Effects of Mineral Deficiencies on Your Health

EFFECTS OF MINERAL DEFICIENCY ON YOUR HEALTH

Minerals are one of the many nutrients that your body needs for disease prevention and overall wellbeing. Your body does not produce minerals, so you have to get them from your diet.

Your body only needs tiny amounts of minerals. But inadequate amounts can have serious, sometimes life-threatening, effects on your health – including increased risk of some diseases. The lack can also cause mild symptoms like poor energy level, productivity, and mental fogginess. So, you cannot underestimate the importance of consuming enough minerals.

Causes of Mineral Deficiency

The most common cause is not getting enough from your diet or supplements. Some diets can even put you at higher risk. Common causes/risk factors include:

• Junk-based diet or one that does not include appropriate mineral-rich foods.
• A low-calorie diet including some weight-loss plans or eating disorders.
• Old age, because older adults generally have poor appetites. So they may not get enough nutrients from their diet.
• Vegetarians, vegans, and people with particular food allergies might experience mineral deficiency if they do not manage their diet effectively.
• Digestion or absorption problems due to:
  • Chronic alcoholism.
  • Digestive tract surgery, such as stomach removal.
  • Medications like diuretics, laxatives, antacids, and antibiotics.
  • Diseases of the intestine, liver, kidney, pancreas, or gallbladder.
• Increased requirement of certain minerals. For instance, women need more iron when they are pregnant, menstruating, or post-menopausal.

Common Types of Mineral Deficiencies

The health effect of mineral deficiency depends on the missing mineral.

Calcium Deficiency

Calcium plays vital roles in:

• Development and maintenance of strong bones and teeth.
• Proper functioning of your heart, muscles, nerves, and blood vessels.

Most adults need 1000 mg of calcium daily. But women over 50 and men over 70 need 1200 mg. You can get calcium from boned fishes, beans, dairy products, dark leafy vegetables, and calcium-fortified products like cereals and juices.

The amount of calcium in your blood is very controlled, and your body stores any excess calcium in your bones. So, if you become calcium deficient, your bones will release some of the stored calcium. Hence, you may not see a lot of symptoms at the beginning. However, long-term deficiency causes your body to take more calcium from your bones, leaving you with soft and brittle bones. This is why the most common symptom of calcium deficiency is rickets (in children) and osteoporosis (in adults). Both of which increase the risk of fracture, especially in older adults.

Symptoms of severe calcium deficiency include:

• Muscle cramps
• Numbness and tingling fingers
• Fatigue and poor appetite
• Irregular heart rhythms

Iron Deficiency

Dietary Iron is essential for hemoglobin production – hemoglobin is a protein that delivers oxygen to your tissues. Iron is also a part of some proteins and enzymes that your body needs to be healthy. There are 2 types of dietary iron:

• Heme iron. This is very well absorbed and is only found in animal foods. Red meat is especially rich in this type of iron. Other excellent sources include organ meat like liver, shellfish like clams and oysters, and canned sardines.
• Non-heme iron. It is more common and is found in both animal and plant foods. It is not as easily absorbed as heme iron. Rich sources of non-heme iron include beans, seeds like pumpkin and sesame, and dark leafy vegetables.

Iron deficiency is one of the most common mineral deficiencies globally. It affects over 25% of the world’s population. The deficiency usually develops slowly and can result in anemia, making you tired and out of breath, even after minimal physical exertion. Certain groups of people are more prone to iron deficiency, including:

• Children. It can impair their social and cognitive development.
• Women. It affects about 3% of menstruating women because of the monthly blood loss. It also affects up to 42% of young pregnant women as their requirement is higher. Iron deficiency anemia during pregnancy increases the risk of death for the mother and low birth weight for the infant.
• Vegetarians and vegans because they predominantly consume non-heme iron, which is poorly absorbed.

Adult men and women over 50 need 8 mg of iron daily, and adult women below 50 need 18 mg daily. Iron deficiency can produce symptoms like weakness, impaired immunity, and decreased brain function.

Vitamin C improves iron absorption. So eating vitamin C-rich foods like oranges, bell peppers, and kale with iron-rich foods can help maximize your iron absorption.

Caution: You must not supplement with iron unless you really need it. This is because excessive iron can harm you.

Iodine Deficiency

Iodine is essential for normal thyroid function and the production of thyroid hormones. Thyroid hormones are involved in vital processes like growth, bone maintenance, and brain development. Thyroid hormones also control your metabolic rate. Iodine is also essential in pregnancy and infancy for healthy growth and cognitive development in the child.

Most adults need 150 micrograms of iodine per day. And some good sources include fish, eggs, dairy products, and seaweed.

