The cause of hair loss in men and women is often unexplained. If you have lost a significant amount of hair, you may have been told it is due to genetics or even due to a poor diet. This could be true. However, there is growing research that is linking hair loss to a variety of environmental factors. That includes artificial sweeteners. You may be turning to these products because you think they are better for you than sugar, but they could be causing a variety of complications in your health. Could this be why you are experiencing thinning hair?
What Is Wrong with Your Sweetener?
Many times, the best foods to eat are organic and natural. Artificial products, however are manmade. They tend to include components that make them bothersome to the body. In this case, aspartame is a popular choice for a no-calorie sugar. It is used heavily in a variety of sweet foods that are promised to be sugar-free. Yet, research indicates that these products may actually be problematic for the body. There is even a link between sudden hair loss and hair shedding that cannot be explained otherwise – plus the use of aspartame.
We already know that aspartame has been linked to other types of health problems. For example, the FDA has received numerous complaints related to this particular artificial sweetener with claims of things ranging from birth defects to brain cancer – and plenty of other health ailments. What is causing this type of reaction may be in the specific components in the artificial sweetener. Specifically, aspartic acid and phentolamine could be causing problems for your body and for your health overall.
A closer look finds that phentolamine is a product that has been manipulated to carry methyl group, which is what creates the sweet taste you get. Once it enters into the body, the group breaks off from the product. Further, when this happens, it forms methanol. In the body, this methanol is then changed into alcohol dehydrogenase by an enzyme, it then becomes formaldehyde. That substance remains in the body’s cells. In the body like this – free-floating – it can impact the protein structures present.
What Does This Have to Do with Hair Loss?
In short, this entire process causes this toxin to enter the body to wreak havoc on your body’s cells. While researchers are not sure how the process works specifically, they do know that aspartame can cause this toxin to impact the health of hair follicles. In some people, this causes the hair to simply fall out. This creates hair shedding. This happens because the formaldehyde itself causes the hair to enter the telogen resting phase, the phase in which hair sheds and does not grow for three or so months.
When Can This Happen to You?
It does not happen to everyone. Many people, though, do not make the connection between the artificial sweetener and their hair loss. But, take a closer look at where this is found. This product has been used heavily in products that claim to be low calorie or sugar-free. This is in many types of soda you may be drinking. It could also be found in many of the diet foods you think you are buying to lose weight.
Ask yourself –
- Have you made a significant switch in your diet to include more of these non-sugar products in your consumption?
- Are you drinking more diet soda or other sweet, but no-sugar drinks and foods?
- If you stopped using these products, do you notice your hair starting to return?
If this sounds like you, it could be time to take a closer look at how you can improve your diet to reduce your consumption of aspartame. The problem is, this is an FDA approved product. That means it is used in a variety of the foods you may already be consuming.
For those who have hair loss that is not otherwise explained, the use of diet products can be a key indicator to a large problem. Now may be the time to seek out a solution for you. The good news is a diet change could be all that you need to see improvements.
To learn more about your thinning hair or hair loss, please contact the team at Unique Hair Concepts.
