what illnesses are caused by vitamin deficiencies
May 11, 2008
Illnesses Caused By Vitamin Deficiencies
Vitamin A
Vitamin A is important for the eyes and the immune system. It is found in milk, eggs, liver, orange and red fruits, palm oil and leafy vegetables. Deficiency in Vitamin A result to blindness and ailments like measles, malaria and diarrhea.
Vitamin B
A symptom that a person lacks Vitamin B is when his health is altered or is slowly being diminished. This is primarily because Vitamin B is responsible for so many activities in the system such as transmitting the nerves, cellular differentiation, heart pulse rate, digestion, muscular contraction, brain function, energy production and through processes.
A person who lacks Vitamin B may experience one or more of the following symptoms:
ADD and inability to concentrate, easily irritated
Chronic Exhaustion
Chronic Fatigue
Crying spells and hard time to cope
Easily agitated and frustrated
Feeling of uneasiness
Fibrillation
Inability to sleep
Indigestion
Heart arrhythmias
Heart palpitations
Mental Problems
Nervousness
Paranoia and fear that something terrible will happen
Rashes
Restlessness
Soreness
Thoughts of Dying
Tingling in fingers and toes
Tingling in hands
Deficiency in Vitamin B comes when you lease expect it and can create serious problems in your health. Medical studies show that there are detectable signs that the individual is experiencing deficiencies.
When vitamin B deficiencies turn out to become long-lasting or chronic, there are side effects. This includes troubles with the persons adrenal glands and system.
Vitamin C
Lack of Vitamin C results in scurvy. In adults, the lack or deficiency is rooted from a low diet of Vitamin C. Take for example that fact that people develop the deficiency when they only eat food such as tea, toast, dried meat and canned vegetables.
Pregnancy, surgery, breastfeeding and burns can also increase the requirement of the body for Vitamin C as well as its deficiency. Smoking also increases the Vitamin C deficiency for 30 to 50%.
There are rare cases of scurvy in infants but this still happens because the breast milk that is supplied to them doesn’t have enough Vitamin C to sustain them. There are also infant formulas that aren’t fortified with such vitamins.
For adults, a few months of a diet containing low Vitamin C can result in bleeding around the gums, under the skin (Specifically the hair follicles which appear as bruises) and through the joints.
Symptoms of Vitamin C deficiency for infants include pain during movement, loss of appetite and irritability. They also don’t gain weight as normal infants do. They have impaired bone growth and anemia and bleeding may also occur.
Scurvy is diagnosed depending on the symptoms of the individual. Conducted blood tests only detect low levels of Vitamin C. The treatment for scurvy is the intake of Vitamin C supplements on a daily basis. This is also the same treatment for those who are suffering from anemia.
Vitamin D
Deficiency in Vitamin D is rooted from inadequate dosage of the Vitamin alongside inadequate exposure to the sunlight. The disorders limit the absorption of the nutrients in the body and the conditions can’t fix the metabolites like the kidney or the liver.
Deficiency in Vitamin D results in bone mineralization making these softer than the norm. Rickets may occur in children and osteomalacia in adults. These contribute to osteoporosis.
Rickets is a childhood disease that is defined as the impeded growth or deformity of the bones. Osteomalacia is a disorder where the bones become thinner and occurs in adults. The muscle becomes weak and the bones become fragile. Osteoporosis is the condition wherein the bone mineral density is reduced making the bones more fragile.
Rickets is a major health problem in the United States. This is the very reason why Americans are encouraged to drink milk. In fact, many celebrities, athletes and political icons have rendered their services in the ‘Got Milk’ ad to make drinking milk look cool and appealing to the public.
Lack of Vitamin D is also associated to the susceptibility to other diseases like tuberculosis, cancer, high blood pressure, sclerosis, chronic pain, periodontal disease, seasonal affective disorder, depression and schizophrenia.
Therefore, the best way for any individual to avoid these mentioned ailments is to make sure that they get the required dosage of Vitamins A, B, C and D on a daily basis.