- Did you know that your gums, skin, nails and hair share a similar structure?
- Are there components in your diet which are good for all the four of them?
- Have you noticed that usually all the four of them are affected together?
- Are you aware that gum health is equal to gut health?
In answer to all the above questions, this article will try to highlight the fact that the four important mirrors of health-gums, skin, hair and nails are interconnected.
- The common component in their structure is keratin. Keratin is a protein. So, if there is a deficiency of protein in your diet all of them will suffer. Bleeding gums, acne, brittle hair, mottled nails are what you notice. All these can be seen also if you have disorders that affect your digestion like diabetes, high blood pressure, indigestion. Since your oral cavity continues as gut inside your body, lack of health of any part of the digestive system will show up as bad gum health sometimes in the form of bad breath or halitosis. If the probiotic bacteria in your gut suffer due to lack of healthy diet, it affects your gum health and your skin(acne).
- Vitamin C is another component of your diet which makes a lot of difference to the health of gums, skin, hair, and nails. It is an antioxidant which keeps a lot of activities going on to maintain the health of all of the above. Another component is Vitamin E which is also an antioxidant. A diet rich in all of the above needs to be consumed like almonds, citrus fruits, walnuts, flaxseeds, green leafy vegetables. Supplements work in case there is a limitation of diet due to various reasons.
I have observed that people who don't consume home made food are the ones affected like those in IT, field jobs, travel related jobs etc. Even those eating homemade food can be affected if job stress is very high. For such people, supplements from organic sources following GMP and quality checks are a good alternative but they need to be taken by consulting nutrition background professionals.