What Are The Benefits Of Folic Acid & Hair Growth?

At the root of every strand of your hair is a tabloid publication that tells all. Your cells are the biggest blabber-mouths you'll ever meet and with the help of their grand conductor -- the B vitamin called folic acid -- they are also your biggest ally. Folic acid wears many hats in the overall health of your body. In hair growth, it is involved in all three hair follicle cycles, helping to determine a hair strand's quality and longevity.

Cell Creation

The main purpose of folic acid is to create the healthy cells that hold all of your genetic information, or DNA. The Office of Dietary Supplements says that this is achieved by an accordion-like capacity of red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout the body and remove carbon dioxide. Developing hair relies on folic acid for oxygen and to divide and push multiplying cells out of follicles -- the pouches that hold cells -- transforming them into keratin-enriched hair shafts.

Hormone Regulating

A 2007 article published in Medical News Today says that hair loss is often an indication of the body's inability to metabolize androgens, the general term for male sex hormones. The main culprit is commonly referred to as DHT, an androgen in hair follicles that stimulates hair growth. Generous amounts of folic acid regulate DHT levels in the dermal papilla, the center for hair growth. As a result, cells receive the nutrients they need to divide and create hair follicles -- a process that high DHT levels reverse.

Cell Protection

Folic acid is required by the body to break down homocysteine, an amino acid that impedes the growth and development of cells when accumulated in high levels. In her book "Prescription for Nutritional Healing," Phyllis Balch says that homocysteine has a toxic effect on cells without adequate amounts of folate to metabolize the substance. Folic acid lowers homocysteine levels and prevents genetic damage in DNA by protecting the overall health of cells, including those incubating within hair follicles.