Nutritionists recommend 3 foods to eat to slow down premature graying of hair. Graying hair is a natural part of the aging process. Hair is packed with melanin, which gives it its color. As you age, your hair follicles produce less melanin, causing your hair to turn gray or white. Genetics, stress, nutrition, and certain medical conditions can all contribute to premature graying.
While you can’t change your genetics or medical history, you can do a lot to support a healthy stress response and add more nutrition to your diet! Here are four great foods you can include in your diet to help maintain healthy hair and slow the onset of graying. There are also products you should be using to prevent and combat graying as you age.
3 foods to eat to slow down gray hair
1. Mushrooms
Vitamin D deficiency affects nearly half of Americans, and unfortunately, it can cause your hair to turn gray prematurely.
Getting safe sunlight is the best way to get vitamin D, but if you live in the Northern Hemisphere, it can be difficult to get vitamin D from sunlight alone for much of the year. This is where mushrooms can help! Some mushrooms are grown using a specific UV light, which increases their vitamin D content.
To find out if the mushrooms at your local grocery store were grown with UV light, check the nutrition facts panel. As of January 2020, U.S. Food and Drug Administration labeling requirements require vitamin D to be listed on the nutrition facts panel. Look for mushrooms that contain 10 mcg or more of vitamin D.
2. Fermented food
Did you know that a healthy, diverse gut microbiome can slow down the onset of gray hair? Fermented foods, such as kimchi or sauerkraut, provide our gut microbiome with probiotics (beneficial bacteria), among other benefits. A เว็บพนันออนไลน์ UFABET สมัครง่าย โปรโมชั่นมากมาย healthy gut microbiome helps us produce biotin. A biotin deficiency can change the color of your hair and cause premature graying.
Adding a few probiotic-rich foods to your daily diet can be a simple and effective way to boost your gut microbiome while improving your overall health. But if you don’t like the sour taste of fermented foods, it’s okay to start slowly! Try adding a tablespoon of kimchi juice to your salad dressing to boost the beneficial bacteria and boost the flavor. Even just a forkful of fermented foods mixed into your meal can provide benefits.
3. Dark chocolate
Dark chocolate can be a good source of iron, which is great for preventing gray hair. In one study, low ferritin levels (ferritin is a blood protein that contains iron) were associated with premature graying of hair. One ounce of dark chocolate contains 20 percent of the recommended daily intake of iron. To increase the amount of iron you absorb from your daily chocolate, try pairing it with a source of vitamin C, such as strawberries.