Signs That You Have Vitamin Deficiency (And How to Prevent Them)

Do you have vitamin deficiency? Indeed, even healthy eaters may miss the mark concerning key vitamins and minerals. Check whether you have any of these vitamin deficiency manifestations, then take our guidance on how to correct it.

Your Nails Are Fragile

When your body has low iron levels, you may look weak and pale. This may also manifest itself as brittle fingernails, or toenails or pale inner eyelids. Women with excessive menstrual bleeding are at a more serious risk for iron deficiency, as are vegetarian women.

If you are not yet in menopause, you require at least 18 milligrams (mg) or iron a day, and postmenopausal women require 8 mg. Your body best assimilates iron from animal sources, the type that is found in meat, poultry, and fish. Combine vegan sources of iron, like spinach or chickpeas, with citrus or other vitamin-C-containing foods to increase iron intake.

You Have High Blood Pressure

You may have a vitamin deficiency in vitamin D. Though just 3 percent of non-Hispanic whites are considered deficient, 31 percent of non-Hispanic blacks and 12 percent of Mexican-Americans don’t get enough. Fundamental research links a higher intake of this fat-soluble vitamin with lower blood pressure and individuals who get enough aren’t as liable to have hypertension.

Adults require 600 international units (IU) of vitamin D every day. This is one vitamin that is hard to get from food, as only few choices contain huge amounts. However, you can take swordfish, salmon, fortified milk, oranges, and mushrooms grown in sunlight. Supplementation in postmenopausal women and older men might be useful. Pick Vitamin D3 which is the active form of the vitamin.

You Have Low Blood Pressure

This is one of numerous manifestations of vitamin B12 deficiency. An absence of this water-soluble vitamin can influence the neurological framework, keeping the body from normally bringing blood pressure back up. Other indications of vitamin B12 deficiency include muscle incoordination and absence of bladder control.

Adults require 2.4 micrograms (mcg) every day. Great food sources incorporate clams, trout, salmon, and oats; meat, dairy, and eggs are also great sources. If go for the supplements, sublingual or under the tongue might be a good decision for older adults, who have difficulties in absorbing this vitamin due to lower levels of stomach acridity.

You Have Cramps

Your body needs the electrolyte potassium to create muscle and protein. A plunge in the levels of the mineral can cause muscle cramping, frequently showing up in the calf. Potassium insufficiency is occasionally caused by low intake from foods, but diarrhea, vomiting, dehydration and sweating are the more probable causes.

You require 4,700 mg of potassium every day, and food sources include sweet potatoes, bananas, avocados, and coconut water.

You Always Feel Tired

While scurvy, or vitamin C deficiency is found in historical books, deficiency of this vitamin that boosts immune resistance is found groups like smokers and individuals who are exposed to smoke. Truth be told, smokers have a three-times more risk of vitamin C insufficiency. Feeling tired constantly and irritability are symptoms that you may have low vitamin C levels.

Women require 75 mg of Vitamin C every day, and men require 90 mg. Smokers require an additional 35 mg every day. Citrus, melon, kiwi, pineapple, tomatoes, spinach, peppers, and broccoli are great sources.