to your blood, which ultimately gives your skin that rosy hue. If you look pale, or your lips have lost their pinkness, this could be a symptom that you have low levels of iron. The easiest way to spot iron deficiency is to see the inside of your lips and the inside of lower eyelids. If they look white more than red, you may be iron deficient.

3. You Get Out Of Breath Easily

If you get short of breath easily, even after climbing a few stairs, you may be having low levels of iron. When oxygen levels in your blood are low, you feel out of breath, regardless of how deeply you breathe. As stated above, your bloods ability to carry oxygen depends on hemoglobin in the blood and iron is required for production of hemoglobin. This is why iron deficiency leaves a person short of breath. If you find performing routine tasks, like walking a little brisk or climbing stairs, you may be iron deficient.

4. You Crave Clay Or Dirt

You must have noticed kids eating clay or licking dust. This habit is not restricted to kids, even grown up people crave for these unusual edibles. Don’t think people crave for clay, dist, chalk, and paper because they are tasty, it is just because they are iron deficient. Most iron-deficient women crave for ice as well. If you like any of the above stated non-food substances, see some doctor and get your iron levels tested.

5. You Are Losing Hair

This is the direct indication! If you are shedding hair for no apparent reason, and it is accompanied by any of the above stated symptoms, iron deficiency could be blamed. When your body is iron deficient, the blood fails to supply oxygen and other essential nutrients to the hair follicles in the scalp. The follicles become week and over sometime start to shed.

Iron deficiency is one of the most common causes of hair loss in pregnant mothers and post-menopausal women. If you are going through either of these phases and are losing hairs, you may be iron deficient. See some Trichologist today and get some blood tests done to determine if it is really iron deficiency or there is some other hormonal problem.

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