The most common symptom of this deficiency is goiter – enlarged thyroid gland. It can also cause weight gain, shortness of breath, and increased heart rate. Severe deficiency can also cause serious harm in children, resulting in intellectual disability and developmental abnormalities.

Iodine deficiency is one of the most common mineral deficiencies; it affects nearly a third of the world’s population. Fortunately, some countries have made fortifying table salt with iodine mandatory. This has significantly reduced the incidence of iodine deficiency. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, about 86% of households worldwide now consume iodized salt.

Magnesium Deficiency

Magnesium controls many of your body functions, including:

• Brain, muscle, and nerve function.
• Bone and teeth structure.
• Over 3 enzyme reactions
• Blood pressure and glucose levels.
• Protein production and Energy metabolism.

Adults typically need between 310 and 420 mg daily. And some magnesium-rich foods include nuts, seeds, dark chocolate, whole grains, dark green leafy vegetables, and legumes.

Though magnesium deficiency is not common in healthy people, certain chronic diseases and medications can trigger it. Low dietary intake and absorption problems can also result in magnesium deficiency. According to some studies, low magnesium levels are prevalent among hospitalized patients – it affects up to 65% of hospitalized patients.

Mild deficiency can cause symptoms like poor appetite, fatigue, nausea, and vomiting. But in the severe form, it can lead to numbness, tingling extremities, migraines, restless leg syndrome, muscle cramps, seizures, and abnormal heart rhythms. Long-term deficiency can cause serious symptoms that may go unnoticed, like high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart failure, and osteoporosis.

Potassium Deficiency

Potassium is essential for proper muscle contraction, heart function, and nerve transmission. Some enzymes also need it to function, including the enzyme responsible for turning carbohydrates into energy.

Adult men need 3400 mg daily, and women need 2600 mg. Fruits and vegetables like bananas, plums, beets, green leafy vegetables, avocado, and potatoes are excellent sources of potassium. Orange juice and nuts are also rich in potassium.

Excessive fluid loss is the most common cause of potassium deficiency. So prolonged vomiting, kidney dysfunction, medications like diuretics can cause it.

Some symptoms of potassium deficiency include weakness, muscle cramps, constipation, bloating, and abdominal pain. Severe deficiency can also cause muscle paralysis or irregular heart rhythms that may result in death.

Zinc Deficiency

This mineral plays a role in many areas of your body’s metabolism, including wound healing, protein, and DNA synthesis. It also supports proper growth and development during pregnancy, childhood, and adolescence. Zinc has also been shown to promote immune functions. So, it can help you resist infectious diseases like diarrhea and pneumonia.

Adult men need 11 mg daily, and women require 8 mg daily. Good sources of zinc include red meat, poultry, dairy products, whole grains, beans, nuts, and seafood like oysters.

Zinc deficiency can impair your immunity making you more prone to infections like diarrhea. It also slows down children’s growth and can cause loss of taste, smell, and appetite.

Managing Mineral Deficiency

The approach depends on the type, severity, and cause of the deficiency. Though diet modification and supplements can help address many mineral deficiencies, you should consult a healthcare professional to know the best course of action. They can also help you manage any underlying medical condition.

Diet Modification

Changing your eating habits can help if you have a minor deficiency. Simply eat more foods rich in that mineral. However, you may need to see a registered dietitian if your deficiency is severe.

Supplements

Dietary modification alone may not be enough to treat certain mineral deficiencies. So, taking a multivitamin or mineral supplement may be required in such cases. You must follow the prescriber’s instructions as excessive intake of certain supplements can be harmful to you.

Summary

Similar to many other health issues, the prevention of mineral deficiencies is the best approach. You can achieve this by eating a balanced diet containing whole, mineral-rich foods. However, if you cannot obtain enough minerals from your diet alone, supplements can be beneficial.

[ The following is the full transcript from this week's post. This is a health blog with a focus on weight loss. Please consider that all episodes are unscripted, direct to the camera, with focused talking points. ]

Today I want to talk to you about the effects of mineral deficiency.

Minerals are one of many nutrients your body needs to prevent disease and to really operate at its most efficient state.

But the thing about minerals is your body does not produce minerals at all, so you have to get them through your diet.

Your body really only needs a small number of minerals. But if you have an inadequate amount of certain minerals, you can have very serious and sometimes even life-threatening effects on your health.

Lack of minerals can lead to low energy levels and productivity problems. You really cannot underestimate the importance of minerals.

What are some of the causes of mineral deficiencies? Well, the most common cause, you are just not

So common causes or risk factors would be, your diets really junk based. If ever, you are really not eating healthy foods. Another risk is, if you are on a low-calorie diet, so if you do a weight loss plan or something like that. Or if you have an eating disorder, that puts you at risk.

