People whose hair turns gray too early often have lower levels of iron, zinc, and copper in their bodies compared to people whose hair grays normally.

People who go gray too early might have low levels of copper, iron, or vitamin B12—these nutrients might help keep hair its natural color.

Kids who start getting gray hair earlier than normal are more likely to be missing important vitamins and minerals like B12, iron, and zinc compared to other kids.

Some people get gray hair early because of things like their genes, stress in their body, smoking, or not having enough of certain vitamins and minerals like iron or copper.

Kids and teens with gray hair early on have the same levels of copper, iron, vitamin D, and folic acid in their blood as kids without gray hair—so these nutrients probably aren’t why their hair turned gray.

Teens and kids with gray hair early tend to have less zinc, magnesium, and vitamin B12 in their blood than other kids their age — maybe these nutrients have something to do with why their hair turns gray sooner.