In this episode I zoom in on the unsung heroes of our diet – vitamins and minerals. From the mighty zinc that supports your immune system and heals wounds to the magnesium that helps with muscle cramps, sleep and stress. Learn about the foods that are rich in these nutrients and understand why absorbing them is just as critical as eating them.
You will learn about common nutrient deficiencies, what signs and symptoms to look for.
I also touch a little on supplements and warn against taking calcium without professional advice; as it may cause more harm than good!
Learn more about Fiona's speaking, radio and consultation services at Informed Health: https://informedhealth.com.au/
Sign up to receive our newsletter by clicking here.
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Credit for the music used in this podcast:
The Beat of Nature
In this episode I zoom in on the unsung heroes of our diet – vitamins and minerals. From the mighty zinc that supports your immune system and heals wounds to the magnesium that helps with muscle cramps, sleep and stress. Learn about the foods that are rich in these nutrients and understand why absorbing them is just as critical as eating them.
You will learn about common nutrient deficiencies, what signs and symptoms to look for.
I also touch a little on supplements and warn against taking calcium without professional advice; as it may cause more harm than good!
Learn more about Fiona's speaking, radio and consultation services at Informed Health: https://informedhealth.com.au/
Sign up to receive our newsletter by clicking here.
Instagram
Facebook
LinkedIn
Credit for the music used in this podcast:
The Beat of Nature
Hello and welcome to the Wellness Connection podcast with Fiona Kane. I'm your host, Fiona Kane, today I'm going to be talking to you about common nutrition deficiencies. Nutrient deficiencies these are deficiencies that we see, that I see every day in my clinic and that are very, very common. I think it's important to remember what nutrition is, what food is. Food is how we nourish our bodies, so how we get the various vitamins and minerals into our body. Sometimes people are so what, who cares about vitamins and minerals? But they actually create everything in your body. Everything in your body is largely made from the proteins and the vitamins and the minerals and the fats and carbohydrates whatever carbohydrates feed your microbiome. Everything that the food we consume makes the stuff that our body uses to run. It could be. It makes, for example, protein and calcium and vitamin D. They help you make bone, but it's also the cell making energy. Your cells ability to function at all is dependent on having certain nutrients in the system. It's about actually being able to function at all. It's about your liver been out of detox. It's about your eyes being able to see. It's about your bones being strong. It's about maintaining your muscle mass. It's a million things that the nutrients from your food do. If you have a lack of nutrition, if you're not getting the nutrients you need, then you start to get symptoms, signs and symptoms and you really need to have an awareness around this and think of your food as not just being something that fills you up or something that you like the taste of, but it's also something that feeds your body the nutrition it needs. Your body, including your brain. We forget that because I've talked a lot before about food balancing your blood sugar levels. For example. Magnesium is really important for balancing your blood sugar levels and having that ability to stay full for longer and not get hungry every five minutes that sort of thing. Your nutrition has a lot to do with that the nutrients you eat, and not just the nutrients you eat, but the nutrients you absorb. I've talked to you about absorption of nutrients before and how important it is to have a digestive system that's working well on a healthy microbiome. You have to eat the food, you have to digest the food and absorb the nutrients. It's kind of all of those steps. Whether or not you have enough nutrition will be controlled by what you eat. It will be controlled by your ability to digest and absorb that which is impeded by stress and anxiety and those sorts of issues as well. So there's lots of factors to eating, nutrition, absorbing the nutrients. Anyway, I'm just going to talk to you about some common nutrition deficiencies, because these are the things I see all the time. Excuse me. I am referring to a list because it's easier to look at a list when it comes to things like this.
Fiona Kane:One is zinc. Signs of deficiency of zinc are things like low immune functions, so getting recurrent infections or wound healing, just that the wounds don't heal. You hurt yourself and it's not healing. It could be low mood, it could be low appetite, a poor sense of smell and haste, and actually, on that note, a lot of people found this after COVID and zinc is one of the things that can help improve that. I'm not saying it's the cure all for everything, but for many people zinc has been really helpful for them to improve their taste after that. So also skin conditions. So things like eczema, various skin conditions, poor nail quality, low sex drive and infertility. So that gives you a clue of all of the things that zinc is involved with. So being low in zinc is a real problem.
