Vitamins And Minerals For Your Hair

One of the main reasons for slow hair growth is the body's inability to provide the scalp with the nutrients required for proper hair growth. If the follicles receive necessary nutrients, new hair may grow at a faster rate. One of the most efficient ways of providing the follicles with the necessary nutrients is through the bloodstream. This can be achieved through taking various oral vitamin supplements. Some of the minerals necessary for healthy hair include calcium, chromium, copper, iodine, iron, magnesium, manganese, potassium, selenium, silica, sulfur and zinc. We will take a look at each of these supplements and why they are important for beautiful healthy hair.

The difference between vitamins and minerals?

Vitamins and minerals are considered micronutrients which means our bodies need them in smaller amounts such as milligrams or micrograms per day. They help our bodies carry out necessary and important physiological processes.

Vitamins ("vita" = life and "amine" = containing nitrogen) are organic (containing carbon, which is an element found in all living things) compounds (containing atoms of one or more different elements). Vitamins are vulnerable to heat, light, and chemical agents, so cooking, food preparation, processing, and storage must be appropriate to preserve vitamins in food. All vitamins are essential or required by our bodies, whereas only some minerals are essential nutrients.

Vitamins are either water-soluble or fat soluble. Water soluble means water is required for absorption and excesses are excreted in urine.

Water soluble vitamins must be regularly consumed, and replenished within the body. Water soluble vitamins should be consumed or taken at divided times throughout the day. That is one reason it is best to eat a few small meals throughout the day than eat one or two giant meals. Water soluble vitamins are not stored in the body, and therefore they are quickly depleted.

The fat-soluble vitamins require fat for absorption and are stored in fat tissue.

There are 9 different water-soluble vitamins: vitamin C and the eight B vitamins (thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamins B6 and B12, folate, biotin, and pantothenic acid); and, 4 different fat-soluble vitamins: vitamins A, D, E, and K.

Minerals are categorized as major or macro-(calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, chloride, magnesium, and sulfur), and trace or micro- (iron, iodine, zinc, chromium, selenium, fluoride, molybdenum, copper, and manganese) minerals, the former needed in quantities of 100mg/day or more, and the latter required in much smaller, or "trace," amounts. Other minerals, such as lead, are contaminant minerals and not nutrients because they can cause harm by disrupting normal bodily functions and processes.

Minerals are pure inorganic elements (containing atoms of the same element), meaning they are much simpler in chemical form than vitamins. Minerals, are more stable to food preparation than vitamins, but mineral loss can occur when they are bound to other substances in foods (such as oxalates found in spinach and tea, and phytates found in legumes and grains), making them unavailable for the body to utilize.