Do you often feel like your hair, skin, and nails are a bit lackluster? If so, you're not alone. A large number of people struggle to maintain healthy hair, skin, and nails. This is due in part to the fact that our modern diets are often lacking essential vitamins and minerals. In this blog post, we will discuss the role of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids in maintaining healthy hair, skin, and nails. We'll also provide a list of the best vitamins and minerals for keeping your Hair Skin & Nails looking their best!
So, what vitamins and minerals are essential for healthy hair, skin and nails? First, let's start with vitamins.
Vitamin A:
Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin, which serves many roles in the body: it is critical for vision, involved in immune function and skin health. Vitamin A also supports cell growth and differentiation (1).
And it is necessary for cellular growth and sebum production. So, enough vitamin A in your body can lead to stronger and thicker hair and healthy skin. Vitamin A deficiency may result in scaly, dry skin and loss of hair.
Vitamin C:
Vitamin C, also known as L-ascorbic acid, is a water-soluble vitamin that is naturally present in citrus fruits, tomatoes, kiwifruits, bell peppers and strawberries (2).
Vitamin C is required for the biosynthesis of collagen, which is important for the health of your hair and skin (2). Vitamin C acts as an antioxidant and plays an important role to block free radical damage and oxidative stress that can damage and dry out hair, also helps to protect skin against damage from UV-rays.
Vitamin D:
Vitamin D comes in two forms: D2 and D3. We find the first one in plant-based food sources of vitamin D. The second one is the form found in animal sources, and we also produce it in our skin (3). Our bodies convert the vitamin D we consume or make in the skin into its active form, called dihydroxy vitamin D (3).
Vitamin D plays an important role in stimulating new and old hair follicles. A study has found that women age 18-45 years old who experienced alopecia or other types of hair loss had low levels of vitamin D (4).
Vitamin D is integrally connected to the skin for its synthesis, metabolism, and activity. It regulates many physiological processes in the skin ranging from cellular proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis to barrier maintenance and immune functions. So, enough vitamin D is required to perform all these functions at optimal level.
Vitamin E:
Vitamin E is a fat-soluble, essential nutrient with anti-inflammatory properties. Vitamin E helps support the immune system, cell function, and skin health. It’s an antioxidant, making it effective at combating the effects of free radicals produced by the metabolism of food and toxins in the environment.
Vitamin E is best known for its antioxidant properties that help reduce free radical damage and protect the body’s cells.
It helps to prevent hair loss, improve scalp circulation, and supports a healthy scalp. A study has found that vitamin E supplements improved hair growth in people with hair loss (5).
Biotin:
Biotin, a B vitamin, is an essential nutrient that is naturally present in organ meats, eggs, fish, meat, seeds, nuts, and sweet potatoes (6).
Biotin is essential for metabolism regulation and nervous system functioning. Biotin is a key nutrient required for the production of keratin, which is a key structural protein in hair. Biotin is also essential for healthy hair, skin, and nails.
Biotin deficiency can include thinning hair with progression to loss of all hair on the body; scaly, red rash around body openings (eyes, nose, and mouth); conjunctivitis, seizures, skin infection, brittle nails (6).
A study was conducted on 18 people with poor hair and nail growth, they were supplemented with biotin and all cases showed improvement after receiving biotin supplementation (7). Another article shows that ‘Oral biotin supplements’ have been used to treat several nail conditions with promising results (8).
Zinc:
In addition to vitamins, minerals are also essential for maintaining healthy hair, skin and nails. Zinc is a mineral and also acts as an antioxidant which helps to reduce the production of free radicals in the body. Free radicals damage your skin as well as hair. Zinc plays a crucial role in the maintenance of clear skin, and healthy hair and nails.
A study has shown that zinc deficiency resulted in skin lesions, hair loss and decreased nail growth and zinc supplementation showed a dramatic improvement of these symptoms (9).
Amino acids:
Finally, there are a few amino acids that are also important for maintaining healthy hair, skin and nails. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, and they play a key role in the production of collagen. Glycine, proline and Lysine are three amino acids that are especially important for the production of collagen and their insufficient availability could be a cause to make collagen synthesis and regeneration difficult (10). Glycine is one of the key amino acids required for collagen production, 33% of collagen protein made from Glycine (10).
Including foods rich in vitamins, minerals and amino acids in your diet, as well as supplements that can help boost collagen production, is a great way to maintain healthy hair, skin and nails.
Why Oral Vitamins supplements are better over topical beauty products for your Hair, Skin and Nails?
While there are many topical products on the market that claim to provide similar benefits, vitamin supplements offer a few distinct advantages. First, when vitamins are taken orally, they have the potential to be absorbed by the body and circulated through the bloodstream. This means that they can potentially reach every cell in the body, including those in the hair, skin, and nails. Topical cosmetics, on the other hand, are only applied to the surface of the skin and Hair so they can only directly affect those cells in contact with the product. Additionally, oral vitamin supplements may provide a more long-term effect since they remain in the body longer before being excreted. Topical products are quickly removed from the surface of the skin or Hair.
VitaminAlly – The best care for your Hair, Skin and Nails
Our Collagen Booster is a high quality, natural and easy to take supplement which has all the key vitamins, minerals and amino acids required to produce collagen within your body and maintain healthy hair, skin and nails.
Apart from that we make our products through liposomal technology for superior absorption and greater bioavailability which means your body gets almost everything from your supplement. According to research liposomes have 5 times better absorption than pills which means liposomal liquid products provide greater benefits than other form of supplements.*
And our Liposomal Collagen Booster contains no artificial flavors and colors. It also has no binders or fillers, is non-GMO, and contains allergen-free ingredients. Simply take 3 pumps once daily to enjoy the benefits. You can take it directly by mouth or add it to any drink, as long as it's not hot. Also, remember to shake well before use!
References:
- https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminA-HealthProfessional/
- https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminC-HealthProfessional/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7926714/#:~:text=The%20nutritional%20needs%20of%20women,development%20of%20the%20fetus%2Fbaby.
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23428658/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3819075/
- https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Biotin-HealthProfessional/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28879195/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29057689/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3746228/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6153947/