Premature Hair Greying? Blame Your Liver!

03 Sep 2020

featured Grey Hair Hair health

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Grey hair isn’t considered to be the crown of wisdom anymore. With age, it’s common for the color, texture, quality and quantity of your hair to change. However, if you are young and notice a few grey hair lurking around, it may be a cause of concern. Although you can try various cosmetic products to hide your greys and whites, you cannot prevent your hair from turning grey with them. Internal imbalance, poor genetic makeup, poor nutrition, stress, liver health, etc are the major reasons for this. To prevent your hair from greying prematurely, you must work upon improving your overall health and not just use cosmetic interventions to hide them.

Tons of articles offer tips and tricks to prevent and hide the greys. But a few talk about the link between liver health and hair. Yes, just as uncanny and uncommon as it sounds, there is an intimate link between this vital organ and your mane. Let’s explore more here.

The Connection Between Grey Hair And An Unhealthy Liver

The liver performs nearly 500 functions to ensure that the body is healthy and fit. One of its main functions is to detoxify the blood and flush it through urine and stool. Everything that we eat or consume, be it food, alcohol, or medicines gets filtered by the liver for toxins. A build-up of these toxins and harmful free radicals may cause premature greying.

When it comes to greying, glutathione plays a crucial role. It is an enzyme found in the body that breaks down the natural buildup of hydrogen peroxide in the hair follicles into water and oxygen. Without the enzyme, the accumulated hydrogen peroxide can bleach the hair grey. Besides affecting hair health, glutathione also is vital for immunity, fighting skin problems and overall smooth functioning in the body.

Besides producing this vital nutrient, the liver is also responsible for the uptake of fat-soluble vitamins, detoxification of estrogen, and the regulation of blood sugar levels, all of which are important for maintaining hair health and hair quality. Therefore, ensuring good liver health is crucial if you desire healthy, non-grey hair.

Improving Liver Health

Here are some tips that can help you improve and maintain your liver health, thus, reduce premature greying of hair .

Maintain A Healthy Weight: If you are overweight or obese, you’re in danger of developing a fatty liver. This condition can adversely impact your hair health.

Eat Nutritious Food: Maintain a healthy diet and eat nutritious food rich in keratin and biotin to reverse hair greying and improving hair quality . Foods rich in keratin include eggs, onions, carrots, sunflower seeds, kale, etc. Food items enriched with biotin include eggs, fish, meat, seeds, nuts, sweet potatoes, etc.

Exercise: Regular exercise can help burn triglycerides for fuel. It can also reduce liver fat and ensure a healthy liver.

Avoid Toxins: Toxins from smoking cigarettes and environmental pollutants can injure liver cells. Hence, try to avoid smoking and wear an anti-pollution mask to minimize the damage.

Reduce Alcohol Consumption: Alcoholic beverages can severely damage liver cells and can scar your liver. Avoid it completely, or at least limit your alcohol consumption to maintain liver health.

Practice Safe Sex: Unprotected sex or sex with multiple partners can increase the risk of liver diseases such as hepatitis B and hepatitis C that can not only deteriorate your liver, but be fatal in the long run.

Follow Directions On All Medications: Ensure that you take medicines exactly as prescribed. Incorrect intake, unnecessary or excessive intake of medicines can severely damage your liver and alter glutathione levels in the body.

Supplements: Glutathione is naturally produced in the liver, however, various liver diseases, aging, stress, etc. can decrease its levels. Thus, affecting hair growth and triggering premature greying . Hence, supplements play a key role in liver health. For instance, you can opt for Setu Gluta Fizz – a potent glutathione supplement that helps detox and improve skin and hair health. Additionally, you can also opt for Setu Milk Thistle – it has Silymarin flavonoids and antioxidants like glutathione that help fight free radicals in your body.

Elizabeth Bangera

Armed with an MSc. in Food, Nutrition, and Dietetics, Elizabeth wears many hats and is skilled in everything from weight loss to diabetes and cardiac care management.