I will first explain what vitamins and minerals are. Vitamins are a group of organic substances that are essential for the normal metabolism of the human body. They are important as they are essential for the promotion of health and growth of living organisms and the facilitation of skin, bone and muscle development which enables the body to undertake its functions effectively.
Minerals are inorganic substances which can be unnatural or man made. They regulate processes within the body and enable the creation of enzymes, hormones, bones, teeth and important tissues. These vitamins and minerals are not food themselves, but are found in foods which (as a result) induces your body to instinctively eat and search for food for energy and nutrition derivation.
Now, nutritional/vitamin deficiency occurs when your body does not have the required amount of vitamins and minerals to function properly. When this occurs, we start experiencing tiredness and symptoms of minor illness. If this continues for a long period of time, these minor illnesses may gradually develop into major diseases as your body cannot function effectively. Many people dont realize how important these nutrients are for the body and how powerful they can be in ensuring one has a healthy body and leads a healthy life.
Nutritional deficiencies can be either primary or secondary. Primary nutritional deficiency occurs when you do not get enough vitamins and minerals from the food you eat while secondary deficiency occurs when due to an underlying disorder or a lifestyle factor, your body prevents or limits that absorption of important vitamins and minerals. Lifestyle factors can include smoking, drugs, excessive alcohol intake and particular medications.
Thus, to live a healthier lifestyle and avoid nutritional deficiencies, the first important step is to improve your lifestyle factors by lowering or stopping your alcohol intake, smoking habits and drug intake (if any). This will increase your body's ability to absorb important nutrients from the foods you consume.
The second step is; You need to consume the right type of food in the right amount of quantities to ensure your body is getting all the nutrients it needs. Thus, I have created a table of each important vitamin and mineral your body needs, the amount you need to consume and the symptoms you may experience should you have a deficiency in that area.
Vitamin/Mineral
(Recommended daily intake)
Food sources
Why is it important?
Deficiency symptoms/diseases
Vitamin A (5000 IU)
Carrots, chicken liver, liver, green leafy vegetables
- Ensures proper function of the immune system
- Ensures optimum eye health
- Helps in the maintenance of skin, hair, bones and teeth
- Night blindness, Macular degeneration, Cataracts
- Reduced hair growth
- Increase susceptibility to illnesses
- Dry/rough skin, hyperkeratosis (thickening and roughness of the skin
- Acne
Vitamin B1 (100mg)
Wheat germ, pork, chicken liver, dried beans
- Helps in carbohydrate metabolism
- Helps improve nerve functions
- Improves stamina
- Prevents fluid retention
- Anxiety, irritability and depression
- Muscle cramps
- Fatigue and insomnia
- Loss of appetite and digestive problems
- Memory loss
- Numbness in hands and feet
- Increase pain sensitivity
- Decrease coordination
Vitamin B2 (25 mg)
Diary products, spinach, liver, milk, mushrooms
- Essential to the activation of Vitamin B6 and folic acid
- Needed for food metabolism
- Increase risk of visual problems
- Cracks/sores around nose and mouth
- Depression people particularly at risk include women taking oral contraceptives and pregnant women in 2ndtrimester.
Vitamin B3 (50 mg)
Commonly deficient in the elderly
Meat, chicken, fish, dried beans, mushroom, tuna, peanuts
- Helps maintain a healthy and functioning digestive and nervous system.
- Reduces cholesterol
- Maintains healthy skin
- Anxiety, agitation, depression and potentially (if left untreated) psychosis and dementia.
- Memory impairment
- Mouth sores, bad breath
Vitamin B5 (100 mg)
Mushrooms, broccoli, tomatoes, liver, bran
- Combats premature aging
- Reduces mental stress
- Helps in the functioning of the nervous system
- Chronic fatigue, dizziness and muscular weakness
- Greying/loss of hair
- Constipation
- Depression and anxiety
Vitamin B6 (200 mg)
Liver, turkey, peanuts, chicken, pork
- Helps ensure nutrients are converted into energy and that amino acids can be processed.
