If you’re experiencing any of these 8 common problems, the cause could be a simple vitamin deficiency that can easily be fixed.
- Brittle hair & nails
- Cracks along the corner of the mouth
- Bleeding gums
- Poor night vision
- Scaly patches on the skin or dandruff
- Hair loss
- Red or white bumps on the skin
- Restless leg syndrome
The cause could be as simple as your body telling you you’re deficient in something.
There could be more complicated reasons, but this information has helped thousands of people.
If you have any one of these symptoms, I’m going to break down which vitamins and minerals you could be deficient in, and what you can do to fix it.
Brittle Hair & Nails
If you have brittle hair or nails, the number one nutrient you want to look at is biotin.
Biotin is vitamin B7, which helps the body convert food into energy. There are several reasons why you might not be getting biotin in.
If you don’t have enough nutrients, you don’t have enough energy, so your body doesn’t put as many resources into supporting your hair, nails, and skin.
If you have a digestive disorder, especially one like Crohn’s, indigestion, or acid reflux, you might not be absorbing biotin properly.
Pregnancy, drug use, alcohol use, or heavy smoking can all cause a biotin deficiency.
To fix this, you just need to get more biotin in.
Here are some of the common food sources of biotin:
- Egg Yolks
- Organ Meats
- Fish
- Meat
- Dairy
- Nuts
- Seeds
- Spinach
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Sweet Potato
These are some really good whole foods for you that can help increase your levels of biotin.
If you’re supplementing for it, up to 30 micrograms a day is good.
I like to take B7 with the other B vitamins in their more natural forms.
You want to make sure you get it from a company that is using natural forms, not synthetic ones.
Simply supplementing your biotin levels with a B vitamin could be enough to turn your hair, skin, and nails around.
Cracks/Ulcers Around The Mouth
This also has to do with B vitamins, as well as iron.
One study showed that participants with ulcers in their mouths had iron levels that were twice as low as people without mouth ulcers.
Another study showed that the ulcers around the mouth focus in on vitamin B1 (thiamine) deficiency.
Thiamine and iron could be easy things to add in if you’re dealing with cracking or sores.
If you want to increase iron through food, you’re going to want to stick to meat sources such as poultry, red meat, and fish, and legumes.
To get B vitamins, it’s a lot of the same foods: poultry, fish, green leafy vegetables, nuts, seeds, and even dairy.
You can also supplement these through a B vitamin or a solid multivitamin.
Try to get them in a chelated form, because that’s closer to food than a non-chelated form.
Bleeding Gums
If you’re using a picker, floss, or a toothpick and your gums start bleeding a bit, that’s normal and will probably go away.
If your body is bleeding, it’s trying to get rid of bacteria, irritation, or discomfort.
Flossing regularly is fantastic. Using hydrogen peroxide as a mouthwash once or twice a week, or even coconut oil pulling can help as well.
But bleeding in the gums could also be caused by a deficiency of vitamin C.
Vitamin C deficiency shows up in 13-30% of the population, and it’s a big deficiency because you use vitamin C every single day.
It’s a water-soluble vitamin, which means you need to fill up on it every single day.
The severe version of vitamin C deficiency is scurvy, where you have a compromised immune system, weakened bones, fatigue, and lethargy.
Not too many people get to that level, but something as simple as your gums bleeding could be a sign that you’re deficient.
Lemons, limes, strawberries, and blueberries are all excellent sources of vitamin C if you want to load up on it.
I would recommend staying away from orange juice, because most orange juices have a high sugar content and don’t usually contain that much vitamin C.
I like to supplement vitamin C daily, anywhere from 500-2000 milligrams.
Poor Night Vision
If you have a sensitivity to glares, that could be a protein buildup that could be leading to a potential cataract.
But if you just have some blurriness and trouble seeing at night, you might need more vitamin A.
Vitamin A is responsible for producing the pigment rhodopsin, which helps the retina see at night.
You want to jump on this early so it doesn’t develop into full blind spots, so we just have to get more vitamin A.
Organ meats, dairy, eggs, fish, dark leafy greens, and yellow-colored vegetables are all good sources of vitamin A.
Vitamin A, also known as beta carotene, is a fat-soluble vitamin in its supplement form.
I like to take it with the other fat-soluble vitamins (vitamins D, A, E, and K2) so they all work together.
A lot of these can also be found in a good multivitamin, which you can find here.
Patchy Skin/Dandruff
This could be a warning sign that you’re deficient in a couple of different nutrients, and that you can’t produce oils on the skin the way you’re supposed to.
If the weather has gotten colder or you’ve been taking hotter showers, that can dry out the skin and scalp, but there are some nutrients that can help in case it is a deficiency.
If you want to work on fixing this, you should be taking zinc, B2, B3, and B6.
A good multivitamin can help you get all of these in.
You could also be taking iron, which you can get in through a chelated vitamin or through eating meat.
Hair Loss
There are multiple reasons why you could have hair loss. I recommend getting your thyroid checked out and getting proper blood work done.
However, it could be happening because you’re low in iron or zinc, or are taking in too many bad fats and not enough healthy fats.
Niacin or biotin could also be factors.
I like to start with getting iron and zinc, because they’re easy ones to get in.
Just eating enough meat or beans can help you get iron in.
Zinc is another one you could be low on if you’ve been through a medical intervention.
You can get zinc back up by taking in 10-30 milligrams a day.
Then you can look at linoleic acid—you want to make sure you’re cutting out bad fats.
My book breaks down everything you need to know about adding in healthy fats in the form of seeds, flax seeds, chia seeds, or fish oils.
Niacin produces a lot of the energy inside of your body, and biotin controls the skin, hair, and nails, which is why they could be factors.
Biotin is very important because a biotin/B7 deficiency is linked to hair loss.
Red/White Bumps On Skin
This is also known as keratosis pilaris, and if you have these bumps on your cheeks, arms, or thighs, or even have a lot of ingrown hairs, it could be due to a deficiency.
The two main vitamins to put in if you have this are vitamin A and vitamin C.
Vitamin C is very involved in blood flow, especially in the skin.
Vitamin A is also directly linked to this, so it’s a good vitamin to put in.
You want to take both of these every day, and it may just lead to healthier skin.
As a bonus, you could also add in a bit of flax seed as well, because flax’s good oils can help out the skin.
Restless Leg Syndrome
The most surprising reason you could be experiencing restless legs syndrome is low iron levels, meaning you’re not getting enough blood flow and nutrients to the legs.
Another reason you could be experiencing this is a low level of electrolytes like potassium and magnesium, which are key to muscle health.
It’s very important to be putting these in for your muscles, especially the legs since you’re using them throughout the day.
Try to fill up on a chelated form of iron, and get in quality sea salt or an electrolyte powder.
Summary
These are some simple nutrients that you can put in to potentially improve the conditions that you may be suffering with.Speaking of deficiencies, check out what your face might be saying about mineral and vitamin deficiencies in my video on it here.
