Spoiler: it’s got very little to do with a calcium deficiency.

If you, like me, have lived your life so far being completely baffled about why you get white marks on your fingernails occasionally despite having milk in your cereal every morning, then we’re about to solve the mystery.

Because while most people have always been told that these white spots mean you’re not taking in enough calcium, it turns out that’s not necessarily the case. So all those pints of milk I’ve downed in an attempt to clear my nails are a complete waste of time, then?

Although in some cases the white spots ​might ​indicate a deficiency in your diet, there’s actually a much more common and simple explanation: you’ve bumped your nail on something.

As Youtube channel SciShow​ explains in the video below, the scientific term for the white lines is ‘punctate leokonychia’, which is a bit of a mouthful so I think I’ll stick with ‘milk spots’, thanks. These milk spots most commonly seem to arrive following ‘trauma’ to the nail, which can actually be so minimal you don’t even remember it happening, the sensitive little things.

By Catriona Harvey-Jenner