No-one likes to have weak nails that unexpectedly break or chip and ruin how your hand looks. Not only will it look unpleasant, but it may also be painful.

 

What can your nails show?

• Vertical ridges indicate unhealthy and poor diet whilst horizontal ridges in the nails can show previous infections or illnesses that you have had.

 

• Iron deficiency can be seen through pale nails

 

• A lack of calcium can be reflected with how easily nails break and chip

 

• The odd white spots that may appear can correlate with your bodily zinc levels

 

Maintaining a good portion of protein in your diet is essential to encourage healthy growth of your nails. Vegetarians should remember that meat isn’t the only source of protein! It can come from beans, tofu, spinach, lentils, nuts etc. The uptake of protein can be detrimentally affected by the intake of alcohol and tobacco so this could contribute to how your nails look! If you are dehydrated from not having a good intake of water, you will be more prone to brittle and ridged nails.

 

Although nails are made of keratin protein cells, these are dead so the area of your nails that you will want to keep treated and moisturised is the sensitive skin underneath, beneath the cuticle line.

 

Biotin-rich foods are especially useful to prevent splitting and chipping as biotin increases nail thickness and hardness. Snacking on nuts, especially pecans and almonds will increase your biotin intake.