Causes for a mineral deficiency
The causes of a mineral deficiency are very diverse and can be connected with a time-consuming, very detailed medical diagnosis. One must always differentiate between a self-induced deficiency due to insufficient intake and a deficiency caused by utilization disorders in the body. As a possible cause for a mineral deficiency, an increased need, depending on age or environmental factors, must always be considered.
The most frequent causes of mineral deficiency diseases are listed and explained in the following
- Iron deficiency due to blood loss during menstruation
- Loss of common salt (NaCl) due to heavy sweating (e.g. during sports)
- Diarrhea and vomiting with a disturbed absorption of substances via the intestinal mucosa and loss of ions
- Stomach and intestinal diseases with a disturbed absorption of the substances via the intestinal mucosa
- Alcoholism and liver synthesis disorder
- Restricted kidney function with urine loss
The manifest iron deficiency is the most common mineral deficiency worldwide. A manifest iron deficiency can occur due to reduced dietary intake. This occurs with strictly vegan living humans or humans, who are in emergency situations with generally reduced food supply.
Young women who lose a lot of blood during their menstruation are also often affected by iron deficiency. However, an undersupply can also result from a lack of absorption by the body (“malassimilation”). The causes are a stomach disorder, for example.B.
after stomach surgery, chronic inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease or gluten-sensitive enteropathy. Pregnant women and nursing mothers, for example, have an increased need for iron. An iron deficiency often manifests itself in a rather unspecific way through tiredness and lack of concentration.
Those affected are also often more susceptible to infections and complain of sleep disorders. Anemia is also caused by the reduced production of hemoglobin, the red blood pigment. Iron-containing foods such as meat, pulses, pumpkin seeds and nuts can prevent this.
When doing sports, the body loses not only body water but also important minerals. These are mainly sodium and chloride in the compound NaCl (common salt). In the glandular ducts of the pores (sweat glands) there are sodium-chloride transporters, which can cause the body to lose large quantities of these two important minerals.
Here it is important to compensate for this loss by drinking large quantities (on hot days and excessive sport up to 5 to 10 liters) and drinking isotonic drinks. Among other things, in cystic fibrosis, an increased amount of sodium chloride is excreted through sweat. This can be used in the diagnosis of this genetically hereditary disease by testing the sodium chloride content in sweat. Since 2016, cystic fibrosis has been recorded in newborn screening.
