What to eat for healthy nails

To maintain healthy nails, the core is to ensure a balanced and adequate daily diet, giving priority to consuming enough nutrients such as protein, iron, zinc, vitamins A, B, and biotin from natural foods. If there are no special deficiencies, there is no need to buy expensive nail care supplements.

I came across a typical example when I was helping my best friend adjust her weight loss diet a while ago. In order to lose weight quickly, she ate only salads and boiled vegetables every day for more than two months, and rarely even eggs. Later, her nails were so thin that they could be bent into arcs, and she would break them if she wasn't paying attention, and her nails would grow longer. I had a lot of white spots. I went to the nutrition department and found out that the serum protein and ferritin were both low. Then I adjusted my diet and added a boiled egg, two to three hundred milliliters of pure milk every day, and ate lean beef two or three times a week. In less than two months, my nails became much harder, and the white spots gradually disappeared.

Nowadays, many people on the Internet recommend biotin supplements, saying that taking them can make nails thicker, harder, and grow faster. This is actually quite controversial. Nutritional research at home and abroad has shown that only people with confirmed biotin deficiency (such as people who have taken anti-epileptic drugs for a long time or people with long-term intestinal absorption disorders) can improve their nails by supplementing with biotin. Healthy people eat biotin from egg yolks, nuts, and animal livers every day. Metabolism is already sufficient for metabolic needs. Taking additional large-dose biotin supplements will not only make nails healthier, but may also interfere with the blood test results of thyroid function and cardiac enzymes. I have seen some netizens take 10,000mcg of high-dose biotin every day for beauty treatment. The physical examination showed abnormal thyroid function indicators. After three weeks of stopping and re-examination, everything returned to normal. I was worried for a long time for no reason.

In fact, the main component of nails is keratin. If you don't supply enough protein to the body, it's like not giving enough base glue for manicure. No matter how hard you try, you won't be able to make a strong nail. There is really no need to go out of your way to find any "special foods for armor protection". As long as you don't eat highly processed snacks and drink milk tea instead of water, you can basically meet the nutritional needs of your nails. Oh, by the way, if your nails have obvious black lines, large areas of unevenness, thickening, yellowing and brittleness, don’t think that it will be cured by taking supplements. Go to a dermatologist first to check the possibility of onychomycosis, onychomycosis or other skin lesions. Dietary supplements cannot cure the disease.