4 Vitamins That You Should Not Be Missing (to Avoid Common Deficiencies)

Vitamins are inorganic substances that we find in food and that, although in very small amounts, are essential for the vital functions of our body. Since the body cannot synthesize them on its own, we need to provide them through diet.

The recommendations for intake of vitamins that are used as a reference are decided based on the amounts that ensure adequate nutritional intake for a specific population. Its objective is for this population to remain healthy, but also to develop public health policies that prevent deficiency diseases. For example, knowing these data makes it possible to schedule supplementation for pregnant women, by protocol.

To define the values ​​of the recommended intakes, it is assumed that the individual requirements for each nutrient follow a normal statistical distribution at the population level. In our country we speak of Nutritional Reference Intakes (INR) and it is estimated that they cover 97-98% of the population.

The consequences of vitamin deficiency

Vitamins have a good press, we perceive them as positive. And that is something that the food industry has not overlooked: it enriches all kinds of products with vitamins to be able to get big in the package that contains them. That may lead us to think that getting adequate levels of vitamins is complicated, but it is not. In fact, most fruits and vegetables, without any label, contain more vitamins than those that the ultra-processing of the day promises, and that is where we should look for them.

There are diseases associated with vitamin deficiencies that today have almost disappeared in the industrialized world: we all know that vitamin C deficiency causes scurvy and we know the stories of sailors who suffered from it on their long voyages, until they discovered that they were taking a shipment of citrus fruits To consume during the trip, it prevented the disease in a simple and effective way (and without packaged juices enriched in vitamin C).

In countries where there is child malnutrition, unfortunately it is common to find vision disorders caused by a deficiency of vitamin A. We can also find in these contexts heart and nervous pathologies caused by a deficiency of vitamin B1 (beriberi). Likewise, all nutritionists have studied that vitamin B3 deficiency causes pellagra, but almost none of us have ever seen a patient with this pathology in our professional practice.

In our context there are only a few vitamins to which we have to pay a little more attention, and some of them only in specific vital periods or if we suffer from certain pathologies. We also have cheap and effective supplements that allow us to prevent the possible evils derived from their deficits, or overcome them if they have already appeared.

4 vitamins whose intake you should watch

Vitamin D

Its deficit is increasingly common in the industrialized world. Sometimes we get little exposure to the sun because we spend a lot of time indoors and because when we go outside we use protective sunscreen, which blocks the synthesis of vitamin D. Newborn babies, for example, are already given vitamin D during their first months of life, per protocol.

The advice for the general population is to increase sun exposure in the hours of less radiation, so as not to burn, and if it is possible to determine through an analysis the levels of this vitamin, and then consider its supplementation and in what dose. It is not wise to take vitamin D supplements without professional advice, as excess can be harmful.

Where is it located?

It is the only vitamin whose main source is not food, but skin synthesis. However, it is found in small amounts in foods of animal origin, as well as in mushrooms and wheat germ.

B12 vitamin

Its deficit is relatively frequent, since it can be caused by various digestive factors, such as stomach hypochloridia or drugs that cause it (the well-known proton pump inhibitors or “stomach protectors”), an intestinal resection or other problems. It is also common for it to appear in advanced ages.

It causes a type of anemia called “megaloblastic”. People who need them can take supplements, orally or injected in some cases. It is a vitamin that vegetarians should also pay special attention to, because its sources are animals.

How do you get it?

If you follow a vegetarian diet you need a daily or weekly supplementation (2,000 micrograms).

Vitamin B9 (folic acid)

The well-known folic acid plays an important role, together with B12, in the development of megaloblastic anemia, and is also crucial in the formation of the neural tube during pregnancy: if the mother’s diet is deficient in this vitamin, the fetus can develop spina bifida. It is the reason why this vitamin is supplemented by protocol to all pregnant women, and even before conception if they wish to become pregnant. It is a very safe, inexpensive and effective supplement that can prevent a serious birth defect.

Where is it located?

In fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and legumes.

Vitamin K

This vitamin has an important function in blood clotting and should be controlled by people taking anticoagulant medication, since in high amounts it can interfere with the effectiveness of these drugs. The general population that does not take anticoagulants does not have to pay special attention to it.

In what vegetables is it found?

Especially in dark green leafy vegetables (cabbage, spinach, chard, lettuce), cruciferous (broccoli, cauliflower), blueberries.

Vitamins galore

The rest of vitamins, in a context like ours in which the availability of food is wide, it is rare that they are deficient or that they have to be controlled dietetically, especially if the person is healthy.

Eating a healthy diet is all the precaution that must be taken in this regard. Even in diets that deviate considerably from the pattern considered recommendable, vitamin deficiencies beyond those already mentioned are rare.