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Vitamins for Gray Hair |
Can Vitamins Change Gray Hair Back?
Short answer, sometimes, now the explanation. The factors that determine the effectiveness of vitamins on gray hair are many. To begin with, are they natural wholefood supplements or synthetic? Another factor is one's state of personal health which is beyond the scope of this page, but, we will touch on it. Natural Vitamins vs Synthetic It's an old question, what is the difference between natural and synthetic vitamins? Proponents of synthetic vitamins say the two are chemically the same thus there is no difference. Research has shown there are some major dissimilarities when it comes to some vitamins. The results are surprising and a little unsettling. Take for example beta-carotene. Our bodies convert beta-carotene to vitamin A, an essential nutrient. It has antioxidant activity, which helps to protect cells from damage. Beta-carotene and other carotenoids provide approximately 50% of the vitamin A needed in our diet. Beta-carotene can be found in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. It can also be made in a laboratory. Studies with beta-carotene supplements are most often funded by the large drug companies that produce it (BASF). All negative studies relating to beta-carotene have involved the synthetic form, never the natural form. In the conversation about synthetic beta carotene the word synthetic takes on a whole new meaning. In this case the beta-carotene does not come from ANY natural process; rather, it is made by extracting benzene rings from acetylene gas and then attaching the benzene rings together to form 100% all-trans-beta-carotene. Isolation of beta-carotene from fruits abundant in carotenoids is commonly done using column chromatography. The separation of beta-carotene from the mixture of carotenoids is based on the polarity of a compound. Beta-carotene is a non-polar compound, so it is separated with a non-polar solvent such as hexane. β-Carotene is biosynthesized from geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate. The most common side effect of excessive β-carotene consumption is carotenodermia, a harmless condition that presents as a conspicuous orange skin tint arising from deposition of the carotenoid in the outermost layer of the epidermis. Chronic, high doses of β-carotene supplements have been associated with increased rate of lung cancer among those who smoke. Additionally, supplementing with synthetic beta-carotene may increase the risk of prostate cancer, intracerebral hemorrhage, and cardiovascular and total mortality in people who smoke cigarettes or have a history of high-level exposure to asbestos. Does that sound like anything you want to put in your body? If your beta-carotene is synthetic, you may want to toss it before it causes any problems. You can always tell synthetic beta-carotene by the label, if it only reads “beta-carotene” and fails to show the source. All products containing natural beta-carotene will always list sources where the beta-carotene comes from. The natural beta-carotene most often comes from sea algae Dunaliella salinas, alpha-carotene, cryptoxanthin, and zeaxanthin. This looks good. Food Source Beta-Carotene B Vitamins For Gray Hair B vitamins play a very important role in hair folicle health and function. Unlike beta-carotene, synthetic B vitamins actually come from a natural source. They aren’t the best quality forms of the B vitamins because they need energy to activate them. You'll also have to expend energy to detoxify the cyanide found in synthetic B12, cyanacobalamin. Yes, cyanide. Lets hope your liver is up to par and able to detox that out. Synthetic B vitamins require energy to activate and process them because they are missing the important co-factors that help them activate. The more synthetic B vitamins you take the more co-factors are stripped from your body to activate them. If the body is deficient in the nessesary co-factors then the synthetic B vitamins are passed out of the body in the urine, unused. Natural source B vitamins are made by microbial fermentation. This is similar to the process that creates friendly flora in your digestive tract by fermenting your dietary carbohydrates, protein, and fiber, and in this process producing useful metabolic by-products. Since the co-factors grow with the B vitamins during this process, the result is natural source nutrients that are readily absorbed and able go to work. The caveate here is find the highest quality natural source B vitamins. Inferior products abound. Open your bottle of of B vitamins, do they stink? Low quality. If in doubt, crush one and give a sniff, there shouldn't be any stink smell. If your B vitamins stink the quality is below par and they will rob you of energy and nutrients. The supplement below contains wholefood source B vitamins which include all of the benefitial co-factors. Will it help change your grey hair back? Probably not, but the fact of having gray hair points to the likely need of supplementing B vitamins into your diet for other reasons. (this is not health or dietary advice) We like this one. Wholefood Source B Complex Vitamin E For Gray Hair The worst form of vitamin E is synthetic, and like synthetic beta-carotene, it comes from chemicals not food. It is typically derived from coal tar. The coal tar shows on the label as an “l” after the “d.” So the synthetic form reads “dl alpha…” instead of “d alpha…” If you have any product with the “dl” form it also belongs in the trash – it is worthless. Most natural vitamin E on the market today comes from soy and is either 30% or 50% soy oil (this isn't evident from looking at the label). Oftentimes the other vitamin E forms (beta, gamma, and delta) are converted into alpha tocopherol by a process known as esterification. This cheapens the product as these other tocopherols also play a role in health. It is done to boost up the alpha content to get a better price. Processing methods are often hurried or careless, leading to oxidative damage of the soy oil. This means that as the product sits on a store shelf the vitamin E, which is an antioxidant, is used up neutralizing the rancid soy oil. While there are a few companies that make higher quality unesterified natural vitamin E from soy, they are in the minority. Most soy-derived natural vitamin E is not top shelf. Today the best form of natural vitamin E are called tocotrienols, a newer type of vitamin E that contains significantly more antioxidant function than regular alpha tocopherol along with other properties like naturally supporting healthy cholesterol metabolism, something alpha tocopherol does not do. The best tocotrienols are made from rice oryza oil and have no filler oils, this results in a 100% pure unesterified product. We like Daily Super E and consider it to be of high quality. Click Here Where to get the best natural source vitamins? Eat your veggies. Try to keep with organics, otherwise you risk eating food that is force grown in soil stripped of essential minerals (remember the co-factors). Also keep in mind the unknown risk of continued consumption of pesticides and herbicides. If unable to eat plenty of organically grown vegetables on a daily basis you'll need to use supplements in order to keep functioning at your best. The question remains, will taking vitamins return your gray hair to its natural color? Maybe. It depends on the quality of the vitamins and your body's ability to take up and process food. Many people with gray hair have compromised digestive systems that don't allow them to completely digest and absorb all the nutrition in the food or supplements they consume. Another factor that comes into play here is the lesser ability to create friendly flora in the digestive tract which has an effect in how your body creates and utilizes B vitamins. If you are having any problems in this area it's doubtful that supplementation will be enough to restore your natural hair color. Can you force your melanocytes to produce pigment with synthetic B vitamins and bring back hair color? Some are successful with this, but, at what cost? With synthetics the returns will diminish over time until all the essential co-factors are drained from the body, then the grey returns. Keep in mind that these nutrients and co-factors are needed for other more important functions than reversing your gray hair. Fortunately our product isn't hampered by these conditions and many others. Reverse The Grey puts a perfect blueprint into the body field which gives the information needed to reverse and restore natural hair color without the above problems. Does that mean no vitamin supplementation is needed? No, unless you are eating the best balanced and natural diet rich in organic fruits and vegetables, supplementation in today's world is likely needed. See our article about Herbs for Gray Hair
References: Vitamins For Grey Hair |
