This One Video Could Save MILLIONS of Lives!
Dr. Berg’s Healthy Keto and Intermittent Fasting Podcast
Dr. Eric Berg
4.6 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 11 March 2025
⏱️ 7 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Do you have vertical ridges on your fingernails? Don’t treat the symptom without determining the root cause! In this video, we’ll discuss some potential causes of nail ridges to help you address the problem instead of covering it up.
Vertical ridges on nails are typically caused by one of 3 nutrient deficiencies:
1. Iron deficiency
2. Zinc deficiency
3. Biotin deficiency
To determine which nutrient deficiency is causing the vertical ridges on your nails, first, look at your other symptoms. If you have an iron deficiency, you may also experience heavy menstruation and symptoms of anemia.
Some people have a genetic problem that causes too much iron. Even with too much iron, you can become anemic because the iron in your body is dysfunctional. Liver problems and blood tests pinpointing a problem with iron could mean your nail ridges are caused by an iron deficiency.
Cravings for ice or dirt and feeling cold with cold feet and hands can also signify iron deficiency.
If zinc deficiency is behind your nail ridges, you may notice frequent illnesses, or it may take you a while to recover after getting sick. Other zinc deficiency symptoms include:
•Low testosterone
•Libido issues
•Erectile dysfunction
•Loss of muscle mass
•Night blindness
•Alopecia
•Inflammation of the skin
Most of your biotin is made by your microbes, so a history of antibiotic use can contribute to biotin deficiency. Biotin deficiency symptoms include brittle hair, thin nails, neurological problems, and peripheral neuropathy.
Biotin, zinc, and iron control collagen. A deficiency in either of these nutrients can cause vertical lines on the nails. Once you identify which nutrient you are most likely deficient in, you can increase your intake of certain foods or supplements to fix the problem.
Grass-fed liver pills or spleen extract pills are the best option for an iron deficiency. To increase zinc, consume more shellfish, oysters, and grass-fed beef. If you choose to take a supplement for zinc, take 50 grams in a blend with other trace minerals, including copper.
If you have a biotin deficiency, try increasing your biotin with a supplement. Take a good probiotic to support gut health, which will naturally help increase biotin.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Unfortunately, in the medical profession, they don't do this. They don't look deeper. |
| 0:04.1 | Basically, I'm taking one symptom and I'm going to show you how I find out what's underneath |
| 0:08.8 | the symptom because you never want to just treat the symptom without finding the root cause. |
| 0:12.9 | For example, the ridges on the nail are the tip of the iceberg. They don't ask, |
| 0:16.5 | why do I have ridges on my nails? There are several connections between ridge nails and a nutrient deficiency. |
| 0:23.8 | You have to kind of know the potential causes. But the question is, how do we know which one of those |
| 0:29.1 | potential causes is the cause? There's really only three deficiencies that are going to create |
| 0:34.1 | the vertical ridges. Number one, an iron deficiency. Number two, a zinc deficiency. |
| 0:40.9 | And number three, a biotin deficiency. Biotin is a B vitamin. Basically, what I do with to figure this out |
| 0:47.0 | is I will start with iron and I'm going to ask them questions to find out if they are iron deficient |
| 0:54.0 | and if that's the problem. If they're a |
| 0:56.0 | female, are you menstruating too much? Do you have symptoms of anemia? Like, are you tired a lot? |
| 1:01.9 | Did they get weak easily? Of course, I'll get into the diet too. Are they a vegan? Because |
| 1:06.6 | vegans never eat red meat and red meat is loaded with iron and when you consume plants like |
| 1:12.5 | spinach there's iron in there but it's not very bile available. I also know that someone could |
| 1:17.0 | actually have a genetic problem with iron where they have too much iron. This is interesting because |
| 1:22.6 | if they have too much iron, they're also going to be anemic because it's dysfunctional. |
| 1:27.3 | Ask them questions |
| 1:28.4 | about their liver. Do they have a history of cirrhosis of the liver? Do they feel better when they |
| 1:33.1 | donate blood? Have you ever had a genetic test where they said something about iron? I'm looking |
| 1:37.3 | for an iron deficiency or an iron excess. I might ask a question like, do you crave ice? And even people that crave dirt are deficient in iron. And then I also might ask a question like, do you crave ice and even people that crave dirt are deficient in iron? |
| 1:47.1 | And then I also might ask them, are they cold? Do they have cold feet, cold hands? |
... |
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