Common Vitamins and Minerals Deficiency

This site is intended for medical and non-medical people who wants to know more about the vitamins and minerals deficiencies and how they affect our health. We will be talking about chemical structures, natural sources, causes of deficiency, symptoms and signs of deficiency, how to test and diagnose each deficiency and how treat each deficiency.


What are vitamins?

Vitamins are a group of organic substances that are essential for the normal development of the various human body tissues as skin, bone and muscles. They are called vitamins because they cannot be synthesized by our bodies in sufficient amounts and hence needs to be supplemented through the proper diet intake. They are important as they are essential for mineral metabolism, cell and tissues growth and function as enzyme cofactors in metabolic processes. There are 13 well-known vitamins and they are classified according to absorption into water-soluble vitamins (B1,2,3,5,6,7,9,12 and C) and fat-soluble vitamins (A,D,E and K).


What are minerals?

Minerals are inorganic substances found in the nature. Minerals make up 4% of the body’s total weight. They are found throughout the body, in its fluids and tissues. Working in conjunction with vitamins, enzymes, hormones, and other substances, minerals play an important role in innumerable biological functions. There are about 12 essential mineral which we will be talking about.

 

So which vitamins and minerals we are prone to be deficient in?

 

Vitamins:

 

1-Vitamin A deficiency

 

2-Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) deficiency or Beriberi  (Old name is vitamin F)

 

3-Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) deficiency (Old name is vitamin G)

 

4-Vitamin B3 deficiency

 

5-Vitamin B5 deficiency

 

6-Vitamin B6 deficiency

 

7-Vitamin B7 deficiency or Biotin deficiency

 

8-Vitamin B9 deficiency or Folic acid deficiency

 

9-Vitamin B12 deficiency

 

10-Vitamin C deficiency

 

11-Vitamin D deficiency

 

12-Vitamin E deficiency

 

13-Vitamin K deficiency

 

 

Minerals:

 

1-Calcium deficiency

 

2-Chromium deficiency

 

3-Copper deficiency

 

4-Iron deficiency

 

5-Iodine deficiency

 

6-Magnesium deficiency

 

7-Manganese deficiency

 

8-Potassium deficiency

 

9-Sodium deficiency

 

10-Zinc deficiency

 

11-Molybdenum deficiency

 

12-Selenium deficiency or Keshan disease