Joyce (Joelton, Tn) on 02/03/2010:

I have been visiting my favorites since answering Cindy's email and thought I would give you some information found to pass on to all EC'ers with hair loss problems. I will e-mail you the articles I gleaned the information from in case you want to read them afterwards, but I will give a short shot of helpful hints that I think will be all that most of our EC family will want. Going to the plant database I found several chemicals listed as anti-alopecics (anti-baldness).

They are linoleic acid, palmitic acid, inositol, oleic acid, linoleic acid and zinc.

Zinc is found in meats, seafoods, dairy products, nuts, legumes, whole grains and you'll even find 23 parts per million of zinc in turmeric or curcumin, and 13-17 parts per million in the coconut. If you take zinc supplements it is recommended that you not take more than 50 mgm. per day and stay with zinc gluconate as it consistently holds the lowest amount of cadmium which naturally occurs with it. (Cadmium is that toxic metal in the news now because it is being found in children's and adult jewelry made in India and China). Zinc has many other functions besides preventing hair loss, but this what we are concerned with today. You can easily search them on line to learn the others.

Inositol is "vital for hair growth", also combines with choline to form lecithin and reduces cholesterol. It's calming effect on the nervous system is thought to have an effect on depression, panic attacks obsessive-compulsive disorder and bipolar affective disorder (used to be called manic-depressive disorder), plays a role in preventing and treating cancer, improves nerve conduction velocity in diabetics, and used in constipation therapy by improving peristalti action. Inositol is found in dried beans, calves liver, cantaloupes, citrus fruits (except for lemons), garbanzo beans (chick peas), lecithin granules, nuts, oats, pork, rice, veal and whole grains. The resin, exudate and sap of the coconut palm has 690 parts per million of inositol.

The coconut (seed) also has 584-18,694 parts per million of another anti-alopecic chemical called linoleic acid. Our lovely, tasty coconut also has 770 parts per million of magnesium in its seed which adds another long list of anti-chemicals to this coconut. The coconut hull husk also has lignin 294,000 parts per million which is antibacterial, anticancer, anticoronary, anti-diarrheic, anti-HIV, antioxidant,antitumor, antiviral, chelator, hypocholesterolemic, laxative, and pesticide. Over consumption of caffeine products (carbonated beverage drinkers may be getting more than the coffee drinkers) or prolonged taking of antibiotics can decrease the body's supply of inositol.

Fatty acids in foods are incoporated into complex lipids such as triglycerides, cholesterol esters, and phospholipids. Our bodies can synthesize some fatty acids in adipose tissue and the liver. It cannot synthesize some essential fatty acids: linoleic acid (Omega 6) or alpha-linoleic acid (Omega 3). Both Omega 3 and Omega 6 are found in vegetable oils like corn and canola. Walnuts are also a good source of alpha-linoleic acid.

Pork has 40% saturated fatty acids (SFA)
45% monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA)
15% polyunsaturated faty acids (PUFA)
Olive Oil has 14% SFA
74% MUFA
12% PUFA

Good old avocados are also rich in antialopecics. So to all of you who want more hair, improve your diets and if necessary, supplement with the above nutrients.