Could Your Beverage Be Causing Your Hair Loss?
COULD YOUR BEVERAGE BE CAUSING YOUR HAIR LOSS?
If you’ve lost a significant amount of hair, I’m sure you’ve been told (or read) that it could be hereditary or possibly due to a poor diet. Both could be true. Did you know there is growing research linking hair loss to a variety of environmental factors? One of those factors is artificial sweeteners. You may be consuming these products because you think they are better for you than sugar, but research shows they are causing a variety of health issues, hair loss being one of them.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUR SWEETENER?
We all know by now that it’s best to eat organic and natural. Artificial products include components that our bodies don’t recognize and don’t know how to process. Artificial sweeteners are popular for those seeking a no-calorie sugar and widely used in sugar-free products. Research shows that these products may actually be a huge problem for our bodies.
Aspartame has been linked to many types of health problems. Did you know that the FDA has received numerous complaints related to aspartame ranging from birth defects to brain cancer – and many other ailments in between? What is causing these type of reactions? It could be in components that are present in artificial sweeteners, specifically, aspartic acid and phenylalanine could be the culprits.
Phenylalanine once it enters into the body breaks off from the product. When this happens, it forms methanol. This methanol is then changed into alcohol dehydrogenase by an enzyme, and then becomes formaldehyde. That substance remains in the body’s cells. In the body this can impact the protein structures present.
SO, WHAT THE HECK DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH HAIR LOSS?
Basically this process causes this toxin to enter the body and wreak havoc on your body’s cells. Researchers are not quite sure how the process works but they do know that aspartame can cause this toxin and impacts the health of hair follicles. In some people, this causes the hair to simply fall out and creates hair shedding. This happens because the formaldehyde itself causes the hair to enter the telogen resting phase, the phase in which hair sheds and does not grow for three or so months.
DON’T PANIC
It doesn’t happen to everyone who consumes aspartame. Many people don’t make the connection between the artificial sweetener and their hair loss. This product has been used heavily in products that claim to be low calorie or sugar-free. It’s in many types of diet soda you may be drinking. It could also be found in many of the diet foods you think you are buying to lose weight.
Ask yourself –
• Have you recently switched your diet to include more of these non-sugar products?
• Are you drinking more diet soda or other sweet, but no-sugar drinks and foods?
• If you stopped using these products, do you notice your hair starting to return?
If this sounds like you, you may want to check out ways to improve your diet and reduce your consumption of aspartame. One problem is that this is an FDA approved product which means it is widely used in many of foods you may already be consuming.
For those who have hair loss that is not otherwise explained, the use of diet products can be a key indicator to a large problem. Stop using aspartame for 6-12 months and see if you notice an improvement. The good news is a diet change could be all that you need to see improvements.
To learn more about your thinning hair or hair loss, please contact Hair Solutions of Long Island and schedule your complimentary consultation.
