If you suffer from hair loss, you’re not alone – half of all men will show visible signs of thinning by the time they reach 50 years old.
The most common cause of hair loss is male pattern baldness, which is a genetic sensitivity to the hormone DHT. However, in some cases, vitamin or nutritional deficiencies can cause hair loss, with researchers discovering that vitamin D may be one of them.
Could a vitamin D supplement be part of your hair loss solution?
What is Vitamin D?
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin best known for its role in keeping bones healthy by increasing the intestinal absorption of calcium. Without enough vitamin D, the body can only absorb 10% to 15% of dietary calcium, but 30% to 40% absorption is the rule when vitamin reserves are normal.
In addition to keeping bones healthy, vitamin D is also responsible for:
- Modulating cell growth
- Reducing inflammation
- Maintaining a healthy immune system.
Many studies show an association between vitamin D deficiency and cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, depression and hair loss.
Vitamin D is produced naturally in the skin from a vitamin D precursor. Sunlight turns this precursor in your skin into vitamin D3, which is carried to your liver and your kidneys to transform into active vitamin D.
What does Vitamin D have to do with hair loss?
Research has shown that a deficiency in vitamin D can result in a certain degree of hair loss.
Vitamin D works by binding to vitamin D receptors found in all kinds of cells in your body, such as immune cells, kidney cells, and hair follicles. One important function of vitamin D is to help regulate cell cycles, which is particularly important for hair growth.
Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with various hair loss disorders. A recent study found a clear link between vitamin D deficiency and the severity of male pattern baldness (androgenetic alopecia).
In another study, researchers found that patients with alopecia areata were more likely to be vitamin D deficient.
Vitamin D Deficiency
Vitamin D deficiencies were rare back in the day when men rolled up their sleeves to work in sunny fields. But as work shifted from farms to offices, that changed.
Several factors can play a role in vitamin D deficiency, although limited exposure to sunlight heads the list.
People who spend most of their time indoors and those of us who avoid sunshine by using sunscreen to protect our skin are prime candidates for vitamin D deficiency.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates that one in four Australian adults are vitamin D deficient (<50nmol/L), with 7% having a moderate or severe deficiency (<29 nmol/L).
How Can I find out if I have a vitamin D deficiency?
If you suspect you may have a vitamin D deficiency, it’s best to get your levels tested with your GP. Self-diagnosing and dedicating time in the sun or spending money on supplements is not recommended without prior testing.
Your GP can organise a simple blood test to check your vitamin D levels and determine if you need more vitamin D.
How to treat Vitamin D Deficiency
Under the right circumstances, 10 to 15 minutes of sun on the arms and legs a few times a week can generate nearly all the necessary vitamin D. Unfortunately, the “right circumstances” are elusive: the season, the time of day, where you live, cloud cover, and even pollution affect the amount of UVB that reaches your skin.
What’s more, your skin’s production of vitamin D is influenced by age, skin colour , and sunscreen use (though experts don’t all agree on the extent to which sunscreen interferes with sun-related vitamin D production).
If you are diagnosed with a vitamin D deficiency, it’s highly likely your GP will prescribe a certain dose of vitamin D supplementation to get your levels back into the normal range. The optimal dose required will vary depending on how low your vitamin D levels are.
Most adults should get 1,500–2,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D daily. While certain foods, such as fatty fish and fortified dairy products, do contain this vitamin, it’s difficult to get enough through your diet alone.
In summary, there is some evidence that vitamin D deficiency may be linked to hair loss. If you think you may be deficient in vitamin D (especially during the winter months), ask your doctor about getting tested for it. Then, if you’re deficient, you might want to consider getting a vitamin D supplement.
