PREMATURELY GRAY? THIS IS PROBABLY WHY
by Dr. Mercola
It's a sign of advancing age. Some call it a sign of
wisdom. It varies from person to person and seems to run in families. Some do everything
they can to mask it or use some other method to make it go away, while others
barely notice and simply go about the business of living.
They've said it was genetic for years. But is that really
the case for hair that turns gray, prematurely or otherwise? New science says
it's something altogether. At least partially.
When Does the Gray Hair Phenomenon Appear?
People are said to go "prematurely gray" when
the telltale age-markers start showing up before their 20s, because it's fairly
rare. Ethnicity plays a part; Caucasians experience this more often than
African-Americans.
Canities subita is the term for someone who turns gray
overnight, or at least very quickly, as in the case of Marie Antoinette, whose
hair was said to turn gray the night before her beheading, but her guards may
have simply denied her the hair dye she'd used to cover it. After all, she was
just days from her 38th birthday.3
Today scientists believe premature grayness may be related
to environmental pollution or even lifestyle factors, according to Health.4
Board-certified dermatologist Dr. Marie Jhin, director of Premier Dermatology
in San Francisco, put it down to a handful of different scenarios:
• Stress —
Research, which is rather thin, shows a possible link between gray hair and
stress. Nature Medicine published a study conducted on mice at New York
University and concluded that stress can indeed deplete stem cells from the
base of hair follicles, but there's nothing to indicate that it affects hair
color.
• Medical condition — Thyroid disease or pituitary gland
problems may instigate the beginnings of gray hair. Or, as in the above study,
problems with hair follicles, which trigger conditions like alopecia, where
hair falls out, or vitiligo, causing patches of skin to be devoid of color. "Autoimmune
means your own cells are attacking your body," Jihn says, "so if your
body is attacking your hair cells, you can go gray as a result."
• Vitamin deficiency — It's possible that you have a
vitamin B12 deficiency, and certain issues make it more of a risk, such as
being vegetarian or vegan, having Crohn's disease, making your body unable to
absorb it, having had gastric bypass surgery, taking certain medications or
birth control or anemia.
• Nicotine — It's possible that smokers aren't
aware of how damaging their habit can be to both their hair and their skin.
In fact, Jihn says it's one of the worst things you can
do, and there is a link between premature aging — and premature graying — and
smoking. Again, it's because the hair follicles are affected.
• Lack of sun — Because hair follicles have
vitamin D in them, it only stands to reason that without plenty of the
"sunshine vitamin," your hair could begin losing pigmentation.
It's not sunlight on your hair that's important, however —
it's getting sunlight on your skin regularly that matters, as your skin absorbs
vitamin D from it.5
Jihn contends that these factors have more of an impact on
your hair color than your genes. However, "If you notice you're getting
premature graying and it doesn't run in your family, then you should see your
doctor to check if your thyroid is okay, your vitamin levels are fine, and that
you don't have anemia."6
What You Eat May Affect Your Gray-Haired Status
Catalase is a potent, antioxidant enzyme that resides in
plant and animal cells, and breaks down hydrogen peroxide. That's how
scientists say it can also help stop the development of gray hair. Natural
Living Ideas says hydrogen peroxide is:
"A naturally occurring waste by-product of the
metabolic process … thought to be a major contributor in the breakdown of
pigments in hair. As we age, our bodies produce less catalase, resulting in the
build-up of hydrogen peroxide in our hair follicles — which literally bleaches
hair follicles from the inside out.
By eating foods high in catalase such as garlic, onions,
cauliflower, potatoes, broccoli, kale and cabbage, we introduce this gray
hair-fighting enzyme back into our bodies, resulting in the gradual return of
our youthful hair pigmentation through a safe, all-natural process."7
Copper and Zinc: Hair Color Minerals
Walnuts are amazingly rich in copper — 1 cup contains 93
percent of the Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) — and copper is essential for the
production of melanin, which gives hair its pigmentation. Express says walnuts
increase blood flow to your head and scalp, so your hair will grow faster.9
One study asserted that low copper levels in your body can
make you go gray quicker. Foods with high amounts of copper include sesame seeds,
shiitake mushrooms, cashews, asparagus and spinach.
Researchers measured the amounts of copper, zinc and iron
levels in the blood of 66 study subjects under age 20 going prematurely gray
and discovered their copper concentrations to be far lower than people the same
age who weren't turning gray.10
Both prawns and shrimp contain zinc, which experts say can
help consumers retain their original hair color. Whether it's cooked or raw
makes a difference: Three ounces of cooked crustaceans like shrimp and prawn
contain 6 percent of the DRI in zinc11 while the raw version has 9
percent.12
Heal With Food notes that the zinc in this seafood plays
an important role in the production of new cells, including new hair and skin
cells, which can help hair gain thickness and intensify its color.13 Pumpkin
and sesame seeds and cheese also contain zinc.
Regarding shrimp and prawns, keep in mind that farmed
shrimp tends to be far more contaminated than wild-caught shrimp, and less than
2 percent of shrimp imported into the U.S. gets inspected by U.S. regulatory
agencies.
However, just like wild-caught fish, shrimp can be a
delicious, nutritious food, but it's important to find wild shrimp harvested
from the cleanest cold-water sources possible.
