A popular food item you may scoff every day could be wreaking havoc with the thickness of your luscious locks
Many of us are precious about our luscious locks and are constantly looking for new ways to protect them from damage. We may look at the latest heat defence product on the market or vitamins to improve hair health.
But it turns out there is something fishy about your receding hairline that requires further inspection. In fact, a hair expert has warned that what you’re eating may contribute significantly to thinning or loss of hair.
The food culprit in question? A hair transplant surgeon has warned that your daily tuna sandwich could be accelerating hair loss due to high mercury levels.
Dr. Mehmet Erdogan, Co-Founder and Hair Transplant Surgeon at Smile Hair Clinic, revealed that consuming tuna regularly exposes people to dangerous levels of mercury that can damage hair follicles.
“A study from 2019 has found that high mercury dietary intake via tuna consumption has caused hair loss for a 43-year-old woman,” Dr Erdogan said.
According to the hair expert, eating just one tuna sandwich daily increases mercury intake to 7.8 times higher than the UK average, potentially causing not only hair loss but also damage to the nervous system and kidneys.
Research from the Food Standards Agency confirms that mercury builds up in tuna when they consume contaminated prey, with levels significantly higher than in many other fish species.
The FSA advises that pregnant women should limit their intake to no more than four cans of tuna weekly, but the implications for hair health apply to everyone.
But it’s not just tuna that poses a risk to your hairline. Dr Erdogan issued a stark warning about other fish consumption patterns as well.
“Foods rich in fish oil, such as salmon, anchovies and sardines, when consumed excessively, might cause hair loss,” he explained. “A 2022 study on mice found that feeding mice a high-fat, fish oil–rich diet for three months resulted in significant hair loss.”
The surgeon clarified that moderate consumption, about twice weekly, remains safe, but a predominantly fish-based diet maintained for extended periods could accelerate hair loss.
What’s more, sugar foods represent another threat to healthy hair. Dr Erdogan explained: “Eating high-sugar foods can affect hair follicles by causing inflammation and follicular metabolic changes.
“A study involving 1,000 men from 2022 found that consuming high levels of sugar resulted in significantly more hair loss than those with lower sugar intake.
“Even consuming apparently ‘healthy’ foods such as flavoured yoghurts, breakfast cereals and some types of bread can elevate your sugar intake levels without you even realising it”.
With all this talk of what foods set you back hair-wise, people may be wondering what foods they can reach for on the supermarket shelf that will boost their barnet and maintain a healthy head of hair.
As if on cue, Dr Erdogan recommends eggs as an excellent dietary choice. Spinach also earned praise from the hair expert as a beneficial addition to any hair-health diet.
“Egg yolks are a rich source of protein, biotin and vitamin D, nutrients important for hair health and growth,” he said. “Hair follicles are mostly made of protein, called keratin. While eggs do contain keratin, biotin is also essential to support the body to regulate and produce its own keratin.
“And to prevent nutrient deficiency, especially iron, vitamin C, vitamin A and folate, spinach can be introduced as a healthy addition to the diet.”