Your nails reveal a lot about your health, from curved shapes to white spots and dark lines

9 July 2019, 15:00

You can find out a lot from your nails, some things are even a sign of cancer.

Checking our your nails can actually give away a lot about your health, and even warn you about conditions you may suffer from.

Here's everything you should look out for and what they mean.

Curved nails

Although curved nails can sometimes be hereditary and nothing to worry about, they can sometimes be a health warning.

If your nails start to feel spongy when pressed on this could be a sign of lung heart, liver or stomach disease.

Make sure you get them checked out by your GP if you notice this.

Spoon-shaped nails

If your nails dip in the middle like spoons do, this could be a sign that you've got an iron deficiency.

Soft, peeling nails

If your nails bend a little too easily, this could be down to a condition called hapalonychia.

The best bet to try and sort this out is to eat more protein.

Also vitamin D and A should be boosted through sun exposure, and three servings of oily fish a week as well as loads of green and orange veg.

White spots

One of the most well-known signs of a calcium deficiency is white spots on your nails, but according to Mavala's national trainer, Tracey Winder, they're actually caused by small air bubbles trapped between nail cells.

She told the Mail: "If you suffer, chances are it could be hereditary but can also be caused by other factors such as bad tissue nutrition, poor keratinization and trauma from an overzealous manicure,"

Dark line in nails

If you find a dark line through the centre of your nails you should get yourself to the GP as soon as possible, as it could potentially be a sign of skin cancer.

Melanoma is the most serious kind of skin cancer and it's linked to dark streaks in the nails, but this isn't the case every single time.