On Sat, 13 Jul 2002, Adrienne Smith wrote:

> I love meat, fish etc and would not find it difficult at all to eat
> exclusively meat.  However, when I have tried  nearly this on numerous
> occassions in the past (under 15 carbs from green veggies or berries per
> day), I get the following side-effects:  constipation, difficulty performing
> high intensity exercise (sprints, weight lifting for example) and perhaps
> most distressing for me, a female, tremendously excessive hair shedding.  I
> was a patient at the Atkins Center and was told by several nutritionists
> there as well as a doctor that worked there for numerous years, that the hair
> shedding is a common occurance, but never got any explanation as to why --
> rather they just kept loading me up with more and more vitamins.

Anecdotally, the hair loss seems to be quite common.  I say
"anecdotally" because I don't know of any controlled study.
Equally anecdotally, people commonly report full regrowth, and
there is a theory that the ketosis stimulates the follicles in
such a way that they start to grow a new shaft of hair, but the
old one is first shed.  But again, this is all anecdote and
speculation, much of it gleaned from discussions on the Eades's
web site, http://www.eatprotein.com

Todd Moody
[log in to unmask]