Your Nails and Your Health

My girlfriends and I love to treat ourselves to manicures and pedicures—mani/pedis if you will. It’s a great way to catch up and pamper ourselves a bit at the same time.

So I was shocked when Dr. Lark told me that, medically speaking, your fingernails and toenails are like tiny little mirrors. Because they’re about as far away from your heart and lungs as they can get (and about as low on your body’s priority list), any low-grade, chronic stressor of any kind in your general health—for example, if you need a little more of a certain nutrient—will often show up first in your nails.

As a result, if you’re paying attention, your nails can give you a gentle, early heads-up, before little problems turn into big ones. In fact, before medicine went high-tech, healers looked to the fingernails and toenails for valuable—and amazingly accurate—diagnostic clues.

Here is a list of several more common nail complaints and what they could be saying about your health.

1. Thin, brittle, weak nails: protein deficiency, iron deficiency, calcium deficiency, biotin deficiency, silicon deficiency, or thyroid disease.
2. Hangnails: zinc deficiency or dehydrated cuticles.
3. Brown areas at the tips of your nails: diabetes, liver disease, or congestive heart failure.
4. One vertical brown or black streak near your cuticles: Hutchinson’s disease.
5. Yellow- or green-colored nails: lung disease or poor circulation.
6. Yellowish nails: lymphodema.
7. Yellowish nails with slight pink color at the base: diabetes.
8. Thickened, yellowish nails: fungal infection.
9. Half pink or brown, half white nails: kidney disease.
10. Red nails beds: heart problems.
11. Pale nail beds: anemia.
12. White nails: liver disease.
13. Ridged nails: vertical ridges are often inherited and normal; horizontal ridges indicate past illness or stress.
14. Horizontal “speed bumps” at the edges of your nails: vitamin A deficiency.
15. White spots: not a cause for concern; they will eventually grow out.

If you recognize any of these nail concerns, especially those that involve serious health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and kidney disease, be sure to check in with your physician.

For more information on natural beauty and what your body may be trying to tell you, visit Dr. Lark’s Web site.