Your hair consists of 2 structures: the hair shaft: the part of the hair that is visible outside your scalp, and the hair follicle, which is hidden beneath your scalp. Your scalp hosts around 100,000 hair shafts that are at various stages of hair growth at any given time. Hair growth occurs in 4 phases: anagen (growth), catagen (regression), telogen (resting), and exogenous (shedding).
The life cycle of a hair shaft is about 3.5 years, and hair grows at an average rate of 0.05 inches per month. Your hair grows from hair follicles, which depend on specific nutrients to stay healthy and nourished. Hair follicle cells are among the fastest dividing cells in your body and are sensitive to nutritional deficiencies, toxins, and malnutrition, which can cause poor hair growth and lead to hair loss.
Certain nutrients are necessary to regulate the growth cycle and general health of hair. So, consuming foods rich in nutrients needed for healthy hair is very important to support optimal hair growth. Here are the best foods that promote healthy hair growth.
Avocados
Avocados are packed with hair health-promoting nutrition, such as niacin, vitamins E and C, folate, and magnesium.
Vitamin C functions as a strong antioxidant in the body and may help protect the hair follicle against oxidative stress. Vitamin C is also necessary for the proper absorption of iron, a mineral that’s essential for hair growth cycle regulation.
Avocados also provide folate, a B vitamin that’s needed for healthy hair. A folate deficiency can cause hair, skin, and nails changes and is associated with hair loss.
One 7-ounce avocado covers 41%, 28%, and 22%, of your daily requirements for folate, vitamin E, and vitamin C, respectively.
Salmon
Salmon is high in protein, vitamins D, B12, and omega-3 fats, which are nutrients that can support hair health and growth.
Wild-caught salmon supplies 1.24 g of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and 0.59 g of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA)EPA per 3-ounce serving. These fats have strong anti-inflammatory properties and may help protect the hair follicle from oxidative damage, support healthy hair growth cycles, and improve hair density.
What’s more, salmon is one of the few foods that’s rich in vitamin D, an important nutrient for hair health. Research suggests that vitamin D is necessary for a normal hair cycle and initiating the anagen or growth phase of the hair. Salmon also provides B12, a vitamin that’s involved in the development of hair follicles.
Lentils
Protein is important for the hair growth cycle and low protein intake can negatively impact hair growth, structure, and hair pigmentation. Studies show that decreased protein intake can trigger telogen effluvium and cause poor hair growth.
What’s more, a deficiency in certain amino acids, the building blocks of protein, is more common among people experiencing hair loss. For example, people with androgenetic alopecia are more likely to be deficient in the important amino acids histidine, leucine, and valine.
Lentils are one of the most protein-rich plant foods you can eat, providing 17.9 g of protein per cooked cup, which is almost 30% more protein than what’s found in two large eggs. Lentils are rich in the amino acids necessary to support proper hair growth, including leucine, isoleucine, lysine, and valine.
Pumpkin Seeds
Being stressed can encourage the anagen to telogen transition and cause telogen effluvium, a type of hair loss described by a disruption in the normal hair growth cycle, which leads to excessive hair shedding and hair loss.
Increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol have also been observed in people with hair loss disorders, such as androgenetic alopecia.
Magnesium is a mineral that plays an important role in the body’s stress response and protects the body from the detrimental effects of stress. Having suboptimal or deficient magnesium levels can increase your vulnerability to stress, which may negatively impact hair growth.
Pumpkin seeds are an excellent source of magnesium, providing 156 milligrams ( mg) or 37% of the DV. Pumpkin seeds also provide zinc, copper, iron, and protein, all of which are important for hair health.
Blackberries
Inflammation, caused by factors such as a diet rich in ultra-processed food, smoking, and other factors, accelerates the transition from the anagen to the telogen phase and is associated with the progression of hair loss. Inflammation is linked to common hair loss conditions such as alopecia areata, stress-induced hair loss, and male- and female-pattern hair loss, also known as androgenetic alopecia.
Blackberries are rich in anti-inflammatory and antioxidant phenolic compounds, such as anthocyanins, ellagic acid and quercetin.
Consuming foods rich in these compounds may reduce oxidative stress, a condition that occurs when harmful compounds such as free radicals overwhelm the body’s antioxidant defenses, and protect hair follicle cells from oxidative damage, thereby promoting healthy hair growth.
Blackberries are one of the best sources of antioxidants that you can consume. In fact, a 2020 study that evaluated the total phenolic and anthocyanin contents and the total antioxidant activity of six different berries: black currants, red raspberries, red currants, blackberries, gooseberries, and jostaberries, it was found that the blackberries had the highest antioxidant and anthocyanin levels out of all the included berries.
