Diet for strong nails: what to eat for unbreakable nails

Strong nails are a sign of good care, but also of your general health. Products help from the outside — but the foundation for healthy nails is what you eat. Your diet directly affects the strength, appearance and growth rate of your nails.

Below are the seven nutrients that matter most, and where to find them.

1. Protein: the building block

Your nail is made almost entirely of keratin, a protein. If you structurally eat too little protein, you will notice it in your nails sooner or later: they get thinner and break more easily.

Where to find it: meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, legumes, tofu, tempeh, nuts.

2. Biotin: for growth

Biotin (vitamin B7) is often called the beauty vitamin because of its role in hair and nail growth. It is one of the few nutrients with reasonable research behind its effect on brittle nails.

Where to find it: eggs, nuts, seeds, sweet potato, oats, mushrooms.

3. Iron: against brittleness

Iron deficiency is one of the most common causes of brittle, spoon-shaped nails. Worth paying attention to if you are a woman or eat little meat.

Where to find it: lean red meat, spinach, lentils, beans, wholegrain products. Combine plant-based iron with vitamin C (peppers, citrus) — it improves absorption considerably.

4. Omega 3 fatty acids: for moisture

Omega 3 fatty acids help your nails retain moisture. Dry nails are stiff nails, and stiff nails split.

Where to find it: oily fish (salmon, mackerel, herring), flaxseed, walnuts, chia seeds.

5. Vitamin E: for flexibility

A nail should not just be hard, it should also be flexible. A nail that is too hard and too dry actually breaks sooner. Vitamin E contributes to that flexibility.

Where to find it: almonds, sunflower seeds, spinach, avocado, vegetable oils.

6. Zinc: for repair

Zinc plays a role in cell division, and therefore in producing new nail cells. A deficiency sometimes shows up as white spots or horizontal ridges.

Where to find it: meat, shellfish, pumpkin seeds, cashews, cheese.

7. Water: the simplest one

Dehydration leads to dry, breaking nails. This is the easiest change you can make, and the most underestimated.

Are supplements worth it?

Only if you have a deficiency. If you eat a varied diet, an extra pill gives you almost nothing — except expensive urine.

If a varied diet is difficult for you, these two are the most useful in practice:

• Fish oil (omega 3)
• A basic multivitamin

Anything beyond that is almost always overkill. Suspect a deficiency? See your doctor. A blood test will tell you within a week whether something is genuinely missing — which beats guessing.

Diet works from within, care works from without

There is a catch: diet works slowly. A fingernail grows roughly 3 millimetres per month, so it takes three to six months before you actually see the result of eating better reach your nail edge.

If you want stronger nails in the meantime, care from the outside works faster. A nail hardener with Dimethyl Urea strengthens the nail you already have by creating extra keratin bonds — you notice that within one to two weeks. Nail oil keeps the nail flexible so it bends instead of breaking.

The combination works best: diet builds the new nail, care protects the nail you have right now.

In short

Eat a varied diet with enough protein, and pay extra attention to iron if you eat little meat. Drink enough water. Have a deficiency confirmed by your doctor instead of blindly taking supplements. And be patient — your nails always run a few months behind your diet.