Fiona Kane:You can kind of Google a lot of this stuff about where nutrition is, but I'll just give you a bit of an idea of the foods that contain zinc. So it's oysters, it's red meat, liver, chicken, eggs, nuts and seeds. There's a D in there Cheese, yeast, like yeast bread sort of thing, like what's it called Veggie might I should know that I'm Australian, sorry Tomatoes, garlic, legumes and some herbs, things like parsley and spinach and mushrooms. So that's examples of some of the places that you can get zinc and you can see that a lot of deficiency signs there. So the next one is magnesium. So I was talking before about magnesium and blood sugar regulation. I see this all the time in clinic. I have actually never seen someone with Diabetes who doesn't have a magnesium deficiency, that have all of the magnesium deficiency symptoms, because magnesium is really really important for balancing your blood sugar levels, for that glucose metabolism. So sometimes the glucose metabolism issues with that can relate to not having enough magnesium. I'm not saying it's the only part of it, but it certainly can be a really big part of it. Also goes for vitamin D as well. Vitamin D and magnesium tend to work together in a lot of things and for balancing your blood sugar levels and glucose metabolism. They seem to be quite connected.
Fiona Kane:So the other thing too, actually in regards to magnesium that's important to know is a lot of medications will cause a deficiency in magnesium. So there's a lot of medications where, if you're taking that medication, you really really need to be taking magnesium. And that goes for a lot of and it's a lot of kind of heart related medications that and we need magnesium for a healthy heart. So it's one of those things like something like statins, which is cholesterol lowering medications. If you're on bows, then generally magnesium can be a real issue, and it's one of the reasons why people get really muscle cramps in their legs when they're taking certain statins. So if you're on those medications, you often want to take magnesium as well. Not at the same time, not at exactly the same time. Keep it at least half an hour, if not a couple of hours, apart. But magnesium can be important, of course, too.
Fiona Kane:I will just mention here that this is the stuff I do in my clinic and rather than kind of just taking supplements willy-nilly, it is best to have someone who knows what they're doing, who helps supervise this for you, because there are contraindications with medications, issues with timing and other things to consider. So I'm just giving you a bit of a general idea. You could book a consultation with me at informedhealthcomau online consultation. However, I'm just giving you a bit of an idea of the sort of symptoms you might have. That might relate to nutrition deficiencies and often see them after people go on medications or otherwise. If people just have gut issues, like someone who has issues whether they're not absorbing their nutrients, whether the food's going right through them, or maybe they have upper digestive issues where they have a lot of reflux, that sort of thing Sometimes that's an indication that you're not digesting your food very well. So you see these symptoms. So, anyway, so magnesium, poor blood sugar regulation, high pretension, so high blood pressure, and so very much is involved in managing a healthy blood pressure and blood glucose. So again, really really important nutrient, magnesium.
Fiona Kane:Muscle cramps is one of the most common things I see with magnesium. Now, muscle cramps can relate to other things like sodium and potassium, that sort of thing as well, but quite often it is a magnesium deficiency and especially like foot cramps, leg cramps, that kind of thing people waking up at night. With foot cramps. You can also with magnesium. You can buy their stuff, do the creams and that sort of thing. You don't absorb them fully but you absorb enough and it's enough for things like muscle cramps and it's really they're quite good locally to sort of rub on locally. So you have some next year bed if you do wake up with cramps. But then look at why you have a magnesium deficiency as well and you may need to take it depending on your situation. So other symptoms can be muscle spasms as well, and this goes for whether it be like your leg or. But also magnesium can really help with other kinds of spasms, like if you're having like period pain or even digestive pain, like we're getting cramps in the stomach. That kind of thing. Magnesium can really help with that.
Fiona Kane:The other symptoms that you could that could indicate that you're deficient in magnesium are being tired like that's a fatigue, lethargy, that kind of thing. Tension, headaches and poor sleep, because magnesium is involved in making melatonin, which is your sleep hormone, and inability to deal with stress, because magnesium is involved in that whole pathway for serotonin, melatonin and all of those things that help you balance your stress and balance your mind and so that nervousness and anxiousness and it's a thing a lot of women know this well. I think that we need. We certainly need more magnesium at certain times of the month or just in certain stressful situations, so women will often be craving something like something like chocolate or something like that around that time, and part of that could be that they're craving magnesium. So it's. All of those symptoms can relate to magnesium deficiency. That's why it's important to understand if you have deficiencies and what they are, and get the right advice about the type of supplement to take.
