You can spend hundreds of dollars on manicures in the quest to keep your nails as hard as rock… and you can spend twice as much on high-end shampoos and coloring treatments for a shiny, voluminous youthful head of hair. Unfortunately, however, even the most expensive topical products in the world won’t do you any good in the long run.
That’s because thick, lustrous hair and strong, unbreakable nails begin from the inside out-not the outside in. And the truth is that the price of beauty doesn’t need to be any higher than a closer look at your own nutrition.
Studies have shown, for example, that organic silicon-a nonmetallic element that occurs in bones and teeth-is important for connective tissue health.1 Clinically, this connective-tissue-strengthening property also makes silicon useful for improving nail health.
While best known for its role in protecting your lung and liver health, the amino acid N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) may also improve your hair’s health-specifically, by protecting it from tobacco-related toxins, which can metabolize in your follicles and cause damage. A study on mice showed that daily NAC supplementation was able to inhibit patches of baldness and gray hair, skin atrophy and thinning and the reduction in hair follicles that occurred following three months of smoke exposure.2 Meanwhile, further studies on mice have shown that NAC supplementation may even help to minimize the hair loss that accompanies chemotherapy.3
Surprisingly, even common vitamins can help to combat gray or thinning hair. Clinical studies show that para-aminobenzoic acid-or PABA, an intermediate of the B-vitamin folic acid-can restore hair color and stimulate hair regrowth with daily supplementation for just six weeks.4-5 Similarly, the nutrient biotin has been proven to improve hair texture and thickness, as well as skin tone, in animal studies-while its nail-strengthening properties are supported in humans. Clinical research has demonstrated that daily biotin supplementation can increase nail plate thickness by as much as 25 percent.6
The bottom line: Daily supplementation with these four nutrients can deliver benefits that would require several hours spent in a salon chair-and thanks to VRP’s formula Extension Hair and Nails, you can get them all in the time it takes to swallow two capsules.
References:
1. Sripanyakorn S, Jugdaohsingh R, Dissayabutr W, Anderson SH, Thompson RP, Powell JJ. The comparative absorption of silicon from different foods and food supplements. Br J Nutr. 2009 Sep;102(6):825-34.
2. D’Agostini F, Balansky R, Pesce C, Fiallo P, Lubet RA, Kelloff GJ, De Flora S. Induction of alopecia in mice exposed to cigarette smoke. Toxicol Lett. 2000 Apr 3;114(1-3):117-23.
3. D’Agostini F, Bagnasco M, Giunciuglio D, Albini A, De Flora S. Inhibition by oral N-acetylcysteine of doxorubicin-induced clastogenicity and alopecia, and prevention of primary tumors and lung micrometastases in mice. Int J Oncol. 1998 Aug;13(2):217-24.
4. Brandaleone, H., Maine, E., and Steele, J.M. The effect of calcium pantothenate and para-aminobenzoic acid on gray hair in man. Am J Medical Science. 1944, 206: 315.
5. Zarafonetis C. Darkening of gray hair during para-amino-benzoic acid therapy. J Investigative Dermatology. 1964;399-401.
6. Hochman LG, Scher RK, Meyerson MS. Brittle nails: response to daily biotin supplementation. Cutis. 1993; 51(4):303-5.
