You have heard all of the news and research about sugar. In general, it is bad for you. Even though it is a natural substance and it is something that many people crave, it is just bad for you in many ways. Because of this, you may want to remove it from your diet. However, what many people do not realize is that there are other side effects to consuming too much sugar besides weight gain and various health risks. In some cases, sugar could be impacting your hair growth. How can sugar relate to hair?
Your Diet Overall Matters
It is important to view your diet as an important component of your overall well being. If you are not eating the right nutrients, your body’s mechanisms and systems cannot work well. That includes hair growth. If your diet is not based on a rainbow of colors, for example, your cells are likely not getting the nutrients it needs to do well and perform at its best. Most of the time, diet can be a big reason why our hormones are not where they should be, and that can lead to hair loss and thinning hair as well.
How Sugar Plays a Role
Sugar itself can impact your hair for several reasons. First, consider that it is overall bad for your skin. When you consume a significant amount of sugar on a consistent basis, it can cause your skin to become impacted. It can increase the risk of acne and infections. It can increase inflammation of the skin. In some situations, it can create premature aging as well. Discoloration and dull-looking skin can also be the result of a poor diet that is filled with sugar. These are all good reasons to simply cut out the sugar from your diet.
Sugar and Diabetes Impact Your Hair
Some research indicates that individuals who have a high blood glucose level are at an increased risk of suffering from hair thinning or hair loss. High glucose levels occur when you consume a diet that is high in sugar and carbohydrates. Your body may not be able to turn the sugar found in your bloodstream into usable energy. This can occur if you are resistant to insulin, the substance your body uses to convert sugar in the blood into workable energy in the cells.
When you suffer from this increased amount of glucose, you also are putting a lot of strain on the blood vessels. They simply cannot handle this type of lack of nutrition. If you are not taking in enough nutrients and your body is not absorbing the “food” in your bloodstream, the cells just cannot work the way they are supposed to. As this happens, it creates shock and inflammation in the cells. In the areas near the skin, including your follicles, this type of shock can create a sudden impossibility for hair to grow the way it is supposed to.
A secondary factor here is the imbalance of hormones. These are chemicals that are moving throughout your body at all times. They are designed to tell your cells what to do and how to act. When they are balanced, they can encourage natural hair growth and overall health. However, an imbalance in them can often lead to difficulty of the follicles to grow hair.
What Can You Do About Damage?
If you have a lot of sugar in your diet, make a point to making a change. The good news is that you can change your body’s overall health and composition – and improve hair thinning you may already have – by improving your diet and nutritional intake.
Start by consuming less sugar. While you do not have to cut it all out, if you do crave something sweet, try choosing natural options such as fruit. Get rid of all types of processed foods from your diet. The more natural the sources of nutrition are for your body, the more likely they are to convert that into fuel it can use. That, in turn, can help to support the natural growth of hair.
Contact the hair specialists at Unique Hair Concepts to learn more.
