Brittle Nails

Brittle nails rarely have a single cause. Brittle nails are a diagnostic signal of internal nutritional deficiency or metabolic dysfunction, not primarily a cosmetic problem. High sugar consumption functionally creates vitamin C deficiency even when dietary intake is adequate, because glucose and vitamin C compete for the same cellular transporters. The nutritional deficiency manifesting as brittle nails typically also affects the immune, endocrine, and reproductive systems. Different nail abnormalities — brittle, slow-growing, ridged — each point to different underlying problems.