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Magnesium & Hair Loss

Vitamins and minerals are essential nutrients that must be consumed through diet.
Some minerals, such as magnesium, are trace minerals, only needed in small amounts. Deficiency or overabundance in certain minerals can lead to hair loss.

  1. Functions

    • Magnesium is needed for protein, bone and fatty acid formation; making new cells; and activating B vitamins, just to name a few. The production and use of insulin hormone requires magnesium, according to NutritionData.com.

    Hair Composition

    • Hair is made up of two main parts: a follicle root beneath the scalp that produces the protein and pigment of the hair shaft and the cuticle, the visible part of hair above the scalp's surface, covered with scale-like sheets of protein called keratin. Blood circulation carries essential nutrients to the follicles to stimulate growth, such as B vitamins, protein and calcium.

    Alopecia

    • Alopecia is an autoimmune disease affecting approximately 1 to 2 percent of the general population. The body attacks healthy hair follicles, according to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation, causing different forms of hair loss, such as patchy bald spots, total scalp baldness or complete hair loss.

    Magnesium Deficiency and Excess

    • Malabsorption of the nutrients may lead to hypomagnesemia, where the level of magnesium in blood is too low. Hypermagnesemia usually develops only when people with kidney failure take magnesium salts or drugs containing magnesium such as antacids or laxatives.

    Effect on Hair

    • Calcium and magnesium imbalance is a common contributor to alopecia and stems from consuming excess sugar, which can cause the body to become insulin resistant.
      Early hair loss in men has long been suspected to have links with insulin resistance, according to StopHairLossNow.com

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