- Promotes nerve and brain functions
- Anemia
- Irritability, depression
- Acne/facial oiliness
- Arthritis
- Hair loss
Vitamin B12 (25 mcg)
Deficiency is rare. Occurs normally with strict vegetarians
Meat, egg and diary products
- Maintains healthy nervous system and helps form red blood cells
- Nervous system disorders
- Anemia
Vitamin C (75 mg)
Orange, strawberries, capsicums
- Helps in the maintenance of healthy gums
- Aids absorption of iron
- Reduces risk of cancer
- Reduce effects of the common cold
- Reduces risk and progression of macular degeneration and cataracts formation
- Results in muscle weakness
- Bleeding gums
- Easy bruising
- Depression and irritability
- Joint pains
- Tiredness
- Loose teeth
Vitamin D (10 mcg)
Egg yolk, Milk, Sunlight
- Helps in calcium absorption
- Helps in the maintenance of healthy bones and teeth
- Insomnia
- Myopia
- Osteoporosis
Vitamin E (30 IU)
Wheat germ oil, corn, brown rice, mango, nuts
- Helps form red blood cells and important tissues
- Helps combat risk of Alzheimers, coronary heart disease and cancer development
- Nerve abnormalities
Vitamin K (70 mcg)
Vegetables, chicken/beef/pork liver
- Ensures normal blood clotting
Biotin (30 mcg)
(Deficiency is rare)
Egg yolk, cheese, butter
- Helps in the metabolism of glucose and certain fatty acids
- Eye inflammation
- Hair loss
- Insomnia
- Weakness in muscles
Calcium (1500 mg)
Dairy products, Broccoli, calcium rich bread
- Helps in the building of strong bones and teeth
- Promotes optimum nerve and muscles function
- Essential for the blood clotting mechanism of the body
- Rickets in children
- Osteomalacia (soft bones) / Reduced bone density
- Osteoporosis
- Muscle aches, pains, spasms and cramps
- Increase risk of fractures
Chromium (150 mcg)
Sweet potato, whole grains, tomato, bananas, chicken, beef
- Helps ensure that glucose is available for energy
- Essential in the metabolism of amino acids and fats
- Helps lower blood sugar in individuals with type 2 Diabetes
- Anxiety and fatigue
- Adult onset diabetes/insulin resistant hyperglycaemia
- Glucose intolerance
Copper (3 mg)
Meat organs and liver, seafood, nuts
- Stimulates iron absorption
- Essential in the creation of red blood cells, connective tissue and nerve fibers
- Anemia
- Depression, anxiety
- Tiredness
- Hair loss
- Arterial damage
- Hyperthyroidism
Folic acid (1 mg)
Vegetables, orange juice, meat organs
- Helps in the manufacturing of genetic material, protein metabolism and red blood cells formation
- Reduces risk of birth defects
- Anemia
- Fatigue and weaknesses
- Insomnia and headaches
- Shortness of breath
Iron (15 mg)
Liver, meats, almonds, cashews, beans, enriched bread, spinach
- Essential for making hemoglobin, the red substance in blood that carries oxygen to body cells
- Anemia
- Brittle nails
- Fatigue, headaches, dizziness
- Depression
- Constipation
- Mouth lesions and inflammation of the tongue
Magnesium (350 mg)
Spinach, vegetables, tofu, cashews, nuts wheat bran, enriched cereals
- Activates enzymes needed for energy release
- Needed by cells for genetic material and bone growth
- Anxiety, restlessness, nervousness
- Heart Attack
- Hyper activity
- Insomnia
- Muscle spasms
Manganese (5 mg)
Fruits, vegetables, wholegrain products
- Important for bone and tendon structure
- Assist in the metabolism process
- Involved in bone development process
- Atherosclerosis (Clogging of the arteries and blood vessels due to accumulations of fatty deposits)
- Dizziness
- Increasing cholesterol levels
- Loss of hearing/Ringing in ears
- Loss of muscle control
- Impaired growth
- Skeletal abnormalities
- Glucose intolerance
Potassium (3500 mg)
Bananas, oranges, peanuts, broccoli, mushrooms
- Enables nerve and muscle functionality
- Nausea
- Irritability and depression
- Acne
- Fatigue, nervousness and insomnia
- High cholesterol levels
- Glucose intolerance
- Weak muscle and reflexes
Selenium (70 mg)
Tuna, beef liver, chicken breasts, wholegrain products
- Helps in oxidation process to ensure optimum absorption of vitamins and antioxidants
- Higher cholesterol levels
- Increase risk of cancer development
- Reduce ability to secrete adequate amounts of digestive enzymes
- Impairment of liver and immune system
- Male sterility
Zinc (16 mg)
Oysters, chicken, yogurt, peanut, beans
- Helps in oxidation process and supports the bodys absorption of important antioxidants
- Acne
- Depression and irritability
- Amnesia
- Brittle nails
- Impairment in memory, growth, immune system and wound healing
- Eczema
- Hair loss
- High cholesterol
- Impotence and male infertility
- Night blindness
- Paranoia
As you can see, there are many different vitamins and minerals that are important to your body. Hence, changing your diet (or maintaining your healthy diet) by consuming foods that are rich in vitamins and minerals is extremely important to reduce your risk of developing diseases and illnesses.
Eating a healthy and
balanced diet is the first step towards achieving adequate vitamins and minerals consumption. However, if there are other reasons why youre having problems achieving the recommended daily intake of the different classes of food, I strongly do recommend taking additional supplements to ensure youre consuming enough nutrients for your body. Also, it is easy to be fooled into thinking that (for example) 15 mg of iron is easily achievable. To consume 15 mg of iron, you would have to consume 5 cups of cooked spinach, or, 3 cups of almonds, or approx 7 oz of chicken liver a day. Now, unless youre someone with a monster appetite, it is fair to say that it would be quite hard (for an average person) to continuously achieve such a diet and ensure that youre consuming all of your important vitamins and minerals. Hence, this is why I strongly recommend taking high quality supplements as an important complement (not a replacement!) to your daily balanced diet and healthy lifestyle. This will reduce your risk to the development of such illnesses and diseases, increase your
energy levels, improve your mood and allow you to lead and enjoy a healthy active life.
I hope you found this article useful to you and that you will take on board some of the advice. Take care and Good luck!
