Although dietary changes and nutritional supplements are often used to address hair loss, it is yet unknown if these treatments are safe and beneficial.
Vitamins, nutraceuticals, and botanical nutritional supplements—which are often used to treat hair loss—have conflicting evidence about their usefulness and side effects.
People often use supplements to treat alopecia areata (AA) and androgenic alopecia (AGA). One study found that 81% of patients at a hair loss clinic used supplements.
Biotin, vitamin B12, and B-complex multivitamins were found to be the most common supplements for hair loss.
Even though no one knows what the benefits of nutritional interventions are, using them can be expensive, cause harmful effects in high doses, and mess up test results and medications.
In order to evaluate, a health sciences librarian (C. H.) looked through the MEDLINE, Embase, and CINAHL databases from the time they were created until October 20, 2021. The plan included topics such as hair loss, food, and nutrition into a single approach by use of keywords and subject headers. The search was limited to papers written in English, and studies on animals were left out because they were too small compared to studies on people. In addition to searching databases, investigators looked at the reference lists of relevant reviews.
The database searches returned 6347 citations, to which 11 items from reference lists were added. There were 30 papers in all, with 17 randomized clinical trials (RCTs), 11 clinical studies (non-RCTs), and 2 case series studies included.
Supplements and ingredients of nutritional supplements included in the study.
Studies on dietary interventions with the best available evidence suggested that Viviscal, Nourkrin, Nutrafol, Lamdapil, Pantogar, capsaicin and isoflavone, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids with antioxidants, apple nutraceutical, total glucosides of paeony and compound glycyrrhizin tablets, zinc, tocotrienol, and pumpkin seed oil may be beneficial. Low-quality evidence showed that kimchi and cheonggukjang, vitamin D3, and Forti5 helped improve the course of the disease.
Rare and minor adverse effects were seen with all studied treatments.
The results of this systematic review suggest that certain patients with hair loss may benefit from nutritional interventions. Despite the fact that there were few adverse events reported, doctors should consult with their patients before prescribing these treatments because there is no federal regulation of them.
Currently, dietary supplements are classified as food; however, the FDA does not regulate the safety or efficacy of nutritional supplements prior to consumer marketing.
Given the widespread usage and high cost of nutritional supplements, it is critical that both doctors and patients be aware of this and take precautions when choosing a supplement.
Source: 10.1001/jamadermatol.2022.4867
Image Credit: Getty
