Yes-a diet too low in fat can cause hair loss. You want to eat healthy low fat diet-but your body needs more fat than you think.
A good guideline is to eat around 30% of your calories from fat. An easy way to figure this is to eat 3 grams of fat for every 100 calories you eat each day. (a gram of fat has 9 calories...so 3 grams of fat is 27 calories-or 27% of 100.) So if you are eating 1400 calories a day...then 42 grams of fat each day is 27% of your caloric intake.
A low fat diet contains more fat than you thought, huh?
When you go TOO low...it can cause hair loss, dry skin, and other problems. Fat also contributes to a feeling of satisfaction in your stomach-making it more likely that you will stick to your eating plan for life.
Eating 10-15 grams of fat a day is way too low for any extended period of time. That is only 30% of your diet if you are eating about 400 calories a day! If you are on a medically induced plan from your doctor-that is fine-but when you progress the fat grams will probably be bumped up to a more moderate level. For most of us-keeping it around 30% is the best way to go. Hopefully after a while your doctor will up your fat grams some but keep a watch on your calorie level.
Calories are a big part here. You simply have to burn more than you take in each day with a reduced calorie diet. If you eat 5000 calories a day-you are not going to lose weight-it doesn't matter if you are restricting fat, or carbs, or whatever else you may be restricting. I think reducing fat is a healthier eating style-one that I follow myself-but you still need to eat a certain amount of fat to avoid problems-and follow common sense. A fat free popsicle and a naturally fat free strawberry are not nutritionally equal.
(As much as I wish they were!)
There are also different fats...some which are beneficial to the body, and some which are more damaging-like saturated fats and trans fats-so it is good to read labels and choose your allowed fats wisely.
Good luck to you all on your low fat eating plans!
Aphil