Can dieting cause hair loss?

Keto, warrior, juice cleanse, intermittent fasting are just some of the choices for anyone who wants to start their fitness journey. Not only are people spoilt for choices with multiple diet options but also in the information available. Gone are the days where people would get information from expert curated blogs. Today people get advice on health and well-being everywhere they look – social media, ads, a well-wisher, a self-proclaimed expert. While experts have also taken to these mediums to advocate the importance of taking an expert supervised approach when trying to lose weight or get fit. 

There have been numerous cases wherein people have experienced adverse effects of fad diets. While some side effects can be extreme in nature and have serious consequences for you long term. One lesser known side effect of crash dieting that causes sudden weight loss can trigger hair loss conditions such as Telogen Effluvium or aggravate existing hair loss conditions such as Androgenic Alopecia. 

So what happens to your body when you suddenly lose a lot of weight?

It can not only deprive you of certain essential nutrient groups that are important for your overall health and especially hair and skin health such as protein, vitamins, healthy fats, etc. But also because your body thinks that it is starving which can create a shock-like experience for your body. At which point it will push most of your hair that are in the anagen or growth phase to telogen or resting phase. Telogen phase hair tends to stay on your scalp for three months and then fall. For a normal person 9-11% percent of their hair is in the telogen phase but for those experiencing telogen effluvium up to 30% of their hair can be in the telogen phase at once. So you can experience shedding of up to 200-300 hair strands in a day for over 3 to 6 months. Because you’re shedding at a faster rate than the growth of new hair it will result in increased scalp visibility and heavy volume loss. 

But don’t worry. Telogen effluvium, whether triggered by weight loss or any other type of mental or physical stress, is treatable to the point of recovering almost all of the volume lost with Rejuvenate Health haircare treatments.

So does this mean you shouldn’t try to lose weight to get fit? Absolutely not! You just need to remember that getting fit or healthy is a marathon and not a sprint and therefore weight loss should always be done in a sustainable manner where you lose no more than 1-2 kgs in a month. If a health condition requires you to lose weight at a more rapid pace make sure to do it with the advice of a nutritionist. If you are planning to get on the Rejuvenate Health treatment or already on it, you can schedule a free call with our nutritionist to get a personalised diet plan which will help you achieve your fitness and hair goals all at once.