Vitamin deficiency: Symptoms and Causes

Vitamins are a type of micronutrients which have extreme essentialities for the body. There are mainly 13 vitamins, and each of them are necessary for the body organs to function properly on a daily basis. And lack of these crucial vitamins can cause serious complications to the body. In fact the lack of vitamins in the body is identified as vitamin deficiency. 

Vitamin deficiency is a very common health concern these days that millions of people are suffering from. You can develop vitamin deficiency because of low vitamin intakes and certain medical conditions. The effects of vitamin deficiency on the body can be very hazardous. 

10 primary effects of lack of vitamins are: 

Shortness of breath: Lack of vitamin B12 interrupts the production of red blood cells in the body. This causes complications in the transportation of oxygen throughout the body, which results in shortness of breath during regular activities. 

Tingling sensation in fingers and toes: Vitamin deficiency has an effect on the nervous system, mainly on the nerve endings which leads to the tingling sensation in fingers and toes. 

Numbness on hands and feet: Vitamin B12 helps to maintain the nervous system of our body, and lack of this vitamin can reduce the function of nerves in the body. Hence, you may feel numbness or less sensation on the hands and feet. 

Vision problems: Vitamin A is very crucial for the protection of light sensing cells of the eyes. Lack of this vitamin may cause vision problems and even blindness in the long run. 

Poor memory: Deficiency of vitamin D and B12 hugely impact the brain’s memory recalling ability, which can cause memory loss and even Alzheimer’s disease. 

Bleeding gums: Bleeding gum is a quite common problem that is caused by rough brushing techniques. However, lack of vitamin C can cause bleeding gum issues. Vitamin C deficiency can also cause tooth loss in severe cases. 

Mouth ulcer: Studies have found that mouth ulcers are the result of lack of vitamin B and iron in the body.

Brittle nails and hair: There are multiple reasons behind fragile nails and hair, and one of the reasons is lack of vitamin B7 which is widely known as biotin. Biotin mainly helps in strengthening hair and nails. 

Hair fall: Hair fall or hair loss is one of the common symptoms of vitamin deficiency. Niacin and biotin are extremely important for the growth and strength of hair. 

Poor wound healing: Multiple vitamins help in the wound healing process. Low levels of vitamin A, B, C, and D can cause slow wound healing.  

What are the causes of vitamin deficiency? 

Poor diet: As our body naturally does not produce vitamins, we derive them from the food we eat on a everyday basis. Our diet must consist of several vitamin enriched foods. People who are vegetarian can develop vitamin B12 and biotin deficiency, as meat is highly rich in these vitamins. 

Lack of sunlight: Vitamin D is extremely important to keep our teeth, bones and muscles strong. You can have vitamin D from different dietary items such as eggs, seafood, and dairy products. However, sunlight is one of the main sources of vitamin D. Lack of exposure to the sunlight can lead to vitamin D deficiency, which can cause tooth loss, loss of bone density and osteoporosis. 

Medical condition: Certain medical conditions can cause trouble for your body to metabolize or absorb important vitamins. This can cause vitamin D deficiency in the long run. Chronic liver disease, kidney disease, diarrhea, inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn’s disease, gastric bypass can affect your body’s ability to absorb vitamins. 

Smoking: Many studies have found that the chances of getting biotin, niacin, and vitamin D deficiency are higher in heavy smokers. 

Alcohol use disorder: Too much consumption of alcohol can damage your digestive system. And a damaged digestive system can impact your body’s capability of synthesizing vitamin B12.

Certain medicines: Certain medicines including cholesterol lowering medicines and steroids can restrict your body to absorb vitamins completely. 

Pernicious anemia: Pernicious anemia disease is one of a kind of autoimmune disease which affects our intestine causing decreased absorption of vitamin 12. This leads to deficient measures of healthy red blood cells.   

These are the five common reasons for vitamin deficiency. However, if you are having any symptoms of vitamin deficiency then you should consult your general health care provider as soon as possible. Untreated vitamin deficiency can harmfully affect your body organs in the long run. The diagnosis of vitamin deficiency is usually not included in a routine health checkup. To diagnose any type of vitamin deficiency, your doctor would ask you about your symptoms and then would suggest you take a vitamin profile test. A complete vitamin profile test will help evaluate different vitamin levels in your body. Vitamin test price is quite reasonable. Call your nearest diagnostic center to know the vitamin test cost.  

After the diagnosis of vitamin deficiency, your doctor will give you medicines based upon which vitamin deficiency you have. Along with the medicines, you have to add vitamin enriched foods on your everyday diet. To treat vitamin deficiency you have to eat a lot of fresh vegetables, fruits, eggs, milk, fish, seafood, and red meat. Also, it is important to avoid smoking and drinking alcohol for a healthy living.