Guide: how to discover which vitamin is deficient?

Vitamins are one of the seven nutrients necessary for the body and are a type of micronutrients. They are indispensable nutrients for maintaining life, ensuring health, promoting growth, enhancing body resistance, and regulating physiological functions.

Vitamins are generally divided into two categories, one is fat-soluble vitamins, and the other is water-soluble vitamins.

Fat-soluble vitamins are: vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin K.

Water-soluble vitamins are: vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, vitamin C, pantothenic acid, folic acid, niacin, choline and biotin.

Are natural vitamin c or other vitamins deficient?

Under normal circumstances, as long as a reasonable diet is not smooth, normal people will not be deficient in vitamins, but now many people do not develop some bad eating habits, picky eaters, partial eclipses are more common, so the body lacks vitamins, thus A range of symptoms appear.

1. Vitamin A

Supplementary signals: poor adaptability to the dark environment, dry cornea, dry hair, or frequent choking of infants, decreased resistance to infection, and recurrent respiratory infections and diarrhea.

Applicable people: computer people, salespeople and infants with insufficient breast milk intake.

Expert analysis: Staring at the computer screen for a long time, or excessive mental stress can easily cause vitamin A deficiency.

Signs of overdose: rash, itching, anorexia, bone pain, headache, vomiting, etc.

Foods rich in vitamin A: milk, carrots, animal liver (sheep liver, etc.), green garlic, spinach, soy products, eggs, fish, walnuts, green vegetables, Chinese cabbage, tomatoes and fresh fruits.

2. Vitamin B

Supplementary signals: frequent lip, tongue, oral ulcers, blurred vision, seborrheic dermatitis, rough skin, etc.

Applicable crowd: white-collar workers with heavy workload and people who exercise more.

Expert analysis: If a certain vitamin B is deficient, it will affect the function of other vitamin B. Therefore, when there is a sign of a vitamin B deficiency, it is a warning from the body that the patient needs to be supplemented in time, otherwise the situation will continue to deteriorate.

Signs of excess: All B vitamins are soluble in water, and even excesses are excreted in the urine. Therefore, B vitamins are usually not present in excess.

Foods rich in vitamin B: rapeseed, potatoes, eggplant, pumpkin, bean sprouts, bananas, apples, fish, etc.

3. Vitamin C 

Supplemental signals: fatigue, poor appetite, weight loss, irritability, joint pain, swollen gums, redness, pain, and bleeding.

Applicable crowd: smokers, people who often stay up late, salesmen, etc.

Expert analysis: Smoking consumes a lot of vitamins in the body; while staying up late, the secretion of adrenaline increases, and the synthesis of adrenaline also requires vitamin C. Salesmen often travel around, and water-soluble vitamin C will be lost from the body with sweat, so the above-mentioned people should supplement vitamin C as much as possible.

Signs of overdose: High doses of vitamin C can lead to increased bowel movements, causing abdominal pain and diarrhea. Consuming vitamin C with foods containing vitamin B12 can destroy the efficacy of vitamin B12 and cause anemia.

Foods rich in vitamin C: fresh dates, kiwi, hawthorn, citrus, strawberries, grapefruit and other fruits, mung bean sprouts, tomatoes, cabbage, etc.

4. Multivitamins

Supplementary signal: long-term partial eclipse, poor gastrointestinal absorption.

Applicable people: partial eclipse, the elderly.

Expert analysis: Vitamin deficiency is mostly due to insufficient food intake. Instead of taking multiple vitamins at one time, it is better to eat a multivitamin. The gastrointestinal absorption of the elderly is not better than that of the young, and many nutrients are easily lost, so it is necessary to supplement a multivitamin every day.

5. Vitamin D

Supplementary signal: Vitamin D deficiency is mostly in children and the elderly. Insufficient vitamin D in children can easily cause calcium absorption disorders, causing chicken breasts and pectus excavatum; lack of vitamin D in the elderly can easily lead to decreased muscle strength and balance, and it is easy to fall.

Applicable people: children and the elderly.

Expert analysis: Children are in the developmental stage; the elderly spend a lot of time indoors and spend less time in the sun, and the body’s efficiency in synthesizing vitamin D is not high, so vitamin D deficiency is prone to occur. Human skin can synthesize vitamin D by itself after being exposed to sunlight, so it is necessary for the elderly to spend an average of 20 minutes in the sun every day.

Overdose signal: Excessive vitamin D can cause low-grade fever, vomiting, diarrhea, anorexia, and even heterotopic ossification of soft tissue, proteinuria, and kidney damage.

Foods rich in vitamin D: fish, animal liver, fruits and vegetables, including salmon, shrimp, milk, egg yolk, pork liver, mushrooms, orange juice, etc.

6. Vitamin E

Complementary signals: restlessness, edema, infertility, split ends, pigmentation. For people

Cardiovascular patients, women.

Expert analysis: Vitamin E has the functions of softening blood vessels, enhancing the elasticity of blood vessels, and reducing blood lipids. In addition, vitamin E can also penetrate into the skin, resist the damage of free radicals to the skin, and play the role of exfoliating, beautifying and skin care. However, the daily intake should not exceed 100 mg, and if it exceeds 800 mg per day, symptoms of poisoning may occur.

Signs of overdose: headache, dizziness, nausea, tiredness, hives, dermatitis, stomatitis, chapped lips, muscle weakness, and gastrointestinal symptoms.

Foods rich in vitamin E: walnuts, peanuts, melon seeds, sesame seeds, various beans, olive oil, sunflower oil, and cruciferous vegetables.

Principles of vitamin supplementation

The most natural vitamins should be taken from the normal diet: vitamin supplementation should not be excessive;

Best to have a doctor, nutritionist guidance.