Nail plate discoloration can result from several nutritional deficiencies. Research has shown vitamin B12 deficiency to cause brown-gray nail discoloration. White nails can be the result of anemia and pink or red nails may suggest malnutrition with several nutrient and vitamin deficiencies.
- A deficiency in B-complex vitamins, especially biotin, will produce ridges along the nail bed. - A diet lacking in calcium contributes to dry, brittle nails. - A lack of folic acid and vitamin C can lead to hangnails. - Insufficient dietary essential oils, like omega-3, cause cracking.
2 Nail changes in vitamin B12 deficiency present as hyperpigmentation of nails like bluish discoloration of nails, blue-black pigmentation with dark longitudinal streaks, and longitudinal and reticulate darkened streaks. The nail pigmentation associated with B12 deficiency is more frequent in patients with dark skin.
If your nails are peeling, brittle, or have vertical ridges, you may be vitamin D deficient. Dubbed “the sunshine vitamin,” one of the best sources is sunlight. It can also be found in fatty fish, beef, liver, egg yolk, and fortified dairy, orange juice, and cereals.
One of the most common nutrient deficiencies to show up in nails is a zinc deficiency. More prevalent in school-age children, this deficiency can present as scattered white spots. Usually, people can take a zinc supplement for a short amount of time to clear up these white marks.
When your body lacks calcium, your nails become thinner, weaker, and brittle. You may notice that they break easily and just don't look as healthy as they used to. Although nails and bones are made up of different substances, they're similar enough that poor nail health may be an early marker of bone density problems.
Koilonychia is an abnormal shape of the fingernail. The nail has raised ridges and is thin and curved inward. This disorder is associated with iron deficiency anemia.
Vitamin-B12 deficiency can present with glossitis, pigmentary changes of nails, hairs, and skin or more serious features like megaloblastic anemia and neuropsychiatric symptoms. [2] Neuropsychiatric features, though rare, can become irreversible in severe and prolonged deficiency.
Brittle, weak, or slow-growing nails may indicate a calcium deficiency. However, more common causes include frequently wetting and drying the nails and other nutritional deficiencies.
Nail changes.
People who have advanced kidney disease can develop: A white color on the upper part of one or more nails and a normal to reddish brown color below, as shown here (half-and-half nails) Pale nails. White bands running across one or more nails (Muehrcke's nails)
Nail Health & Diabetes
In some people with diabetes, the nails take on a yellowish hue and become brittle. This is often associated with the breakdown of sugar and its effect on the collagen in nails. In certain cases, this yellowing of nails can be a sign of a nail infection.
Pale Nails
White nails, also known as leukonychia, describes fingernails that are partially or completely white in color. The white color could be the result of several things such as trauma, anemia, dietary deficiencies, heart or kidney disease, or even poisoning.
Vitamin D regulates calcium levels in the body which is an essential contributor to having healthy nails. If you find yourself with brittle and weak nails, it could mean a lack of Vitamin D.
Vitamin B12, iron, zinc, or magnesium deficiencies can cause vertical ridges on the nail beds. While vitamins A and C deficiencies can cause nails to crumble or break easily.
This article therefore helps clinicians to find the right treatment of the 5 most common nail disorders (brittle nails, onycholysis, paronychia, psoriasis, and onychomycosis) and provides practical tips that might improve patients' compliance.
Iron deficiency can cause vertical nail ridges and koilonychia (spoon nails).
Magnesium helps prevent ridges in the nails and with protein synthesis and new nail formation. Magnesium deficiency can be corrected by including whole grains such as whole wheat, quinoa, and almonds, cashews, peanuts, black beans in your diet. Zinc is needed for replication of nail cells and improved hair growth.
Iron plays a vital role in producing haemoglobin, a protein that carries oxygen to all parts of the body. When the body is deficient in iron, it becomes harder to transport oxygen to the cells that stimulate the growth of your nails and hair.
Nail clubbing is when a nail curves under at the tip of the finger. It could indicate heart disease, inflammatory bowel disease, lung disease, liver disease, thyroid disease, or HIV/AIDS.
Spoon nails (koilonychia) are soft nails that look scooped out. The depression usually is large enough to hold a drop of liquid. Often, spoon nails are a sign of iron deficiency anemia or a liver condition known as hemochromatosis, in which your body absorbs too much iron from the food you eat.
Not being able to see a half-moon, or lunula, on the nails may be a sign of a vitamin deficiency, vitiligo, kidney failure, or another health condition, some of which can be serious. Nails grow from a pocket under the skin that doctors call the matrix. The matrix helps make new cells.