I've been using NutriBiotic Rice Protein powder. It says it is not heated ever during processing over 90 degrees. If anyone remembers my first post, it was about me losing my hair. Well, it started to fall out again. I'm not sure what to do. I'm doing the raw vegan diet, and I'm wondering if adding animal protein would help stop my hairloss. I've never had this problem before, quite the contrary, have always has a thick head of hair. Ironically, althought my hair is thining, it's very shiny, and healthy looking. Maybe someone will have some helpful informaition for me. Thanks for reading my post.

This actually started to happen to me when I was still eating mostly cooked food.

What stopped it for me was eating more greens and vegetables than fruit, not eating high glycemic fruits, and eating lots of hemp seed and hemp powder for protein. I also started eating a lot of flax seed and oil, and supplemented with a quality MSM.

The key for me seemed to be more protein and MUCH more greens, balancing blood sugar, and taking MSM. My hair is back to it's normal thickness now; infact it's thicker and healthier than before.

(By the way, stress can easily cause hair loss as well as dietary causes)

When I was eating cooked foods my hair was thick, but I was eating organic vegatarian food for about 15 yrs. ... now I'm eating raw food, approx. 95% and my hair has thinned about 1/2 as thick in only 3 mths. Of course I went from being a vegetarian to a vegan, then started raw organic milk after my hair started falling out... then I quite the milk again, then it has been falling out all over again. Not sure what to do. Maybe adding milk and eggs again might work for me. For now I'm trying the Rice protein and a good multi vitaman.

rawwwr, are you eating any oils? i just read recently that the omega 3 in flax oil is really good for your hair!

aww thanks... yes, I eat an avocado almost everday, plus raw tahini, cold pressed virgin olive oil, and I have flax in my sprouted buckwheat cereal that I just bought. I added some cooked beans, thinking that maybe could get some vegan protein out of that, I eat them cold as a bean salad with avocado, and some raw veggies. I also spouted some chick peas the other day and had some raw tahini which was delicious.

Low calories can cause low body temperature, which is a sign of low thyroid. One symptom of low thyroid is thinning hair. I'm not sure how this relates but the connection jumped out at me and I thought I'd pass it along.

you're very true... although I am thin, I still have thyroid problems. My supplement has iodine in it and plus I'm trying to eat more, plus added the rice protein. Thanks for your help = )

Rice protein powder has the same amino acid profile as regular rice. It is somewhat (but not completely) deficient in lysine. Many other plant foods are also somewhat deficient in lysine. You might have a lysine deficiency. You can take a lysine supplement and it might solve your problem.

Or you could examine the vegetables highest in lysine and add more of them (a lot more, since they tend to be so calorie sparse) to your diet. Baby zucchini, broccoli, spinach, etc. are all rich in lysine but you'd have to eat a lot of them to balance out your essential amino acid requirements.

[nutritiondata.com]

Pumpkin seeds would also help.

Hemp seed amino acid profile (pretty high in lysine):

Amino Acid Profile per 100g
Aspartic Acid 4.36 g
Glutamic Acid 7.10 g
Serine 2.14 g
Glycine 1.34 g
Histidine 1.24 g
Arginine 6.15 g
Threonine 1.65 g
Alanine 1.39 g
Proline 1.53 g
Tyrosine 1.00 g
Valine 1.64 g
Methionine 0.79 g
Cystine 0.60 g
Isoleucine 1.22 g
Leucine 2.02 g
Phenylalanine 1.29 g
Lysine 0.96 g
Tryptophan 0.38 g

From [www.globalhempstore.com].

Other facts about hemp seeds:

Protein Content Compared

Soybeans 35.0%
Hemp seed shelled 31.0%
Hamburger beef 27.1%
Blue fish 26.0%
Cheddar cheese 23.5%
Chicken 23.5%
Hempseed -- whole 23.0%
Almonds 18.3%
Wheat flour 13.3%
Egg 12.0%
Tofu 08.0%
Rice 07.5%
Skimmed milk 03.7%

Essential Amino Acids Compared

Essential Amino Acid

.........Hemp Seed...Egg Whites ..Tofu ..Human Milk...Cow's Milk

Leucine 18.80 9.50 5.9 2.78 3.44
Lysine 9.10 6.48 5.7 3.12 2.72
Threonine 10.30 4.77 3.7 0.62 1.61
Phen + Tyro 21.90 6.89 4.8 1.21 1.70
Valine 14.20 8.42 4.3 1.39 2.40
Meth + Cyst 9.60 4.20 1.0 0.65 0.86
Isoleucine 11.40 6.98 4.1 0.75 2.23
Tryptophan 3.90 1.64 1.2 0.23 0.49

From [www.innvista.com].

My advice would be to try to make sure you are getting enough calories and eating a wide variety of food. Check out your diet and nutrients at this website [www.fitday.com].

Cheers,
J