Hair loss a side effect of diabetes

My experience and training have confirmed that if we do not eat right, anyone of my family members could end up with diabetes, and therefore I decided to share some of my research about diabetes and hair loss.

Diabetes is plaguing our society today. When the body is in a diabetic state, other medical issues can surface, one of which is diffused hair loss. I have seen this become a major issue for many clients who are suffering from diabetes.

The questions asked are all the same, what can I do to grow back my hair? And the answer is always the same; you must control your diabetes.

Most persons do not understand that diabetes is a metabolism and circulation issue, which can affect your entire body.

I had advised, in previous articles, that any problem that is affecting our circulation and how our bodies utilise the food we eat, can cause hair loss. Hair loss is only one side effect of the diabetes, so when the hair is thinning it can be seen as an indicator to a health problem.

So let us look at diabetes and what it does to the human body.

Most of us know that there are two types of diabetes.

Type I diabetes – This is generally seen in young people and is also called juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes.

This occurs when the immune system destroys the cells that produces insulin in the pancreas, so the body can no longer support or regulate the blood sugar properly.

This type of diabetes is not curable but controllable.

Type II diabetes – This occurs when the body does not supply enough insulin to control the percentages of sugar in the blood.

It is said that 91 percent of the persons suffering from diabetes, suffer from Type II diabetes This is because of our lifestyle. Most people who have this condition may not even know until there are signs, such as slow wound healing, or extreme thirst, or frequent urination. In Trinidad, many of us do not like to drink water, so we drink sodas and juices, (some of which state “no added sugar”). However, these all add more sugar to our bodies.

It is important to know that insulin is a hormone. As a result, a diabetic condition will disrupt your entire hormonal system.

This will have an impact on your hair, and may even lead you to think that a product that your hairdresser is using is the problem that is contributing to your hair loss. In fact, you may be pre-diabetic, and not yet diagnosed, when this issue of hair thinning starts. You may even be insulin-resistant, which is a precursor to diabetes. This is when our bodies have high levels of insulin, consistently over long periods, and become insensitive to this hormone. At this stage, there is no response when there is a need for the sugar to be metabolised.

The good thing with Type II diabetes is that it can be controlled, and even significantly improved, or as some researchers say, it can be reversed with the right diet. This means that eventually the hair cycle will return to normal.

Germaine Williams Beckles is a doctor of trichology (DT TECT) and nutrition consultant (NC), Rayogee Wellness Lifestyle, Woodbrook.

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