Almost all build-up and breakdown processes in the body run without vitamins not at all, unregulated or too slowly. Without a sufficient supply of all vital vitamins, our body would therefore quickly become incapable of life. Who is at increased risk for a vitamin deficiency and what the effects of a vitamin deficiency are, you can find out here.
Vitamin requirement: How high is it?
Vitamins are vital substances that the body cannot produce itself, or only in insufficient quantities. They must therefore be supplied to the body through food from the outside. With a balanced, varied diet, a metabolically healthy person usually takes in enough vitamins and minerals so that the requirement can be covered. The most important guideline is the recommended intake as set by the German Nutrition Society (DGE), differentiated for different ages: from infants and children to adolescents and adults, pregnant women and nursing mothers.
Risk factors for vitamin deficiency
Our vitamin needs are increased under certain circumstances. These risk factors for vitamin insufficiency include:
- Natural circumstances such as age
- Other circumstances such as pregnancy and lactation
- Non-physiological influences due to drugs, stimulants and pollutants.
- Incorrect or unbalanced diet
- Physical stress such as continuous stress or competitive sports
Classic vitamin robbers are considered smoking, too much alcohol, frequent colds, slimming diets and some medications. So many people have an increased need for vitamins – without knowing it. We present some of the mentioned factors in more detail below.
Smoking as a vitamin robber
With every puff, smokers inhale large quantities of carcinogenic particles that are additionally loaded with vast quantities of free radicals. Free radicals are produced during metabolic processes in the body, but also by environmental toxins, nicotine or stress. An “excess” of these aggressive particles can destroy important functions and structures in the body and cause diseases such as arteriosclerosis, cancer or rheumatism. Smokers therefore have – in contrast to non-smokers – an increased need for so-called antioxidants. These are substances that bind free radicals and make them harmless. Of the vitamins, vitamins A, C and E in particular offer protection against free radicals.
Alcohol inhibits utilization of vitamins
The higher the daily alcohol consumption, the fewer vitamins are supplied. If the liver is already damaged by excessive alcohol, the nutrients (and therefore the vitamins) are less well utilized. Chronic drinking leads to vitamin deficiency, especially of vitamins A, B1, B6, C, niacin and folic acid.
Continuous stress as a cause of vitamin deficiency
Those who are exposed to severe stress also often have a vitamin deficiency. Indeed, continuous stress depletes vitamin reserves – vitamin C status is often too low, as are vitamins B1, B6 and B12.
Vitamin deficiency in women
On average, women eat a healthier diet than men – at least as measured by their vitamin supply. Nevertheless, vitamin deficiencies are also possible in women. Crucial factors that primarily affect women are:
- Hormone preparations: in many women, B vitamins and folic acid are candidates for deficiency, and this is the case when hormone preparations are taken. This can be the pill or a hormone preparation for the treatment of osteoporosis. Countermeasures can be taken with appropriate ready-to-use preparations or selected foods. Rich in B vitamins are liver, yeast, whole grain products, dried milk and whey powder, chanterelles; folic acid-rich are yeast and green leafy vegetables.
- Slimming diets: the vitamin level generally also leans with the menu, namely with a reduced diet in the context of slimming diets. Those who frequently diets should pay particular attention to an adequate intake of vitamins E and B.
Deficiency of vitamins in old age
Vitamin deficiency creeps in with age, according to experience. This has many causes: Older people often have less appetite and drink too little, in addition, the overall metabolic activity decreases. Sometimes there are also difficulties with the preparation of food and/or the taste senses diminish, so that many things taste bland. The bottom line is that this leads to a reduced intake of nutrients.Seniors often lack vitamins A and C as well as B vitamins, especially B12. In people over 75, vitamin deficiency is the rule rather than the exception.
Vitamin deficiency due to disease: Decreased food intake
There are health conditions that decrease food and vitamin intake, and others that increase consumption or cause vitamin losses. Decreased intake of nutrients, and therefore vitamins, occurs in:
- Lack of appetite
- Eating, chewing and swallowing disorders (for example, when the dentures do not fit properly).
- Gastrointestinal surgery
- One-sided slimming diets
Decreased vitamin absorption
Decreased absorption from the intestine in:
- Hypofunction of the pancreas (pancreatic insufficiency): digestive enzymes are absent, maldigestion occurs.
- Disturbed bile flow in liver disease
- Intestinal infections and inflammations
- Regression of the gastric mucosa with absence of intrinsic factor and gastric acid, leading to anemia via vitamin B12 deficiency
In cirrhosis, the liver loses its ability to store vitamins.
Vitamin deficiency due to increased vitamin losses
Increased vitamin losses occur in:
- Chronic diarrhea
- Chronic renal insufficiency
- Hemodialysis
Increased vitamin consumption
When the basal metabolic rate increases due to fever, burns, major wounds or infections, the need for vitamins increases.
Vitamins are important!
Vitamins are essential for our health. They are …
- Essential to life: They prevent typical “deficiency diseases” of humans.
- Effective: highly effective in small quantities
- Specialists: not interchangeable
- Indispensable: the human body can not produce them all
That’s why it’s important to ensure an adequate supply of vitamins and prevent vitamin deficiencies from occurring in the first place.
