My red blood cell count has been better with the paleo diet.  But I'm not eating more red meat than I did before.  Just taking out the bad stuff.
They called it "iron deficiency anemia" common among women.  But my iron levels were always fine.  And the iron pills did nothing positive.
I have added a one-quarter dose multi-vitamin and a fish oil tablet daily (or mostly daily).  I don't really trust "vitamins" or their manufacturers.  So the compromise.
Maybe greying is just a stress signal.  Maybe it was oxidative stress and other kinds of stress - insulin with sugar consumption maybe? - others?
gale



----- Original Message ----
From: Paleo Phil <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2008 5:44:15 PM
Subject: Re: What's more important, paleo or maximum health? Re: Was Chocolate, Now Paleo Standard

> While not a health issue per se (unless you consider it an aspect of
> mental health), I've seen one significant change since going paleo 9
> 1/2 months ago that I do not remember reading here before:  my gray is
> going away! ....
> gale 

My mother has said that vitamin and mineral supplements reduce the grayness
of her hair. 

Here's what a quick search brought up:

"Werner syndrome and pernicious anemia [vitamin B-12 deficiency] can also
cause premature graying."
--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair_color#Gray_hair

By any chance did you have any of the following that have been linked to
pernicious anemia?

- Autoimmune disorder in which the body produces antibodies to one's own
parietal cells that make intrinsic factor, which helps the body absorb
vitamin B12 in the small intestine
- Chronic gastritis 
- Celiac disease / gluten sensitive enteropathy / gluten intolerance
- Crohn's disease
- chronic stomach acid deficiency

B vitamins and PABA, zinc, iron (which tends to be low in modern adult
women), and copper have all been used by people to treat their own gray hair
and searching on those terms will bring up lots of hits, such as these
studies:

The Relation of Nutritional Deficiencies to Graying
http://physrev.physiology.org/cgi/pdf_extract/28/3/368
[Identifies B vitamins]

PABA (Para-Amino benzoic Acid)
http://www.vrp.com/articles.aspx?ProdID=art607&zTYPE=2
"1941, Sieve [Sieve, B.F. Clinical achromotrichia. Science, 1941, 94: 257.]
reported that administration of 200 mg of PABA per day for two months
resulted in marked darkening of the hair in 30 patients who presented with
achromotrichia (gray hair). In an attempt to replicate this study,
Brandaleone and colleagues (1944) muddied the waters by administering 200 mg
of PABA with 100 mg of calcium pantothenate (vitamin B5) and 50 grams
(approx. 2 ounces) of brewers yeast for eight months to patients with gray
hair. He found that only 2 of 33 individuals had significant hair color
change. Dr. Chris Zarafonetis [Darkening of gray hair during
para-amino-benzoic acid therapy. J Invest Dermatol. 1950 Dec;15(6):399-401s
Zarafonetis CJ] of Temple University followed these investigations with a
report that described 5 cases of dramatic hair color change and hair
regrowth in 20 patients who presented with markedly gray hair, who were
taking 6-24 grams of PABA per day for other conditions. The hair color
changes were serendipitous results of this therapy. Zarafonetis concluded
that consumption of 6-24 grams of PABA per day for at least 6 weeks restored
the natural hair color of 25% of people with markedly gray hair. He did not
speculate on the mechanism for hair color restoration and pointed out that
the effects were highly variable and might require extended periods of
administration. Zvak (1986) confirmed that forty years ago, large doses of
PABA were clearly shown to darken grey hair; the regained color was lost
within 3-4 weeks of stopping the treatment. While it is clear that the hair
color restoration effects of PABA were less than universal, any therapy
which results in 10-25% reversal of what is generally considered to be an
irreversible condition (like hair grayness) must certainly be considered
significant."

Changes in hair color. Dermatol Clin. 1988 Apr;6(2):295-303 Cline, DJ