In this post, we're fact-checking brewer's yeast, one of the best-known nutritional foods reputed to be good for hair.
Many of you reading this are probably wondering what benefits brewer's yeast has that make so many people seek it out. Rather than an unfounded story like "It's been good for hair since long ago," I'll explain in detail what nutrients brewer's yeast contains and what role those nutrients play in the body.
If you're more interested in product recommendations than health information, feel free to check out the section at the very bottom.
1. What Is Brewer's Yeast?
Brewer's yeast is a yeast strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae that's used in alcohol production.
The reason it gets so much attention? It was reportedly studied for hair health after people noticed that brewery workers in Germany in the past had thick, full heads of hair.
Ebios and Bierhefe, which are used as digestive aids in Japan, contain brewer's yeast as their main ingredient.
Research into why yeast is beneficial is still ongoing, but one thing is certain: it's nutritionally outstanding. Let's take a closer look at yeast, one step at a time, below.
Will Taking Brewer's Yeast Make You Drunk?
In fact, nine out of ten people wonder about this. In the past, brewer's yeast was made by drying the yeast obtained during beer fermentation.
These days, however, the brewer's yeast sold as food isn't actually used in beer production—it's produced separately through its own cultivation process.
It can have a slightly bitter, beer-like taste, but it doesn't actually contain alcohol, so even children can take it. Mixed into yogurt, it makes a good source of nutrition for kids who are picky eaters.
2. Brewer's Yeast Is a Nutritious Food
Modern foods, full of little more than calories and simple sugars
In a modern food culture overflowing with calories alone, brewer's yeast is a food that can supply a balanced range of good nutrients. Brewer's yeast is made up of as much as 50% plant-based protein, and 10% of it consists of minerals such as selenium and chromium. Its content of beta-glucan, which is associated with immunity, is also known to be as much as 40 times that of mushrooms. Brewer's yeast is rich in the following nutrients.
Nutrients abundant in brewer's yeast
Brewer's yeast contains a balanced mix of the amino acids, vitamins, minerals, polysaccharides, nucleic acids, and other nutrients our bodies need, in amounts far greater than other foods. And these aren't chemically synthesized ingredients—they're genuine naturally derived, plant-based nutrients that are easy for the body to take in. Let's look at what each of these nutrients does below.
3. The Secret to Fuller Hair?
Image source: Google
Does Taking Brewer's Yeast Make Your Hair Fuller?
That's something you'll see in all kinds of online reviews. Is it just people's imagination? What sets brewer's yeast apart from ordinary foods?
The difference lies in its amino acid ratio.
More than 50% of brewer's yeast is plant-based protein, and the ratio of amino acids in yeast is very close to the ideal amino acid ratio humans need. The amino acid composition of brewer's yeast is also similar to the amino acid makeup of hair.
Essential amino acids can't be made by the body, so they must be obtained through what you eat. If you don't get a balanced intake of essential amino acids and a deficiency develops, problems arise in the synthesis of hair and many other proteins.
Amino acid ratio of brewer's yeast
Hair is made up of a protein called keratin, and brewer's yeast is even rich in the amino acids that make up keratin, such as cystine and cysteine, making it a good nutritional source that supplies a balanced range of hair's building blocks.
Just as you need flour to make bread, you need a variety of amino acids to make hair, and brewer's yeast is rich in these nutrients. That's exactly what brewer's yeast is: a nutritional food that keeps you from running short of the raw materials needed for synthesis.
Of course, you can also get enough amino acids through a balanced diet, but if that's not the case for you, brewer's yeast can be a good option.
4. A Yeast Rich in Vitamins
B vitamins, which act as the body's engine oil, were reportedly first discovered and studied in yeast.
When simple sugars, caffeine, stress, and the like build up, the body's B vitamins become depleted. When that happens, even if you sleep and take in new sources of energy, your cells' metabolism doesn't run smoothly, and it becomes hard to produce energy, so fatigue builds up.
