People try the keto diet for a variety of reasons. While most people follow the high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet to lose weight, others choose keto to manage health issues such as epilepsy and metabolic syndrome.
When you switch to the keto diet, you may discover an unexpected side effect: hair loss. Yes, the keto diet can make you lose your hair. It doesn’t happen to many people, but following a diet low in carbs and proteins can lead to thinning or patchy hair.
Hair Follicles Need Protein to Produce Hair
Your hair follicles struggle to grow hair when you don’t eat enough protein. The standard keto diet encourages you to make meals that are 70% fat, 20% protein, and 10% carbohydrates. Eating such a small amount of protein could force your hair follicles to stop working temporarily.
You can potentially avoid this problem by switching to the high-protein keto diet, which has meals with 60% fat, 35% protein, and 5% carbs.
You Might Not Consume Enough Calories With the Keto Diet
Small portions of high-fat foods can make you feel full. Feeling full, however, doesn’t mean that you’ve consumed enough calories.
When your body doesn’t get as many calories as expected, it can prioritize where energy goes. From your body’s perspective, it’s much more important to send caloric energy to your valuable organs than your hair follicles. As a result, your hair follicles can slow or stop producing hair.
This might sound ridiculous because you know you’re eating enough calories to fuel your body. Your metabolism doesn’t know that, though. When you start consuming smaller meals, your metabolism assumes you don’t have access to enough food. It slows down to save your life.
The Keto Diet Could Disrupt Your Nutrition
The keto diet’s focus on high-fat foods may also prevent you from getting the nutrients your body needs to stay healthy. A lack of vitamins and minerals could disrupt your hair follicles, leading to hair loss.
Try to consume diverse, nutritious foods no matter what diet you follow. You can also take supplements to help your body get all the nutrients it needs.
Talk to Your Doctor About Hair Loss
Switching to a keto diet might explain your hair loss. Then again, a lot of health problems also cause thinning and patchy hair. If you notice sudden changes in your hair, schedule an appointment to talk to your healthcare provider. It’s best to rule out other factors to make sure you stay as healthy as possible.
If you’re concerned about your hair loss and looking for a solution, Custom Hair can help. To schedule a free consultation click here.
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Sources:
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/15-conditions-benefit-ketogenic-diet#TOC_TITLE_HDR_3