Research from as far back as the 1970s has shown a connection between crash dieting and hair loss.
For healthy growth, your hair needs enough calories and nutrients. Therefore, adverse effects like hair loss can happen when your body doesn’t get what it needs.
Numerous studies have connected crash diets, calorie restriction, nutrient deficiencies, and psychological stress with hair loss. Crash diet participants frequently experience all of these effects.
For instance, a 2015 study involving 180 women who had diffuse hair loss discovered that psychological stress and iron deficiency were the most frequent causes of hair loss. Crash diets were the reason in eight of the cases.
Crash diets and other ill-planned diets can cause deficiencies in protein, zinc, essential fatty acids, and calories in general, all of which can cause hair loss.