Your Fingernails Can Say a Lot About Your Health

Isn’t it irritating to see your fingernails frequently chipping and breaking from being week and brittle? It is a common issue that ladies, and sometimes men, encounter often. I hope you know that bones and fingernails are closely related to each other; your fingernails may clearly give you a visual flash of the state of your bones. They act as indicators of many health issues. Have you ever imagined how your nails work and what stimulates their growth? A plain healthy diet with some essential tweaks would actually help to make your nails firm and strong.

Nails are aggregated by layers of a protein called Keratin; this protein is found in your hair and skin. Discoloration and changes to any part of these fingernails may indicate an unhealthy nail or your bone health.

Nutrition presents a vital purpose in the functioning of your body, from the edge of your fingers to your toes. Your nails can explain a lot about your nutritional status. You should take the right foods to care for your nails, and taking them right can assist in taking care of your whole body as well. Nail beds give rise to nail tissue, and adequate nutrient intake, which help to support the growth, form, and strength of nail cells.

A change in the look, texture, or shape of one’s nails could indicate some nutrient deficiencies.

I hope you know now that good-looking nails start from the inside? What you consume plays a big factor in how energetic your nails.

Food Sources for Your Nails

As you become informed, many common nail issues signify that there is a deficiency of some essential vitamins or minerals in your body system. If you take note of these signs, you may need to add more of these nutrients to your rations.

• Vitamin A

Vitamin A (retinol) is a fat-soluble vitamin known to be highly effective in strengthening nails, bones, teeth, and many more tissues. It acts perfectly as an active antioxidant that prevents oxidative free radicals from causing damages to the cells of the body. Many foods like milk, eggs, citrus fruits, apricots, apple, spinach, yam, and many more are great sources of retinol that you may add to your ration.

• Zinc

Almonds are also high in zinc. The nutrient is the key to strong nails. If you often have a plant-based diet, a doctor says it’s even more pertinent that you introduce zinc into your ration.

Great portions of the zinc in our diets are from sources like seafood and meat, so if you start lowering your intake of meat and seafood, ensuring that you get enough zinc elsewhere in your food is very vital for nail health.

• Biotin

This is a B-complex vitamin, commonly called vitamin B7. It aids healthy cell growth and promotes the metabolism of protein-forming amino acids that are vital for the growth of nails.

Biotin-rich diets and supplements may help energize your brittle fingernails. One study on 35 folks with brittle fingernails discovered that 2.5 mg of vitamin B7 daily for 1.5 months to 7 months improved signs in 63 percent of participants.

Deficiency of the vitamin is scarce, and while there is no particular Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for vitamin B7, the Adequate Intake (AI) reference for grown adults has been pinned at 30 mcg daily.

Vitamin B7 is most condensed in organ meats like liver but can also be seen in egg yolk, yeast, dairy products, salmon, sweet potato, avocado, nuts, seeds, and cauliflower.

• Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Not all fats are bad for our health; essential omega-3 fatty acids help to keep our keratinocytes strong, so you may grow strong and long nails. Eat more omega-3 fatty acid foods such as fish, eggs, walnuts, flaxseeds, chia seeds e.t.c.

• Folic Acid

Folic acid (vitamin B9) is also known to be effective in aiding nail growth. Nails are considered the body’s fastest regenerating cells; therefore, this vitamin is required to give moisture to the growing tissues. Some of the diets high in folic acid are; eggs, avocado, beetroots, citrus fruits, and spinach.

• Whole-grain Cereal

Another wonderful source of zinc, a doctor recommends starting off every day with a whole-grain cereal diet. Breakfast is the most essential meal of the day, remember?

• Fat

“One of the essential nutrients in terms of keeping one’s nails supple is actually fat. So a specialized type of essential fatty acid known as linoleic acid, you may get from food like oily fish, but you may also get it in many of those healthy oils. Don’t forget we’re trying to raise foods like olive oil, avocados, rapeseed oil, and of course, nuts in our diets.

A doctor says she spends a whole lot of her time “trying to dag folks back from low-fat rations and ensuring they focus on healthy fats and consuming enough essential fatty acids in their ration.

So, to help avert your nails from becoming too brittle and breaking, increase the amount of oily fish in your daily ration.

• Water

According to specialists, hydration is the basis of “internal beauty-boosting. ” For both the skin and nails, one should have 8 glasses of water daily, which includes much water in your coffee and tea!

• Iron

Iron is the center of all red blood cells, which convey oxygen to vital organs and every tissue of your body, including nails. Of course, without iron, oxygen does not get carried optimally to cells.

As oxygen is required for strong nails, anemia can lead to those vertical ridges you observe on your nails. Your nails may also spoon or concave.

Requirements for iron vary considerably according to age and gender. The requirement for men is 8 mg daily while that of women (19–50 of age) is 18 mg daily. After women clock age 50 or menopause, their iron requirements reduce to 8 mg daily.

Your body absorbs any iron found in beef, chicken, fish, eggs, and other animal foods better than that in plant sources such as beans, dark green leafy vegetables, seeds, peanuts, and other fortified foods.

However, consuming a diet rich in ascorbic acid together with some plant-based iron diets source improves food absorption. For example, taking oranges and strawberries together with a spinach salad and beans improves one’s iron absorption.

• Magnesium

Magnesium is that mineral that is involved in over 300 reactions in our bodies, such as protein synthesis, which is well required for strong nail growth. Vertical ridges seen on your nails may be pointing towards s magnesium deficiency. Despite the global availability of this nutrient, the World Health Organization (WHO) still reports that below 60% of the US population takes the required amount.

The requirement is 400-420 mg daily for men and 310–320 mg daily for women. Whole grains, mostly whole wheat, are a brilliant source of magnesium. Dark green leafy vegetables, together with almonds, quinoa, peanuts, cashews, edamame, and black beans, are brilliant sources, too.

• Protein

Most parts of your body, including nails, are made up of protein and so also are the cells required to build them. Therefore, a protein deficiency may lead to brittle and chipped nails. So load up on such protein-rich foods like soy, fish, meat, dairy products, and eggs.

These nutrients should make a vital part of your daily ration, not only for healthy nails but also for general body health.

• Eggs

Protein is so vital to nail health. Nails are made up of a dense protein known as Keratin that is as strong as your hair. So protein is very important. You don’t want to lose all those amino acids, do you? To generate all those protein-based tissues in your body, and that also includes your nails.

When you lack protein, your nails become discolored and brittle, so try incorporating more eggs into your diet. They are a very valuable source of protein, and you surely have them morning, noon, or night!

• Almonds

A doctor recommends eating a handful of almonds daily because they are very high in Vitamin E. This vitamin is vital to healthy nail maintenance.

Vitamin E, sometimes called “the beauty vitamin,” helps to protect body cells from damages such as oxidative damage. One portion of almonds (23 almonds) gives 60 percent of your daily requirement of vitamin E.

NOW, watch your fingernails grow healthily as you continue to eat healthily!