That's why the fatigue-relief vitamins that major pharmaceutical companies advertise for tiredness also use B vitamins as their main ingredient. Brewer's yeast is richer in B-complex vitamins than ordinary foods, so it also helps with vitamin supplementation.
If you look at products that market themselves as "natural vitamins," you'll find that their main ingredient is vitamins extracted from yeast. Brewer's yeast is also rich in biotin, so if you take brewer's yeast, there's no need to supplement biotin separately.
Wait a Minute! Biotin and Hair Loss
Countless products are coming out with claims that biotin helps with hair loss. Of course, there is research showing that biotin deficiency leads to hair loss. However, biotin deficiency is rare, and supplementing with biotin doesn't help with every type of hair loss—general nutritional intake alone is enough to prevent biotin deficiency.
5. Well-Absorbed Minerals
Minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and zinc are among the essential nutrients that regulate the body's physiological functions. A deficiency in even trace minerals can cause a range of problems affecting hair, liver health, and more.
But when minerals are taken on their own, the body's absorption rate is around 10%. So when you supplement with ordinary mineral supplements, absorption is very poor.
For minerals to be absorbed efficiently, they need to be in an organically bound form. In brewer's yeast, minerals already exist organically bound to amino acids, so they tend to be well absorbed. It truly is a food that's good for the body.
Among minerals, it's especially rich in selenium (Se) and chromium (Cr).
Selenium (Se) and Antioxidant Activity
An apple browning due to free radicals. Selenium protects cells from free radicals.
Brewer's yeast has a very high selenium (Se) content. Selenium is the most commonly taken antioxidant in the United States, and it works to protect cells from harmful free radicals. In other words, it protects your cells from being damaged.
When you're deficient in selenium, problems arise in metabolic processes, and your ability to produce hair declines as well.
Selenium is also very important for the liver. It activates glutathione—a key substance in the conjugation phase of the liver's detoxification process—and in doing so takes part in the liver's detoxification process. That's why, for liver health, it's important not only to take milk thistle but also to get enough selenium.
So who, in particular, is brewer's yeast a good choice for?
6. Who Brewer's Yeast Is Recommended For
1) People Who Get Sick Often
* Brewer's yeast, rich in beta-glucan
With growing interest in immunity recently, health foods that use beta-glucan as their main ingredient have become popular, and a variety of dietary supplements built around beta-glucan are also being launched.
Beta-glucan is a type of polysaccharide found in the cell walls of yeast and mushrooms, and it enhances immunity. In Korea, it's an ingredient recognized for use in health functional foods.
As for its immune-related effects, beta-glucan is known to help the immune cells involved in immunity (NK cells, T cells, macrophages, etc.) multiply.
Image source: Goodridge HS, et al. Nature, 2011.
(Brewer's yeast is a food, not a medicine for preventing or treating disease.)
To put it more simply, beta-glucan plays the role of tagging viruses, guiding the body's immune cells to find and eliminate them easily. It's known to activate the various immune cells that clear out viruses. Of course, it's not a medicine.
The beta-glucan content in yeast is said to reach about 90%. Yeast also reportedly contains up to 40 times more beta-glucan than mushrooms or grains. Its advantages are that raw brewer's yeast itself tends to be far higher in beta-glucan than ordinary foods, and that it contains a variety of nutrients, including vitamins and protein.
2) Organic Chromium
A lack of chromium is said to make it hard to regulate blood sugar. Brewer's yeast is rich in chromium, so it's said to be a good choice for getting chromium in your diet. (Brewer's yeast cannot serve as a treatment for diabetes.)
But this is a more special form of chromium than the usual kind. Brewer's yeast contains GTF chromium. GTF chromium is known for its excellent absorption and high bioavailability in the body. This form is reportedly not found anywhere other than in brewer's yeast.
3) Hair
You've probably heard from people around you at some point that brewer's yeast is good for hair. It hasn't been clearly proven yet, but the reason brewer's yeast is famous for being good for hair seems to be that its nutritional makeup includes a well-rounded range of the components hair needs to grow.
