Very often, the appearance of white hair is more an aesthetic concern than a health issue, for those who discover them. However, it seemed interesting to us to ask ourselves the question: can this depigmented hair also be a sign of a deficiency or a disease? This is what we know today in the light of studies.
Why do our hair whiten?
Above all, if we are not equal in front of the whitening of our hair (some gray from adulthood, others wear dark hair until advanced age), it is a fact: hair whitens with age. This process, called “caning”, occurs when melanocytes, cells responsible for the hair shade, stop securing melanin. Our hair is still growing, without problem, but without any pigmentation. We can not do anything about it, it is a natural physical event, the appearance of which varies according to genetics.
Too much stress?
According to a 2013 study published in the journal Nature Medicine, the hormones produced in response to stress could also exhaust the stem cells of melanocytes, which determine the color of the hair. This makes your hair become gray or white. The legend according to which a big stress could whiten your hair is therefore possible.
A vitamin deficiency?
Eating balanced is good for health, but also for hair health. Therefore, deficiencies would on the contrary be responsible for poor hair quality. Thus, Dr. Karthik Krishnamurthy, director of the dermatology department at Montefiore medical center, in New York announced in 2019 in an intervention that B12 vitamins deficiencies were considered to be laundry factors of the hair. “”Low levels in vitamin B12 can lead to a drop in pigmentation ” she explained.
However, according to Sébastien Barbarot, dermatologist at the Nantes University Hospital, questioned by Ouest France in 2019, this is rarely the reason for our white hair, at least in France, because it would take a very pronounced deficiency: “This happens in very unbalanced undernutrition or food, which is rare in Western countries ”.
A heart disease?
Another study dating from 2017 and published by the European Society of Cardiology, an organization of professionals in cardiology around the world, linked gray hair in men and the risk of developing atherosclerosis (whatever their age), a disease that affects arteries. And the participants already suffering from atherosclerosis were more likely to have gray hair.
“Aging is an inevitable cardiovascular risk factor and is associated with dermatological signs that can point out an increased risk of heart disease”, Explained one of the authors of this study, Dr Irini Samuel, cardiologist at the University of Cairo.
However, demonstration had a limit, since white hair or not, the risk of developing cardiovascular disease increases with aging. Other studies on the subject would therefore be necessary to confirm this link.
Autoimmune disease?
On the other hand, yes, in some cases, white hair, or even a blanched beard in places can be the sign of an auto immune disease, vitiligo, as contracted by former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe. If vitiligo is characterized above all by the appearance of white spots on the skin, depigmentation can also touch the hair or facial hair.
This is also the case in the excavation, a disruption of the immune system which causes a loss of hair by plates. However, when the hair grows it happens that it is then all white.