Eat Fat For Stronger Nails

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The Right Fats Can Help You Grow Flexible, Strong Nails

Women especially, often find themselves quite desperate to find a solution to dry, brittle, flaky nails. They want beautiful nails, and pursue this goal through nail strengtheners, and special creams, all with the aim of obtaining strong and beautiful nails. There may be another solution that is much easier and deals with the cause of weak nails, not the symptom.

Your nails are an indication of what is going on inside your body.

If you are healthy, the outside of your body will look healthy too. Like your hair, your nails are an indication of how well your diet is supporting your health, and if you are not supplying the nutrients that your body needs, your nails will reflect this problem. Although nails are made up of dead cells, they start out as living cells just underneath your skin. Therefore, you can build the right foundation for their quality through your diet and the nutrients that you consume.

Protein and fat combine to make strong nails

The part of your nail that you can see is called the nail plate. It should be flexible, yet strong. The nail matrix is the part of the nail that becomes the nail plate, and it contains nerves as well as blood vessels. This is why it is so painful when your nail gets injured. This part of the nail lies beneath the root, or the beginning of your actual nail.

The layer of cells that make up the nail plate, the part of the nail that you can see, are produced by living cells in the nail matrix. The right foundation of nutrients will therefore influence the structure of these living cells, which will in turn determine the quality of the cells that end up as the nail plate. These cells are made up of a very tough kind of protein called keratin, the same protein that your hair is made up of. Nails and hair are both made up of dead cells – that were once living.

Your nails can be compared to leather, which is also dead protein and needs to be ‘oiled’ to stay flexible and moist. If leather is left to the elements, without being treated regularly it will become dry and cracked.

Your nails, being dead protein, like leather, also require care. But, unlike leather, the oil that they need is required before they appear on your nail plate, as your nail. The nail cell needs to have the right oil in its membrane from the beginning, so that when that nail cell appears on the nail plate, it is flexible, yet strong.

This is why the application of nail creams will never be as effective as supplying the fat through the diet, because when you eat the right fats, the nail cell is supplied with the right fats when it is still alive. So, when it appears on the nail plate, it is already moisturized. The right fats allow the nail cells that are constantly growing to retain the moisture necessary to keep them flexible and strong. The dead cells are moisturized before they move up onto the nail plate, where you can see them.

Every single cell in your body needs the right fats

Every single cell membrane in your body and brain requires the right kinds of fat to work properly. The right kinds of fat have a very particular shape, which fit into the cell membrane in a unique way, allowing the cell membrane to be flexible and permeable. Cell membranes need to be flexible and permeable, so that they can supply the nutrients that cells need to produce energy efficiently.

They also need to be able to get rid of toxins that are produced inside the cell, through the energy-production process. When cell membranes are made up of the wrong kinds of fat, the cell membrane can’t do its job properly, so the cell can be left without enough nutrients to produce energy and also end up being full of toxins that it can’t get out.

Fortunately, when the nail cells below the nail bed are supplied with the right kinds of fat, the nail cell can be healthy and strong before it appears as part of your nail. Therefore, when you consume enough protein, and the right fats, your nails can be strong and flexible.

Hydrated nails are strong nails

By providing protein and the right fats, your cells remain hydrated and ensure the flexibility and strength of the cells, which become your nail plate. By providing the right fats in your diet, you avoid having to provide an external application of moisture, as well as nail strengtheners. The right fats help the cells to hold onto moisture from within, so the nail remains flexible, yet strong.

Soft, brittle and breakable nails will be strengthened from the inside. Your nails may even grow more quickly, as the cells are now capable of replacing themselves more efficiently when they have the right raw materials.

So, you don’t have to accept weak, thin nails. Although it can take up to 60 days to see a difference in both the growth rate and the quality of your nails, after you start consuming the right fats, you will be moisturizing and strengthening them from the inside. This is why the benefits are long lasting and sustainable.

Protein – the second building block of strong nails

Protein is the second building block of your nails. Protein is found in the flesh of animals, as well as dairy products. However, nuts, seeds, legumes and grains also provide excellent sources of protein. Protein is used for the growth and maintenance of muscles, as well as helping to form skin, hair and nails.

A lot of people are unaware that they may have a problem with the digestion and absorption of protein, which would negatively impact many aspects of their health, including the health of their nails. The absorption of protein is strongly influenced by the health of your digestive system. Interestingly, the right fats can help to improve your digestion, and you can read about this in the first of our three article series about digestion, absorption and elimination by clicking here.

One more thing ...

This doesn't mean that you can't use lovely, nourishing hand creams anymore. And using nail polish is fine too, as long as these products are free of harmful chemicals they are still fine to use. However, when you are feeding your skin and nails from the inside, you don't have to rely on these external products to artificially keep your nails strong and healthy.

References

Essential fatty acids in health and disease. Das UN. J Assoc Physicians India. 1999 Sep;47(9):906-11.

[Essential fatty acids and the skin] Article in French. Berbis P, et al. Allerg Immunol (Paris) 1990 Jun;22(6):225-31.

Omega-3 fatty acids in health and disease and in growth and development. Simopoulos AP. Am J Clin Nutr. 1991 Sep;54(3):438-63.

Fats that heal, fats that kill. Erasmus, U. Dr. Alive Books. Burnaby BC, Canada. 1993.

 

 

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