If your scalp is a field, your hair is the crop. Just as rice struggles to grow in barren land, the same goes for your scalp. Think of brewer's yeast as an all-in-one fertilizer containing most of the nutrients hair needs to grow.
If hair is a sprout, the scalp is the soil, and brewer's yeast is an all-in-one fertilizer
Now, let's take a closer look at hair loss. Hair loss has many different causes, so how much it helps can vary depending on what type of hair loss it is and what's causing it.
Hair Loss Type 1: Crown Hair Loss and Alopecia Areata
Hair loss that starts at the crown
Hair loss that starts at the crown—such as crown hair loss, alopecia areata, and diffuse hair loss—arises from causes such as excessive stress, nutritional deficiencies from dieting or childbirth, and autoimmune diseases. Its exact cause hasn't been identified, and it occurs in both men and women.
Taking about 3 g of pure brewer's yeast a day is very helpful from a nutritional standpoint. However, 4 g or more carries a risk of side effects, so taking too much isn't recommended. Brewer's yeast can be taken by both men and women.
The key ingredient in the hair loss medications mentioned above is yeast, included to supply the protein needed for hair production. They also contain vitamins needed for metabolism—thiamine (vitamin B1) and pantothenic acid (vitamin B5)—along with the amino acid cystine, keratin, and more. These are all components needed to form connective tissue such as hair.
All of these ingredients are also abundant in brewer's yeast.
However, the amount of yeast you get from these medications is 100 mg, which is far too little to supply balanced nutrition to a body weighing around 60 kg (about 132 lb).
In my personal opinion, taking about 3 g of pure brewer's yeast a day is far more helpful from a nutritional standpoint. However, 4 g or more carries a risk of side effects, so taking too much isn't recommended. The hair loss medications mentioned above and brewer's yeast can be taken by both men and women.
Hair Loss Type 2: Male Pattern Hair Loss
For male pattern hair loss, which is caused by male hormones and makes hair recede from the forehead, taking prescription medications such as the DHT blockers Propecia or Avodart is the most effective approach.
However, these medications do come with some side effects, so I recommend consulting a professional before taking them.
Just as crops grow at different rates in fertile soil and dry soil, brewer's yeast helps correct your nutritional status and supplies a balanced range of the nutrients hair needs. So even if you're taking medication for male pattern hair loss, it's also a good idea to take brewer's yeast in addition.
What If You Use Topical Minoxidil?
Many people with hair loss use topical minoxidil, a hair loss treatment whose mechanism has been clearly established. But minoxidil is only half a hair loss treatment. That's because minoxidil works by dilating the blood vessels around the hair follicles and increasing the supply of nutrients to the hair, which stimulates hair growth.
But what if the nutrients your hair needs are in short supply? It's like opening a highway and paving it perfectly, only to have no cars driving on it. So if you're using topical minoxidil, taking brewer's yeast to provide a balanced supply of the nutrients your hair needs is a good way to manage your nutrition.
Who Should Not Take Brewer's Yeast
Brewer's yeast is a natural food that young children, pregnant women, and older adults can all take. But while brewer's yeast is nutritionally excellent, there are some people who shouldn't take it.
1) People With Gout
Brewer's yeast is very high in purines, which produce uric acid. Because it can cause gout to recur, it's best for anyone who has or has had gout to avoid it.
2) People With Kidney Disease
Likewise, brewer's yeast produces a lot of uric acid, and people with weakened kidney function have a reduced ability to filter out uric acid, so it's best for people with kidney disease to refrain from taking it. Taking brewer's yeast won't worsen kidney function, but caution is needed for those whose kidneys are already weakened.
3) People Taking Medications or Supplements
If you're already taking medications or other supplements, interactions and dosages need to be checked, so you need to consult a professional.
How Do You Choose a Brewer's Yeast Product?
1. Check the Country of Origin
I recommend brewer's yeast from European countries such as Lithuania and Germany.
Lithuania and Germany are among Europe's top three beer-producing countries. Thanks to their high production volumes, their brewer's yeast is said to be exceptionally fresh, to have a less bitter aftertaste than Korean brewer's yeast, and to be of good quality, since no high heat is applied during production and the protein isn't denatured.
