Q: I'm a 58-year-old woman. I noticed that my hair is thinning and I would like to know if there is any vitamin that would help me.
A: So your once spaghetti-thick hair now resembles cappellini? It's most likely caused by stress. Your best option isn't buying a new hat; it's figuring out ways to avoid or handle stress (things like walking, yoga, meditation, prayer, and healthy sex work especially well). Next, we recommend trying over-the-counter Rogaine, which stops hair loss for more than 50 percent of the people who use it. Next, keep your arteries young—it's your arteries, not your shampoo, that really feed your hair. Here are some suggestions:
- Control your blood pressure and learn techniques for relaxation and stress control.
- If you smoke, quit.
- Start walking 30 minutes a day. Increase progressively but not more than 10 percent in any one week.
- Start taking two baby aspirin (or half a regular aspirin) a day, taking the correct vitamins and minerals (see below).
- Talk to your physician about taking coenzyme Q10 and a statin drug.
- After 30 days of walking, buy yourself nine-inch plates and work on portion control. Increase your intake of nuts, vegetables, fruits, olive oil, and whole grains, as well as flavonoids and tomato sauce. Decrease your intake of saturated and trans fats.
The right vitamins for people not taking a statin like Lipitor or Prevachol or Crestor:
| Vitamins |
Recommendations * |
| A |
No more than 2,500 IU |
| B6 |
4 mg a day |
| B12 |
800 mcg a day (25 mcg, in a supplement. B12 in a supplement is absorbed much better than the B12 found in food) |
| C |
500 mg twice a day; 100 mg a day from supplements if you're taking a statin drug (for example, Zocor, Lipitor, Pravachol, or Crestor) |
| D |
400 IU a day if under age 60; 600 IU a day if 60 or over |
| E |
400 IU a day of natural vitamin E; less than 100 IU a day from supplements if you're taking a statin drug |
| F (folate) |
800 mcg a day (folic acid, folate, or folicin, sometimes listed as vitamin B9) |
| Thiamin |
25 mg |
| Riboflavin |
25 mg |
| Niacin |
At least 30 mg a day. |
| Biotin |
300 mg |
| Pantothenic acid |
30 mg |
| Minerals |
|
| Calcium |
600 mg twice a day (1,600 mg total a day for women) |
| Magnesium |
400 mg a day |
| Selenium |
200 mcg a day |
| Zinc |
15 mg |
| Potassium |
Four fruits plus a normal diet should do |
| Additional vitamin-like substances that might be taken daily |
| Lycopene |
Ten tablespoons of tomato sauce a week (400 mg) should do it |
| Lutein |
A leafy green vegetable a day (40 mg) should do it |
* IU is the abbreviation for International Units; mcg is the abbreviation for micrograms; mg is the abbreviation for milligrams.
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