Take care before starting that New Year diet

Need an excuse to rethink the New Year diet? How about hair loss? The start of every New Year prompts thousands of people to cut back in a bid to lose weight as they aim to turn over a new leaf. However, a recent survey* showed that many of these do so without considering the importance of vital vitamins and minerals, with 71% of women and 80% of men admitting they didn’t take a nutritional supplement while on a diet. Some diets even warn participants that hair loss may be a consequence.

As well as stress, age and hormones, poor diet is one of the most common causes of hair loss. However, the importance of the regular intake of vitamins, minerals and protein is often overlooked when the New Year desire to lose weight rears its ugly head. But if you do insist on pursuing that perfect body, then you may want to consider taking a protein rich hair supplement to keep your hair in good health while you work on the rest.

As GP and Naturopath, Deborah McManners explains, “It is well recognised that poor nutrition may impair hair quality and people who have been following weight reducing diets do comment that hair thinning can be a consequence. Hair thrives on a plentiful supply of protein, vitamins and minerals and a limited diet deprives the hair follicles of these nutrients which can lead to hair loss. As such, a protein-rich nutritional supplement taken during a period of dieting may help to support healthy hair growth”

Viviscal is the latest advance in protein rich hair loss treatment and contains the optimum level of nutrients to nourish the hair follicles naturally from within, helping to reduce hair loss and promote existing hair growth.

For many sufferers, losing their hair also leads to loss of confidence. Two thirds of British women (73 per cent) and over half (52 per cent) of men admitted the appearance of their hair affected their self image according to a recent poll.

For further information about hair loss, there is also an expert-backed consumer website managinghairloss.com, supported by industry experts Dr Deborah McManners (GP), Terry Calvert (Award-winning Hair Stylist) and Vetta Thompson (International Trichologist), to help sufferers to understand the different types of hair loss and their causes, how to recover from thinning hair as well as nutrition advice and styling tips to encourage healthy looking hair. It is also backed by TV personalities Jennie Bond and Cheryl Baker, who have themselves suffered from thinning hair.

Viviscal, developed by Finnish scientists, has been widely scientifically tested and contains a pure marine protein complex called AminoMar C - a combination of marine extracts, organic silica and Vitamin C - which provides the essential proteins and nutrients for healthy hair.

The Viviscal range is available from Superdrug, Holland & Barrett and Lloyds Pharmacy or direct from viviscal.co.uk.

* February 2008 Viviscal national poll on Hair Loss.