As we get older, we often have a decrease in our appetite.

So older people are more at risk of nutrient deficiencies since they are not eating enough. Various kinds of diets are vegetarian or vegan, or if you have particular food allergies. You may be inefficient and uncertain of your mineral levels, just because you are not eating items that are required.

Then if you have digestion or absorption problems, it also increased the risk of mineral deficiencies, like alcoholism. If you have had digestive tract surgery switches, part of your small bowel removed, certain medications, diuretics, laxatives, antacids, antibiotics, all effective absorption.

Then diseases dealing with: Kidney, pancreas, gallbladder. That is also going to affect your absorption.

Then you may have an increased requirement of certain minerals.

For instance, women need more iron when they are pregnant administratively. It is also what kind of state you are living in, what minerals are needed, and how much should we do?

What are some common types of mineral deficiencies? The health effects are going to be dependent on really what is missing in the mineral or what mineral is missing, let us begin with calcium, so calcium deficiency.

Calcium plays a vital role in the development and maintenance of strong bones and teeth. Also plays vital roles for the proper function of heart, muscle, and nerves.

Most adults need around 1000 milligrams of calcium, the women over 50 and men over 70 actually be more around 1200 milligrams of calcium.

Calcium is obtained through bonefish, plants, dairy products, dark leafy vegetables, and calcium byproducts like cereal fixes.

Now, the amount of calcium in your blood is very well controlled. Your body stores any excess calcium in your bone, so if you become calcium deficient. Your bones are going to release this calcium.

You are not going to really see a lot of symptoms because the calcium level, is maintained by the bones. However, long-term deficiency, means your calcium in the bones will be low, leading to softer, brittle bones.

This is why the most common symptom of calcium deficiency is something called rickets in children, osteoporosis in adults really increased the risk of fractures because we weakened the bones.

Other symptoms of severe calcium deficiency are muscle cramps, numbness, tingling, fatigue, and poor appetite, irregular heart, brilliant, Gaussian is very important.

The next mineral is Iron.

Dietary iron, which is essential for hemoglobin production. Hemoglobin is a protein that delivers oxygen to your tissues. So, iron is also a part of the proteins and enzymes your body needs to be healthy.

There's kind of two types of dietary iron there is what is called Heme iron. This is very well absorbed by the body and is really only found in animal. Type foods are foods that are based on animals. So red meat is especially rich in this type of iron. Other excellent sources in organ meat like liver. Or Fish like clams and oysters and then can salvage lawsuit the source of the Heme iron.

Now the other type of iron is non-Heme iron. This is more comment, found in both animal and plant food, plant-based food, but it is not easily absorbed as much as they are. Also, good sources of the non-heme iron beans, seeds, like pumpkin, sesame, then dark.

Iron deficiency is one of the most common mineral deficiencies. It really affects over 25% of the world's population. The deficiency usually develops slowly, starts to make you tired out of breath. You know, minimal exertion.

However, there are certain groups of people that are more prone. This includes children, which will impair their social-cognitive development.

Woman it affects about 30% of menstruating women because of blood loss.

It also affects up to about 42% of young pregnant women. That is their requirements increase.

Another risk group is that parents are vegans because a predominant non-Heme iron, which I said is important. Adult men and women over 50 need 8 mg of iron daily, and adult women below 50 need 18 mg daily. Iron deficiency can produce symptoms like weakness, impaired immunity, and decreased brain function.

Interestingly, Vitamin C actually improves iron function.

So, eating vitamin C-rich foods with other iron-rich foods helps maximize your works.

Here is a little bit of a word of caution as we talk about these, both of these minerals are not all, you can find the supplement form. I will talk a little bit more about that.

Specific iron, you must be extremely cautious, and really do not take supplements of iron unless you really need it.

That is because excessive iron can be detrimental, so just because it is something that sold over the counter, we want you to know, it does not necessarily mean it is not with potential harmful side effects.

The next thing I want to talk about is iodine deficiency.

Iodine is essential for normal thyroid function and the production of thyroid hormones. Thyroid hormones. are involved in vital processes like growth, bone maintenance, and brain development. Thyroid hormones also control your metabolic rate.

Iodine is also essential in pregnancy, for the healthy growth and cognitive development of children.

Most adults need about 150 micrograms per day. Some good sources include fish, a dairy product, and seaweed.

The most common symptom of Iodine deficiency is a boiler that is really just enlarged thyroid, or iodine deficiency can cause weight gain, shortness of breath, increased heart rate. and severe deficiencies can also cause serious harm to children, and really result in intellectual disability, or developmental abnormality.

