What the hair reveals about one’s health

CEBU, Philippines — There have been ways learned for peeking into a person’s health. Trained medical professionals have the technology – both the know-how and the tools – to detect illnesses.

Even lay people would have an idea that something is wrong with someone’s health

by simply looking into the person’s eyes or by observing the color of the skin.

With lay people, there’s actually more ways to determine a person’s state of health than is commonly known. A good example would be the condition of one’s hair. The hair actually reveals many things about what the person is going through, health-wise.

And yet most people only think superficially about their hair on a daily basis – fretting over a bad hair day or enjoying a nice blow-dry, or maybe wondering whether to try out the new hairstyle they have noticed on their favorite celebrities. In that case, they might be missing clues that their hair is telling about their health. There has been research showing that changes in the hair’s look, texture, or thickness can be hints of underlying health conditions.

Madeline R. Vann, MPH, in an article at www.everydayhealth.com, cites ways to tell whether one’s hair changes are due to a health problem, genetics, stress, or a nutritional deficiency:

1. Gray hair can be the product of stress and genes. A study on mice suggests that chronic stress may indeed contribute to graying hair by causing DNA damage and reducing the supply of pigment-producing cells in the hair follicles. Stress can also cause hair to fall out.

A type of stress known as oxidative stress may also play a role in gray hair, when cell-damaging free radicals inhibit the body’s repair processes and may affect pigment-producing cells. Otherwise, gray hair is actually a totally natural part of aging, as hair follicles produce less color as one gets older. One’s genes also play a role in the hair turning gray, thus family members may have their first sign of silver at a certain age.

2. Brittle hair could be a sign of Cushing’s Syndrome. One symptom of Cushing’s syndrome, a rare condition caused by too much cortisol, is brittle hair. Cortisol is the body’s primary stress hormone. Other more obvious symptoms of Cushing’s Syndrome include high blood pressure, fatigue, and back pain.

Treatment for Cushing’s syndrome may involve changing the dose of medication that could be causing the condition such as glucocorticoids, which are steroids used to treat inflammation caused by a variety of illnesses. Other people might need surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy to correct the adrenal gland’s overproduction of cortisol.

3. Thinning hair may indicate thyroid disease. People who have hypothyroidism, a condition that occurs when the thyroid gland doesn’t produce enough thyroid hormones, might notice increased hair shedding and a change in their hair appearance. The condition commonly afflicts people at age 12 and older, although most cases are mild. Other symptoms are tiredness, cold intolerance, joint pain, muscle pain, a puffy face, and weight gain. In addition to thinning hair, certain thyroid disorders put one at risk for an autoimmune hair-loss condition called alopecia areata, which causes round patches of sudden hair loss and is caused by the immune system attacking the hair follicles.

4. Hair shedding could be a sign of anemia. Where a lot more hair is suddenly noticed in one’s hairbrush or on the shower floor, it could be a sign that one’s body has low iron stores, or anemia, and testing may be necessary. If the doctor determines that the patient is truly iron deficient, eating more foods that are high in iron or taking an iron supplement may be prescribed to alleviate hair loss.

5. Hair loss could indicate a protein deficiency. Protein is essential for hair health and growth, and a lack of protein has been linked to hair thinning and loss). Protein deficiency isn’t a problem for most people nowadays – most adults need 0.8 gram of protein per kilogram of body weight. Good sources of protein include nonfat Greek yogurt, tilapia, chickpeas, and chicken breast.

6. White or yellow flakes could mean… dandruff. Yellow or white flakes in the hair, on one’s shoulders – and even in the eyebrows – are a sign of dandruff, a chronic scalp condition. Dandruff doesn’t usually indicate a serious health problem, and it can usually be treated with over-the-counter specialty hair shampoos or a prescription shampoo.

Damaged hair can mask other health problems. Although hair can tattle on one’s health conditions, people more commonly complain about the damage done by coloring and heat-treating hair. Too much heat, from daily flat iron use or daily blow-dry, can certainly damage the hair, making it dry, brittle, and hard to maintain.

Experts recommend using no more than one hot tool per day. When applying heat to hair, products with protective ingredients shall be used. Serums and shine drops tend to have qualities that preserve the hair when using direct and indirect heat.

Bleaching the hair and using boxed hair color at home can have adverse effects too. Hair damage can be mitigated by using the right products. It must be kept in mind, though, that highly treated hair may mask certain problems and make it difficult for one to see or feel what the hair is telling about his or her health.