Deficiency Symptoms: Lack of Vitamins and Minerals

Introduction

Vitamins and minerals are required in specific amounts by our bodies.

Deficiency diseases: A lack of one or more nutrients in our bodies for a prolonged period of time causes deficiency diseases. 

Vitamins can be of two types:

• Fat-soluble and 
• Water-soluble vitamins 

Fat-soluble Vitamins:

Animal products and fat-containing meals, such as milk, butter, vegetable oils, eggs, liver, and oily fish, include fat-soluble vitamins.

Our bodies can store fat-soluble vitamins, so we don’t need to consume them every day. Having more and more of these vitamins than we require might also be harmful.

Vitamins A, D, E, and K are the known Fat-soluble vitamins.

Vitamin A: It can be found in foods like cheese, eggs, fortified low-fat spreads, oily fish, milk and yoghurt.

Vitamin A (also known as retinol) has various important functions, including:

• Helping your body’s immune system to fight against diseases
• Maintaining a healthy skin
• Helping your vision in low light 

Deficiency and symptoms: Vitamin A deficiency can cause night blindness, a condition in which people’s ability to see in low light or darkness is impaired.  Vitamin A is required for the production of rhodopsin, a pigment found in the retinas of the eyes that helps night vision. Night blindness can lead to xerophthalmia, a disorder that damages the cornea and eventually causes blindness if left untreated.

Vitamin D: Our skin produces vitamin D from sunlight, and it can also be found in small amounts in some foods. Vitamin D helps in the regulation of calcium and phosphate levels in the body, which is essential for bone, tooth, and muscle health. 

Vitamin D comes from a variety of food sources like red meat, liver and kidney, fortified cereals, egg yolks, soya products and spreads.

Vitamin D has a hormone-like effect. It has receptors in many cells throughout your body. Your body produces vitamin D from cholesterol, when your skin is exposed to sunshine.

Vitamin D deficiency and its symptoms:

Vit-D deficiency causes rickets, a condition in which bone tissue fails to mineralize effectively, resulting in soft bones and skeletal abnormalities.

Deficiency of vitamin D has been associated with Cognitive impairment in older adults, increased risk of death due to cardiovascular disease, Severe asthma in children, Cancer.

Its symptoms are Fatigue, bone pain, muscle aches or muscle cramps, Mood changes or depression, Muscle weakness.

Vitamin E deficiency and its symptoms:

Vitamin E deficiency may cause diseases like chronic pancreatic, liver disease, cystic fibrosis.

Vitamin E deficiency symptoms may include muscle weakness, numbness and tingling, vision deterioration, coordination and walking difficulties 

Vitamin K deficiency and its symptoms:

Bleeding (haemorrhage) into the skin (producing bruises), from the nose, from a cut, in the stomach, or in the intestine is the most common symptom of vitamin K deficiency. 

Because clotting factors are produced in the liver, having a liver disorder raises the risk of bleeding. Vitamin K insufficiency can also cause bone deterioration.

Water-soluble vitamins:

Fruit, vegetables, milk, cheese, and grains are all good sources of water-soluble vitamins. Heat or exposure to air can both kill them. When cooking, they can also get lost in water, especially when boiling food. Water-soluble vitamins can be preserved by steaming or grilling, as well as using cooking water to flavour soups and stews.

Because water-soluble vitamins are not stored in the body, we must consume them frequently.

Examples of water-soluble vitamins are Vitamin C and the B vitamins.

The following are the different B – vitamins required:

Thiamin – also called as vitamin B1

Riboflavin – for vitamin B2

Niacin or vitamin B3

Vitamin- B6

Folic acid – vitamin B9

Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 deficiency and its symptoms:

Vitamin B12 is not found in plants, grains or fruits naturally. If you’re a vegan, you should consider taking a B vitamin supplement to help prevent anaemia caused by vitamin B12 deficiency.

Symptoms include: a pale-yellow tinge to your skin, mouth ulcers, disturbed vision, irritability, a decline in your mental abilities, such as memory, understanding and judgement (dementia), a sore and red tongue

Minerals:

Some minerals are necessary in large quantities, while others are only required in trace amounts. As a result, minerals in diet are divided into two categories based on the body’s needs.

• Macronutrients
• Micronutrients

These minerals are found in foods like: Meat, Fish, fruit and vegetables, milk and dairy foods, cereals, nuts

Minerals are required to help us in three major processes:

• Strengthen your teeth and bones.
• Transform the food that we eat into energy.
• Control the flow of bodily fluids both inside and outside of cells.

Macronutrients: Macro minerals are the minerals that are required in large quantities by the body. Hence, they are also known as major minerals or essential nutrients.

Calcium, Sodium, chloride, potassium, magnesium phosphorus, and sulphur are examples of macro minerals. These minerals are necessary for the body’s proper functioning and metabolism. These minerals are not produced by our bodies; thus, they must be taken from food.

A deficiency of these minerals in the body may lead to serious health consequences. Goitre and other hormonal abnormalities are caused by a lack of iodine, while hyponatremia is caused by a lack of sodium.

Calcium insufficiency, for example, weakens the skeletal system, increasing the risk of fractures.

Micronutrients:

These minerals, often known as trace minerals, are required in minute amounts.

So, they are also known as minor minerals or non- essential nutrients. Iron, iodine, copper, manganese, zinc, fluoride, cobalt, and selenium are all trace minerals.

Iron deficiency causes anaemia, a disorder in which the blood lacks the healthy red blood cells needed to transport oxygen, resulting in death.