One of the most common health issues facing men today is hair loss. In the United States alone, millions of men and women suffer from thinning hair or alopecia (hair loss or baldness).

Many people, especially those who don't have the problem, consider concern over hair loss to be a vanity issue, not a medical one. In a way, this is technically correct, since hair loss isn't a life-threatening disease. But it can be the result of a dietary imbalance, a vitamin deficiency, and in some cases, a symptom of an underlying medical problem.

Even if it's not for health reasons, men and women shouldn't needlessly live with baldness if they don't want to. Everyone wants to look their best, and for many people, this means having thicker, healthier hair. Just as there's nothing wrong with working out to have a great body, or buying flattering clothes, taking steps to reduce or counteract hair loss can have a positive effect on one's outlook.

There are a number of ways to deal with hair loss, many of them considerably more effective than others. It's a problem that's plagued men and women since the earliest eras, going back even to the ancient Egyptians who suggested liniments of dates and donkey hooves. In recent years, there have even been devices to "vacuum" the head or electrically shock the hairs into growing again, none of which did anything except make their inventors wealthy.

More realistically, people who aren't happy with their hair can resort to other methods. Toupees and hairpieces can look as real as a natural head of hair, but they have their drawbacks, including expense and maintenance. Surgery, such as hair transplants, hair plugs or scalp minimization, is very costly and painful.

It's also important to remember that these solutions do not solve the problem. They are cover-ups only. They only replicate or move the hair.

The solution, like the hair, must come from inside the body. Long recognized as viable medical restorative for a number of health concerns, natural vitamin supplement therapy is also a feasible treatment for several types of hair thinning and loss.

While hair does actively grow within its subcutaneous follicle, the portion of the hair outside the scalp - the part you see - is dead tissue. It can be cut painlessly because it has no nerves or blood supply.

Applying topical products can make the hair look shinier, darker or thicker. Most of these products use lanolin, plastics or wax to achieve this look. But no product applied externally can "nourish" the hair, no matter what the manufacturers claim. Hair can only receive essential nutrients when it is growing in the follicle, which is where natural vitamin supplements can do the most good.