MICRONUTRIENT

(Deficiency and Toxicity of Vitamin

and Minerals)
 a. Vitamin
1. Vitamin A
• It is the world's leading cause of preventable
blindness in children and increases the risk of disease
and death.
• A serious problem in more of half of all countries,
though it mainly affects poorer regions.
• In pregnant women, vitamin A deficiency can cause
night blindness and increase risk of maternal
mortality.
• Vitamin A is an essential nutrient, and it’s particularly
good for skin and for healthy eyes.
2. Vitamin D
• Up to a quarter of the population has low levels
of vitamin D in their blood according to UK
government figures.
• Vitamin D has several important functions. For
example, it helps to regulate the amount of
calcium and phosphate in the body.
• A lack of vitamin D can lead to rickets in
children and weakness, aches and pains in
adults where bones don't have enough calcium
called osteomalacia.
3. Vitamin E
• You are unlikely to have a deficiency of vitamin
E, as any excess is stored in your body naturally.
• But it is important to have because it is an
antioxidant, helps maintain healthy skin and
eyes, whilst also helping strengthen the
immune system.
• There is also a suggestion that vitamin E may
help slow the growth of dementia which is
currently being researched
4. Vitamin K
• Vitamin K has several important functions. For
example, it's needed for blood clotting, which
means it helps wounds to heal properly. There
is also some evidence to suggest it helps keep
bones healthy.
• Not very much vitamin K is needed, so
deficiencies are rare, but a healthy balanced
diet necessary to ensure you have enough.
5. Vitamin C
• Often seen as the most famous of the deficiencies, as a lack of
vitamin C causes Scurvy.
• Vitamin C (also called ascorbic acid) is vital for the body, because it's
needed to make collagen. Without vitamin C, collagen can't be
replaced and the different types of tissue breakdown, leading to the
symptoms of scurvy. These include:
- Muscle and joint pain
- Tiredness
- Appearance of red dots on the skin
- Bleeding and swelling of the gums

