A mineral or vitamin deficiency cause health problems when your nutrient levels are too low. Not receiving enough vital nutrients could cause long-term symptoms and health issues. Knowing what deficiencies you have and how to prevent them is essential to staying healthy and avoiding more serious illnesses and symptoms.
Symptoms of Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency
Symptoms of nutrient deficiency occur when your normal bodily processes are not running as efficiently as they should. Symptoms of these deficiencies can often go unnoticed as some deficiencies will happen gradually and symptoms may seem minor.
Common symptoms of vitamin deficiency include:
- Fatigue, low energy
- Loss of bone density
- Poor night vision
- Dry skin and hair
- Depression
- Irritability
- Easy bruising or bleeding
- Bleeding gums
- Poor wound healing (sores that last for a long time)
- Predisposition to infections
- Skin color changes (usually small, flat, light patches on your skin)
Common Causes of Vitamin & Mineral Deficiencies
The most common cause of vitamin and mineral deficiencies is not eating the right foods. Finding foods that are sources of essential nutrients is the easiest and most straightforward way to encourage intake and prevent vitamin and mineral deficiency.
People with dietary restrictions and allergies may struggle to find enough sources of the individual vitamins and minerals to intake sufficient amounts. Vegans and vegetarians may choose to take vitamin supplements to bridge the gap in the nutrients their diet may lack.
Malabsorption occurs when the intestines do not absorb nutrients properly and can cause vitamin and mineral deficiencies even if you are eating the right foods. In more severe cases, malabsorption is caused by gastrointestinal disorders such as Crohn’s disease, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and celiac disease. In these cases, no additional amount of food or supplements can make up for the deficiency and you should speak to your doctor about the causes, symptoms, and possible treatments available.
Vitamin and mineral deficiencies from poor diet variety or malabsorption share many common symptoms. However, symptoms can be general or specific to the vitamin or mineral they lack.
Some prevalent deficiencies include:
- Magnesium Deficiency
- Iron Deficiency
- Vitamin D Deficiency
- Vitamin B Deficiency
- Vitamin C Deficiency
- Vitamin K Deficiency
- Vitamin A Deficiency
- Vitamin E Deficiency
If you believe you are experiencing symptoms of vitamin deficiency or simply would like to know how you can support your body better, a vitamin and mineral deficiency test is available to you with Track Your Max. This can help you find out if your diet is supporting your body composition and health goals as well as inform you of any deficiencies so you can add food variety or supplements to your diet.
The physicians and consultants at Track Your Max in Webster, TX dedicate themselves to providing essential services to people who are taking their health seriously. Our team of professionals can help provide you with data and an understanding of your own body. Our doctors will help you improve your selfcare or refer you to the correct healthcare provider to meet your needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Blood tests provide an easy and quick way of detecting nutritional deficits like vitamin deficiency. By measuring levels of essential nutrients in one’s system, these blood tests can detect different micronutrient deficiencies – including vitamin deficiency.
Yes.Vitamins and micronutrients play a pivotal role in almost every metabolic process in your body and are essential to your wellbeing. Testing for vitamin deficiency should be part of any risk analysis; by supplementing to avoid serious deficiency symptoms based on its results.
Take an at-home vitamin deficiency test or consult with your primary care provider about having one done at the clinic.
If your vitamin deficiency test results reveal low nutrient blood levels, speaking to your physician about supplementing is advised. Altering your diet by increasing consumption of foods rich in certain vitamins could also help.
We suggest doing so annually or biannually for optimal performance.
There’s no set rule about when or if to conduct a vitamin levels test, so consult your physician about determining the appropriate frequency for testing your vitamin levels. If a deficiency has already been identified, regular testing might be beneficial.
A vitamin profile includes multiple tests, so your physician will likely provide all of the instructions. A few basic and common steps go as follows:
Fasting for 12 to 14 hours prior to any test and abstaining from drinking alcohol or smoking before the test are both key components in preparation. Furthermore, informing your physician of all current medications and dietary supplements taken is also very helpful.
Blood samples for vitamin tests should typically be collected first thing in the morning before eating breakfast or taking medications.
A vitamin profile test is also known by various names based on individual components being tested, such as 25-hydroxyvitamin D test or Vitamin D assay test and Vitamin B12/Active Vitamin B12 or Holotranscobalamin. Ionized Calcium and Magnesium testing can also be a part of the test -.while they are not vitamins, they are important micronutrients that are required for healthy functioning of the body, very similar to vitamins.
An all-vitamin test is a blood test typically ordered by your physician that allows lab technicians to take blood samples and check any deficiencies or excesses of vitamins in your body, and report the results back. Based on those results, your physician can then advise what steps should be taken next.
Some telltale signs of vitamin deficiency include:fatigue, inability to sleep soundly, bone pain/achiness, depression/feeling down all the time, hair loss/weakness in muscles/loss of appetite/recurring illness and pale skin are some symptoms that should not be overlooked when looking for symptoms of fatigue and unrest.
Vitamin D and B12 deficiencies can be treated by eating nutritious food such as beef liver, chicken breast, fortified breakfast cereals with added vitamins like trout salmon tuna fish clams as well as low-fat milk yogurt cheese eggs to increase vitamin levels in our bodies. When considering this course of action it is advisable to first consult with a healthcare professional and obtain an exhaustive vitamin profile test from them as this could aid further advancement.