Your skin is your body’s largest organ, and you may be surprised to learn that your hair and nails are an extension of that system. Because your body requires certain vitamins and minerals in order to grow healthy skin, consuming a nutritionally rich diet can help you to achieve healthier skin, hair and nails.
Iron
Iron is a mineral found in red meat, fortified cereals and leafy green vegetables, such as spinach and broccoli. Whenever the body does not have enough iron, a person’s nails may take on a spoon-like shape—where the nails bend upward instead of curved—and the nails are colored more white than pink, according to Ask the Dietitian. Increasing your dietary intake of iron can help improve your skin’s appearance. If you do choose to increase iron via supplement form, you also should take a vitamin C supplement in order to help the body better absorb the iron.
Beta-Carotene
Beta-carotene is a form of vitamin A that is responsible for continuing growth in the skin. This is important for the nails because fingernails are actually dead skin cells that have pushed out of the nail bed. Hair also grows in a similar fashion—the hairs on your head are deadened keratinized proteins that are pushed out by the follicle. When a strand of hair falls out, growth vitamins like beta-carotene are used in order to ensure it can be replaced. According to The Vitamins & Nutrition Center, a daily intake of 10,000 to 15,000 units of beta-carotene each day can help you to achieve a healthy intake of this vitamin. Foods high in beta-carotene include many orange foods, such as carrots, sweet potatoes and winter squash.
Biotin
If your skin or nails appear reddened for no apparent reason, a biotin deficiency could be to blame, according to Ask the Dietitian. Biotin is a nutrient that is present in trace amounts in the body, yet is attributed to healthy hair, skin and nail growth, according to HairBoutique.com. Biotin is a B-vitamin. Therefore, taking a B-vitamin complex that features 50 mg of biotin and other B-vitamins that can assist in growth, such as folate and inositol, can help to boost hair growth and the appearance of healthy skin, according to the Vitamins & Nutrition Center.
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