• Vitamin C is also an antioxident helping to prevent against

cardiovascular disease and some cancers.
• You'd have to take a lot of vitamin C from supplements to overdose,
but very high levels over long periods ca
6. Vitamin B
Thiamin
• Thiamin (vitamin B1) helps the body's cells
convert carbohydrate into energy.
Carbohydrates provide energy for the body,
especially the brain and nervous system.
Thiamin also plays a role in muscle contraction
and conduction of nerve signals.
• A lack of thiamin is called beriberi and can cause
weakness, fatigue, psychosis and nerve damage.
• Whilst it is not very common, alcoholics are
most at risk of thiamin deficiency
7. Riboflavin
• Riboflavin is also known as vitamin B2.
• It is important for keeping skin, eyes and the
nervous system healthy, helping the body release
energy from the food we eat.
• A deficiency of riboflavin can cause a sore throat,
cheilosis (lesions on the lips), angular stomatitis
(lesions on the angles of the mouth), glossitis
(fissured and magenta-coloured tongue), corneal
vascularisation, dyssebacia (red, scaly, greasy
patches on the nose, eyelids, scrotum, and labia),
and normocytic, normochromic anaemia.
8. Niacin
• Niacin is also known as vitamin B3.
• Niacin is important for helping the body to
release energy from the foods we eat, and
helping to keep the nervous systems and skin
healthy.
• Taking too much niacin for too long can cause
liver damage.
9 . Vitamin B6
• Vitamin B6 allows the body to use and store energy from
protein and carbohydrates in food, helping to form
haemoglobin – the substance in red blood cells that
carries oxygen around the body.
• Thyroid UK notes that “without this vitamin the thyroid
cannot utilise its iodine raw material efficiently to make
the hormones. This vitamin is needed even more by an
overactive thyroid. Muscle weakness is very common in
people with an overactive thyroid and in those who are
also lacking in B6.”
• Long term high doses of vitamin B6 can be toxic and may
result in nerve damage that may eventually be irreversi
10. Folate
• Folate, or folic acid, works with vitamin B12 to form
healthy red blood cells, whilst also helping to reduce
the risk of central nervous system defects, such as
spina bifida in unborn babies, which is why
maintaining a healthy amount is important during
pregnancy.
• A lack of folate can lead to folate deficiency anemia,
which causes tiredness (caused by anaemia),
weakness, diarrhoea, loss of appetite and weight loss.
A deficiency of folate can also cause headaches, heart
palpitations, a sore tongue and behavioural disorders.
11. Vitamin B12
• Vitamin B12 has similar roles to folate within
the body, helping make red blood cells and
keeping the nervous system healthy, releasing
energy from the food we eat.
• A lack of B12 causes pernicious anaemia with
the symptoms of extreme tiredness, lack of
energy, pins and needles (paraesthesia), sore
and red tongue, muscle weakness,
depression, problems with memory,
understanding and judgement.
12. Pantothenic Acid
• Pantothenic acid is also known as vitamin B5.
• Pantothenic acid has several functions, such as
helping to release energy from the food we
eat.
• A lack of pantothenic acid can cause fatigue,
chronic stress and depression.
13. Biotin
• Biotin is also known as Vitamin B7.
• Biotin is essential for the metabolism of fat
and only a tiny amount is required.
14. Choline
• Choline may be a non-essential B vitamin, but it
is important for cell membranes and for the
production of the neurotransmitter
acetylcholine, which has a role in memory and
muscle control.
• However, choline doses higher than the usual
maximum recommended amount are associated
with several negative effects including fishy body
odor, increased perspiration and salivation,
dizziness, vomiting and low blood pressure.
 b. Minerals
Potassium
• Potassium is important for controlling the
balance of fluids in the body as well as correct
functioning of the heart muscle. It also helps
nerves and muscles communicate nerves and
muscles communicate with each other.
• Taking too much potassium from supplements
or otherwise can cause stomach pain, nausea
and diarrhoea.
Sodium & Chloride
• Most chloride is gained from salt (sodium chloride), so
deficiencies are rare. However, consuming too much salt
is very common due to the abundance of salt in everyday
food.
• Sodium and chloride are electrolytes required in small
amounts to help keep the level of fluids in the body
balanced. Chloride helps the body to digest food because
it's an essential component of the fluids in the stomach
and intestines.
• Having too much salt is linked to an increase in blood
pressure (hypertension), which raises your risk of a stroke
and heart attack.
Calcium
• Calcium is the most abundent mineral in our body as it's the
major constituent of bones and teeth.
• Calcium is also required for muscle contraction and short term
deficiency can cause muscle cramps, stiffness and poor mobility.
• It's important to have a good calcium intake in the bone-building
years which are as a baby and again from adolescence to about
30 years of age; especially important in females. Insufficient
calcium during these periods can lead to brittle-bone disease
(osteoporosis) when you're older where your bones break very
easily. Post-menopausal women should also have a good calcium
intake to help slow the rate of bone degeneration.
• Although calcium toxicity is rare, symptoms may include fatigue,
depression, muscle weakness, kidney stones, constipation and
spondylitis (rigidity and inflammation of the spine).
• Too much calcium can also limit iron absorption.
Phosphorus
• Phosphorus is a mineral that helps to build
strong bones and teeth and helps to release
energy from food.
• Taking high doses of phosphorus supplements
for a short time can cause diarrhoea or
stomach pain. Taking high doses for a long
time can reduce the amount of calcium in the
body, which means that bones are more likely
to fracture.
Magnesium
• Magnesium helps turn the food we eat into energy and
helps to make sure the parathyroid glands, which
produce hormones that are important for bone health,
work normally.
• Taking high doses of magnesium for a short time can
cause diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, abdominal
cramping.
• Longer term high supplemental intakes can cause drops
in blood pressure, slowing down of the heart beat or
erratic beating, or cardiac arrest. Can also cause muscle
weakness and difficulty breathing, confusion, lethargy,
affect balance or even coma and death.
• Iron
• Iron is an essential mineral with several
important roles in the body. For example, it
helps to make red blood cells which carry
oxygen around the body.
• A lack of iron can cause iron deficiency anaemia
and is not uncommon even in the West.
• Too much can cause constipation, nausea,
vomiting and stomach pain. Very high doses of
iron can be fatal, particularly if taken by
children, so always keep iron supplements out
of the reach of children.