title: Vitamins and minerals: their role in nail health and disease.
abstract: Nail health and appearance are global concerns. We investigated the use of biotin vitamin E, alpha-tocopherol, vitamin C (ascorbic acid), vitamin A, retinoids, retinol, retinal, silicon, zinc, iron, copper, selenium, and vitamin B12 (Cyanocobalamin) in nail health and disease. The evidence that we adduce in this paper suggests that: 1) proper nail care seems to help maintain nail health; 2) no evidence supports the use of vitamin supplementation with vitamin E, vitamin C (ascorbic acid), vitamin A, retinoids, retinol, retinal, silicon, zinc, iron, copper, selenium, or vitamin B12 (Cyanocobalamin) for improving the nail health of well-nourished patients or improving the appearance of nails affected by pathologic disease; and 3) brittle nail syndrome appears to abate with supplementation with a 2.5-mg dose of biotin daily or a 10-mg dose of silicon daily, a useful form of which is choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Columbia University Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY, USA. Scheinfeld@earthlink.net
authors.forename: Noah
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Scheinfeld
authors.forename: Maurice J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Dahdah
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Scher
mesh_terms: D001710:Biotin / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008903:Minerals / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009260:Nail Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D009262:Nails / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D012825:Silicon / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014815:Vitamins / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000502:physiology / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D008903:Minerals; D014815:Vitamins; D001710:Biotin; D012825:Silicon