Vitamin and Trace Element Deficiencies

Vitamin and trace element deficiencies 

Fat soluble vitamins 

Vitamin a (retinol)

• Found in dairy produce, eggs, fish oils, and liver.

• Deficiency causes night blindness, xerophthalmia, keratomalacia (corneal thickening) and follicular hyperkeratosis.

Vitamin d (cholecalciferol)

• Found in fish liver oils, dairy produce, and undergoes metabolism at the kidneys and the skin using uv light.

• Deficiency causes rickets (in children) and osteomalacia (in adults). Proximal muscle weakness may be evident. 

Vitamin e (alpha-tocopherol)

• Widely distributed, green vegetables, and vegetable oils.

• Deficiency causes hemolytic anemia (premature infants) and gross ataxia. 

Vitamin k (k 1 = phylloquinine k 2 = menaquinone)

• Widely distributed but particularly in green vegetables. Synthesized by intestinal bacteria.

• Deficiency causes coagulation defects seen as easy bruising and hemorrhage.

Water soluble vitamins 
Vitamin b 1 (thiamine)

• Found in cereals, peas, beans, yeast, and whole-wheat fl our. It is an essential factor in carbohydrate metabolism and transketolation reactions.

• Deficiency causes dry beri-beri (sensory and motor peripheral neuropathy), wet beri-beri (high output cardiac failure and edema), wernicke–korsakoff syndrome. 

Vitamin b 2 (ribofl avin)

• Found in whole-wheat flour, meat, fish, and dairy produce. It is a coenzyme in reversible electron carriage in oxidation–reduction reactions.

• Deficiency gives angular stomatitis (fissuring and inflammation at the corners of the mouth), inflamed oral mucous membranes, seborrhoeic dermatitis, and peripheral neuropatmhy. Drugs (e. G, isoniazid, hydralazine, penicillamine) and is also seen in alcoholism and pregnancy. 

Vitamin b 12 (cyanocobalamin)

• Causes of a deficiency are numerous and include partial or total gastrectomy, crohn’s disease, ileal resection, jejunal diverticulae, blind loop syndrome, and tapeworm.

• Deficiency causes megaloblastic anemia, peripheral neuropathy, subacute combined degeneration of the spinal cord depression, psychosis, and opticatrophy. 

Vitamin b 9 (folic acid)

• Deficiency can be caused by poor diet, malabsorption states, coeliac disease, crohn’s disease, gastrectomy, drugs (e. G, methotrexate, phenytoin), excessive utilization (E.G, leukemia, malignancy, inflammatory disease).

• Consequences of deficiency include megaloblastic anemia, and glossitis. 

Vitamin c (ascorbic acid) 

Deficiency causes scurvy (perifoillicular haemorrhage, bleeding swollen gums, spontaneous bruising, corkscrew hair, failure of wound healing), anemia, and osteoporosis. Trace elements Copper

• Deficiency results in hypochromic and microcytic anemia, wilson’s disease, impaired bone mineralization, menks’ kinky hair syndrome (growth failure, mental defi ciency, bone lesions, brittle hair, anemia).

• Usually caused by copper malabsorption. 

Zinc deficiency causes achondromatosis enterpathica (infants develop growth retardation, hair loss, severe diarrhea, candida and bacterial infections), impaired wound healing, skin ulcers, alopecia, night blindness, confusion, apathy, and depression. 

 Magnesium severe deficiency can cause cardiac arrhythmias, paraesthesia and tetany. Iodine severe deficiency can cause cretinism (children), hypothyroidism, and goiter. 

Vitamin b 3 (niacin)

• Found in fish, liver, nuts, and whole-wheat flour.

• Deficiency causes pellagra): dermatitis, diarrhea, dementia. 

Vitamin b 6 (pyridoxine)

• Widespread distribution, also synthesized from tryptophan.

• Deficiency causes peripheral neuropathy, convulsions, and sideroblastic anemia. Deficiency may be provoked by a number of commonly used.