Iron deficiency is one of the most common mineral deficiencies that affects nearly a third of the world's population.

Fortunately, there are many countries that have made fortify table salt with iodine mandatory. This has significantly reduced the incidence of iodine deficiency.

So according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 86% of households worldwide now are consuming, iodized salt.

Magnesium controls, many of your body's functions of the brain, muscle, and nerve function. Bone and teeth structure, blood pressure and glucose levels, protein production, and energy metabolism. In fact, there is over 300 enzymatic reactions require magnesium to function.

Adults typically made between, 310, 420 milligrams daily.  Some magnesium-rich foods include nuts, seeds, dark chocolate, whole grains. dark green, leafy vegetables, and legumes.

Although magnesium deficiency is not common in healthy people, there are chronic diseases where really is prevalent. And there are certain medications that trigger.

So low dietary intake and absorption problems can also dissolve the magnesium deficiency.

So according to some studies, well magnesium levels are prevalent among high hospital patients, and in fact, it can affect up to 65% of hospitalized patients. Mild deficiency can cause symptoms like poor appetite, fatigue, nausea, and vomiting.

But in the severe forms of numbness, tingling extremity, migraines, restless leg syndrome, muscle cramps, seizures, and abnormal heart ratings for heart rhythm.

So long, long term deficiency can cause serious symptoms that go unnoticed such as high blood pressure, type two diabetes, heart failure in osteoporosis.

A magnesium supplement is very important to us.

The next mineral I want to talk about is potassium and potassium deficiency.

Potassium is essential for proper muscle traction, heart function, and nerve transmission. Some enzymes also need to function such as ones responsible for turning carbohydrates into energy. Adult men need 3400 mg daily, and women need 2600 mg.

Fruits and vegetables like bananas, plums, beets, green leafy vegetables, avocado, and potatoes are excellent sources of potassium. Orange juice and nuts are also rich in potassium.

Excessive fluid loss is actually the most common cause of potassium deficiency.

So, prolonged vomiting, kidney dysfunction, medication like diuretics, all cause, potassium deficiency.

Some symptoms of potassium deficiency include weakness, muscle cramps, constipation, vomiting, and abdominal pain. A severe deficiency can cause muscle paralysis or irregular heart rhythms that actually can result in death.

The next item of zinc, zinc deficiency.

This mineral plays a role in many areas of body metabolism, including wound healing, protein, and DNA synthesis. It also supports proper growth of development during Pregnancy, Childhood adolescence.

Zinke has been shown to promote immune function So, it can help you resist infectious diseases like diarrhea and pneumonia.

An adult man needs about 11 milligrams daily and women were required about 8 milligrams.

Good sources of zinc include clean, red meat, poultry, dairy products, whole grains, beans, nuts, seafood, like oysters.

Zinc deficiencies impair your immunity, which makes you more prone to infections, but also slows down the children's growth and can also cause loss of taste, the smell of appetite.

How do we manage mineral deficiencies? Well, it depends on where the mineral lives, and also the severity, but also the underlying causes.

Through diet modification, you are able to address most of this.

It is really just about eating the right foods are sometimes you do have to supplement various forms of these.

It is minerals, I would advise you then talk to a healthcare professional to decide what the best course of action is if you are trying to manage underlying issues.

But again, keeping the right food to the right quantity is really the best way to address any minor deficiencies.

And that is understanding what foods are. So, you may seek the guidance of a nutritionist, in helping you identify what foods containing minerals need.

I said earlier, all these things are available in the supplement form, but again, just because they are available, does not mean that they do not have potentially harmful side effects.

Really, I would caution people trying to make sure they have an adequate intake of these different minerals through regular diet, then, obviously, if illnesses form, there is something that is causing a deficiency then, then, you may need to take supplements.

Too much could be harmful.

Also, therefore, I advise seeking the counsel of your health care provider.

As I said, it is a really eating balanced diet, and so you would have a good, healthy diet, should not have any deficiencies, but unfortunately, sometimes we are on medication or have other chronic effects.

That is a place where supplements, Again, it is not routine. The big part here is just to make sure you are a well-balanced diet. Again, highly processed foods should be avoided. Understanding what medicine you are on and how they impact your body is also essential.

But, at the end of the day, it is really about understanding yourself, adjusting whole foods, to get adequate nutrition.

We are all in our different areas on that journey, but it is up to us to make sure we are doing there.

The important thing to remember that it is on you, which means you are empowered to be healthy, and that means that you get to choose this.

 Remember, when it comes to your health and wellness, you've got it.