What Do Your Nails Say About Your Overall Health?

By
Milly
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Whether you’re someone who gets their nails done on a weekly basis or someone who hasn’t painted their nails in years, what your nails look like can actually tell a lot about your overall health. While this is a little unsettling, it also can be helpful as your body is showing you what it is lacking or how it needs to be cared for, which is pretty amazing.

Brittle Nails

Nails that break easily and are brittle and uneven is a telltale sign that you probably have a vitamin deficiency. The most common vitamin deficiencies associated with brittle nails are A, B, and C, so it’s really easy to remember! If you see your nails are brittle, all you have to do is incorporated foods with these vitamins into your diet more.

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What causes nail fungus?⁣ If you’ve got nail fungus, you’re not alone. In fact, about 10 percent of the adult population suffers from nail fungus infections, making them the most common diseases of the nails, accounting for as much as 50 percent of nail abnormalities. ⁣ ⁣ Onychomycosis (on-ick-oh-my-CO-sis), a condition that may involve the toenails or fingernails (but is more common in feet) is an infection that gets in through cracks in your nail or cuts in your skin, then lives underneath the nail, in the skin of the nail bed. Nail fungus can make your nails change color or get thicker–and it’s more than a cosmetic concern. It can also hurt. Left untreated, the infection can spread to other nails or your skin.

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Slow Growing Nails

If you find that your nails take a really long time to grow back after you cut them or after they break, that can be a sign that you have a calcium deficiency. Calcium is the mineral that helps our bones stay strong, but this also applies to nails and even your hair. If you’re vegan or don’t eat a lot of dairy products, make sure you’re consuming a lot of dark leafy greens because they are full of calcium.