Hair supplements for women are sold with big promises. The research behind them is thinner. A shortage of iron or another nutrient can be one cause of hair loss, but whether vitamins help women whose levels are normal has not been settled. Below is what the NHS says, what reviews of the studies found, and how little dates have to do with any of it.
Normal shedding and the causes the NHS lists
Losing some hair every day is expected. According to the NHS page on hair loss, we can lose between 50 and 100 hairs a day, often without noticing. Female pattern baldness is a permanent type that usually runs in the family. Temporary hair loss can follow an illness, stress, cancer treatment, weight loss or iron deficiency.
If you are worried, the NHS says to see a GP, and to do that before thinking about a commercial hair clinic. Minoxidil can be used for female pattern baldness. Women should not use finasteride. The page is blunt about results: no treatment is 100% effective.
Where iron comes in
Of the causes on that list, iron deficiency is the one tied to diet. The NHS iron deficiency anaemia page puts hair loss among its less common symptoms: you notice more hair coming out when brushing or washing it. Heavy periods and pregnancy are named as very common causes, and the GP will usually do a blood test to check.
How much iron is enough? The NHS iron page gives 14.8mg a day for women aged 19 to 49 and 8.7mg a day for women aged 50 and over. Women who lose a lot of blood during their periods are at higher risk of iron deficiency anaemia and may need iron supplements, and the NHS suggests speaking to a GP or a registered dietitian. It also says 17mg or less a day of iron supplements is unlikely to cause any harm.
Vitamin and mineral supplements in the studies
In a 2019 review, Almohanna and colleagues looked at vitamins A, B, C, D and E, iron, selenium and zinc in non-scarring hair loss. They described the part these micronutrients play in hair follicle development as "important, but not entirely clear". Their call was for large double-blind placebo-controlled trials in people who have both a deficiency and this kind of hair loss.
The advice from Guo and Katta (2017) is practical. A deficiency that has been found should be corrected. Whether supplements do anything without a documented deficiency still needs research, and the authors say patients must be told that such research is lacking.
Biotin gets a lot of attention as a hair supplement. Yelich and colleagues (2024) found three studies that met their criteria. The highest-quality one was double-blind and placebo-controlled, and it found no difference between biotin and placebo for hair growth. Their conclusion: using biotin as a hair supplement is not supported by high-quality studies.
Branded hair supplements were pooled in a 2026 meta-analysis by Alanazi and colleagues. It included 14 studies and 967 adults with hair loss or thinning, and products such as Viviscal, Nutrafol and Nourkrin. Measures including hair density and hairs pulled out on a pull test came out in favour of the supplements against placebo. Total hair count did not differ significantly (p = 0.06). The authors called the results "promising preliminary" ones and asked for more rigorous, independent research.
Too much can backfire
Guo and Katta also warn that some supplements carry a risk of worsening hair loss, or of toxicity. Selenium is one example. The NHS page on other vitamins and minerals says too much selenium causes selenosis, which in its mildest form can lead to loss of hair and nails. Vitamin A is another: the NHS vitamin A page says some research suggests more than an average of 1.5mg a day over many years may affect your bones, and that this matters most for older people, especially women.
Dates and hair: what is and isn't known
No human study has tested dates against hair loss, as far as we could find. A PubMed search in October 2026 for date palm or date fruit with hair or alopecia gave 10 records. Not one was a trial of people eating dates.
The iron in dates is modest. USDA FoodData Central gives 0.9mg of iron per 100g of Medjool dates, and one pitted Medjool date weighs 24g, so each date has roughly 0.2mg. A 100g serving covers about 6% of the 14.8mg a day that a woman aged 19 to 49 needs. When the NHS lists foods to eat more of for iron deficiency anaemia, it names dark-green leafy vegetables, fortified cereals and bread, meat, pulses, and dried fruit like apricots, prunes and raisins. Dates are not named.
That does not rule dates out of a normal diet. The NHS 5 A Day guide counts a 30g portion of dried fruit such as dates as 1 of your 5 A Day. It adds that dried fruit should be eaten at mealtimes, not as a snack between meals, to reduce the impact on teeth.
This article is general information, not medical advice. If hair loss worries you, the NHS advice is to see a GP.
For questions, a price quote or an order, read about Rabbi Dates, browse the blog, or send a WhatsApp message from the contact page.
References
- NHS. Hair loss. https://www.nhs.uk/symptoms/hair-loss/
- NHS. Iron deficiency anaemia. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/iron-deficiency-anaemia/
- NHS. Vitamins and minerals: iron. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/iron/
- NHS. Vitamins and minerals: others. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/others/
- NHS. Vitamins and minerals: vitamin A. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-a/
- NHS. 5 A Day: what counts? https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/5-a-day/5-a-day-what-counts/
- Almohanna HM, Ahmed AA, Tsatalis JP, Tosti A. The role of vitamins and minerals in hair loss: a review. Dermatol Ther (Heidelb). 2019;9(1):51-70. PMID 30547302
- Guo EL, Katta R. Diet and hair loss: effects of nutrient deficiency and supplement use. Dermatol Pract Concept. 2017;7(1):1-10. PMID 28243487
- Yelich A, Jenkins H, Holt S, Miller R. Biotin for hair loss: teasing out the evidence. J Clin Aesthet Dermatol. 2024;17(8):56-61. PMID 39148962
- Alanazi R, et al. Evaluating the effectiveness of commercial oral supplements for hair growth: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2026;25(4):e70817. PMID 41954038
- U.S. Department of Agriculture. FoodData Central, Dates, medjool (SR Legacy, FDC ID 168191). https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/168191/nutrients