2. Check the Amount and Percentage
※ Amounts of 4 g or more carry a risk of side effects
I recommend a high-purity, 100% brewer's yeast product providing 3–3.5 g a day.
If you're taking a product to get brewer's yeast, it's best to choose an additive-free 100% brewer's yeast product. If it contains other excipients or additives used to bind the brewer's yeast together, their effects can accumulate.
Also, if it has added other herbal ingredients (such as soybeans or houttuynia) that aren't clearly known to benefit hair, its brewer's yeast content may be low.
- Excessive Amounts (4 g or More)
On the other hand, these days you'll also see many products that push the brewer's yeast content excessively high, at 5 g or more. Taking 4 g or more every day carries a high risk of side effects such as gout, so you need to stick to a safe amount.
- What's the Recommended Daily Amount?
I recommend a product that lets you take brewer's yeast at the recommended daily amount of about 3–3.5 g. Because of the side effects mentioned earlier, such as gout, I recommend sticking to a safe amount.
3. Form: Is It Easy to Take?
▶ I recommend pellet products!
Brewer's yeast is naturally bitter and sour. The taste isn't pleasant—so much so that first-timers may find it off-putting and uncomfortable to take. Commercially available brewer's yeast products come in powder, tablet, and pellet forms.
1) Powder
Brewer's yeast powder is inexpensive, but it's too bitter to take consistently, so people don't tend to reach for it. When taking it as a powder, you need a full tablespoon each time. And because it's exposed so often, it's not great for hygiene either.
2) Compressed Tablets
With tablets, you have to swallow 6–10 a day, and since they're on the large side, they're a bit hard to get down. They also contain excipients used to press the brewer's yeast into tablet form.
3) Pellets
Pellets are formed from very small granules, so they go down easily, and because they don't have much of a taste, I found them the easiest to take. They're easy to take even for people who have trouble swallowing pills, and they're the form I like best.
Even among brewer's yeast pellets, products that come in a bottle are exposed to air every time, which raises the risk of going rancid. So among pellet products, I recommend ones that are individually packed in single-serve sticks for easy intake.
Today, we fact-checked the benefits of brewer's yeast. Brewer's yeast is still a food that needs a lot more research. Because related studies were hard to find, I wasn't able to do a clear data analysis, but brewer's yeast is certainly an excellent food from a nutritional standpoint—so why not make it a consistent part of your health routine?
Why YoungLong Brewer's Yeast Stands Out
By now, you know what to check when choosing a brewer's yeast product: where the yeast comes from, whether it's 100% brewer's yeast without excipients or added herbs, whether the daily amount is around 3–3.5 g rather than 4 g or more, and whether it comes as easy-to-take pellets packed in individual sticks.
YoungLong's Original Brewer's Yeast Tablets check each of these boxes. Although the name says "Tablets," each stick contains small, easy-to-swallow pellets made from 3,000 mg of 100% brewer's yeast. It's a food product, not a medicine—a simple way to get the nutrition of brewer's yeast in the form this article recommends.
- 100% Brewer's Yeast With No Excipients
- 3 g a Day: A Recommended, Safe Amount
- Premium Lithuanian Brewer's Yeast, Low-Temperature Dried
- Small Pellets in Hygienic Single-Serve Sticks
- Naturally Rich in the Nutrients Covered Above
- A Best-Seller in Korea, Loved by Returning Customers
What Customers Are Saying
Here's how one customer described their own experience:
★★★★★ Noticeably less hair fall
"I wanted to support my hair without a complicated stack, just a solid single ingredient done well. This is 3000mg of pure brewer's yeast pressed into small pellets, which is meant to feed the scalp the amino acids and minerals hair needs.
Brewer's yeast is bitter on its own but these little pellets go down easily. I take them daily and a couple of months in my hair feels stronger and I am shedding a bit less. As a straightforward brewer's yeast for hair it does exactly what I wanted without any fuss. Reordering for sure." — Ashley R. Verified Purchase
