It is known that fingernails grow faster than toenails. Now, a new study says that the growth of both has surged by 25 per cent in the past 70 years — thanks to the modern protein-rich diet.
A team at University of North Carolina has based its findings on an analysis of a comparison of two researches, one carried out by Oxford University in 1938 and the other carried out in the 1950s, the ‘Daily Mail’ reported.
The study has revealed that big toenails now grow by more than 2 mm a month, compared with 1.65 mm in the Thirties.
Thumbnail growth rate was 3 mm a month in 1938 and 3.06 mm in the Fifties study. However, the average thumbnail now grows by 3.55 mm a month — an increase of more than half a millimetre over seven decades, it found.
According to researchers, “A rapid change in the environment, lifestyle and health conditions — such as diet, physical activity and body composition — has occurred over the past 30 years.
“Increasing trends in adolescent and adult height, birth-weight and rate of growth have been reported. Our results indicate that there may be an increased trend in fingernail and toenail growth rate as well.”
In fact, in their study, the researchers monitored 195 fingernails and 188 toenails over a period of three months to come to the conclusion.
The results found fingernails now grow by 3.47 mm every month — almost twice as fast as toenails. The nails of younger people and men grow faster. The little finger nail grows more slowly than other fingernails at a rate of 3.08 mm each month. The middle finger has fastest -growing nail.
The findings have been published in the ‘Journal Of The European Academy Of Dermatology And Venereology.’