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Dear List members:

The following is a summary of  the question I asked for a celiac friend who
has suffered hair loss (the question was if anyone had any suggestions as to
how to deal with hair falling out?); there were about 35 responses, with
several people who wanted to know what information I got. Here is the general
concensus of opinion:

*about half of the replies thought it was a thyroid problem; there was
notation that CD and thyroid difficulties are often associated

*one response said a supplement of calcium with magnesium and zinc taken with
orange juice and calcium helped; also important to take a multi-vitamin with
A and D because this helps to absorb the calcium

*many people thought that it was a protein deficiency and they upped their
protein intake and took daily B supplements (one reply added extra biotin to
this)

*a couple of people thought this was related to perimenopause

*almost all the replies said a good GF multivitamin was indicated

*a couple of people suggested changing shampoos to make sure they were GF;
Tom's of Maine was mentioned; also Alberto V.O.5  shampoos are GF; dish wash
soap may be a problem, switch to Ivory or Dawn

*one respondent thought that because the cells in a nutrition deficient
person were weak and tired, the solution (although "inconvenient") was to cut
all the hair off and give the cells a rest and the new hair would come back
stronger

*there was a long summary from the list dated Wed. Aug. 7 l996 on the subject
of hair loss; I assume one can access this through the archives: the general
theme of that summary is that hair loss result from malnutrition from
undiagnosed CD and will eventually grow back on a GF diet

Many thanks from my friend Paula who has struggled with this for a long time;
thanks to everyone who was kind enough to respond.

Best wishes for good health......Leslie (in Atlanta)