Fiona Kane:There's lots of different types of magnesium and some of them will just cause you tummy problems and won't really absorb anything. So, yeah, just get advice around it, don't just go to the supermarket and pick up the first thing. You see. Sometimes you might have a problem worse by doing that. So magnesium is in things like red meat, chicken liver, pork, turkey nuts and seeds, again yeast. It's in dark chocolate, it's in curry powder and goat's milk and I think it would be in regular milk as well and things like spinach and parsley and stuff like that. So that's magnesium, and you can see when I read these lists, so much nutrition is in animal products. That's why it's so important to include animal products in your diet, whether it's like eggs or meat or or milks or things like that. If your body can deal with those foods, just have a sip of my tea. So the next one is sodium, and so sodium salt.
Fiona Kane:You might know what is salt and essentially, symptoms of low sodium include fatigue, weakness, headaches, constipation and difficulty concentrating. And you see that it's one of the symptoms that you see. When someone, those people, when they're doing a race and they get to the end of a race and they fall over and they're like a running race or a long distance race or something, often they end up with a sodium deficiency. It will also cause the cramps, like the leg cramps and that sort of thing, so the muscle cramps, that kind of. It's like that imbalance of sodium and potassium. Actually it's a combination of sodium and potassium work together. But essentially you'll see that in people who, like when they're doing a race or something and if they're not managing their nutrition well, they're sort of really sweating a lot, whatever.
Fiona Kane:So sodium is one of those things that you know it can push up your blood pressure. If you already have high blood pressure, it seems to have issue with people. However, if you don't have high blood pressure, then you know we really need. We really need to take sodium, not take sodium. We need to eat sodium, we need to be part of our diet.
Fiona Kane:And I would just say, in regards to salt, if you're getting a salt for like, if you're using a rock salt or you know a lake salt or some sort of like sea salt or something that's got all different minerals in it and you're just using that and adding that to your healthy, home prepared natural foods, in most cases it's a non issue. It's actually a really healthy thing. If the salt you're getting is coming from, you know, packets of chips and duck food and biscuits and lollies and whatever, there's a problem. So sodium in its kind of natural kind of just adding it to our cooking as a natural thing, as a, you know, for taste and flavor, is a non issue for most people. Unless you have high blood pressure. It might be an issue for you.
Fiona Kane:But but yeah, what's happening now is we're seeing a lot of people with, I think, starting to be more deficient in sodium because we're kind of avoiding it. And it's not evil and bad. It actually has a really, really important role in our bodies and in our health. So we don't avoid it, but we just be aware of where we're getting it from and generally, if you're getting it in from a natural place and putting in your natural, healthy foods, it's usually a healthy thing in most cases. So, and you know sodium or salt. Obviously I've just talked about kind of where it comes from. You find it in things like kelp and that sort of stuff too, like seaweed type foods, basically foods that come from the sea. You get a lot can be quite salty and anything that's had salt added to it, right? So so that would include deli meats and stuff like that, which you probably, or no.
Fiona Kane:So the next one is potassium. Again, muscle cramps, muscle twitching, heart palpitations and you might sort of really start to notice your heartbeat. So again, this can be an issue. The sodium, potassium they work together when people are having a race of some sort and you know, with potassium, if someone's got kidney issues, they need to be aware of the intake of potassium. So again, I'm not telling people to go out and take all of these things. Have an awareness around it, eat some of the foods and get the right advice for you. But the foods that contain potassium are things like red meat, fish, yeast spread like regi, mite cheeses, fruit especially bananas and avocados, nuts, seeds, soy and sort of various green and and and orange vegetables and yellow vegetables etc. So the idea is to sort of get most of this nutrition from those foods and if you're having problems with digestion, book in a consultation and we can help you resolve your digestive issues to the best, depending on what's going on for you, to the best of our ability.
Fiona Kane:Now the next one is iron. Iron is a really common deficiency in women because for 30, 40 years of our life what a however long it is we lose iron every month during our period. So it can be a really big issue for women, less so for men. If men have iron deficiencies could relate to a of like a vegan diet or something otherwise. A concern might be that you have some sort of internal bleed, gastrointestinal bleed, because it's not normal for men to be sort of as normal or common for men to be as low in iron, and some people have a disease, that where they are too high in iron. So this is one of those issues where, again, don't just go and start taking it. Get advice around whether or not you need it and it's right for you on which kind and all the rest of it, because taking line can certainly cause constipation Again, different types. So get the right advice so that you can help reduce those issues.
Fiona Kane:But low iron can be low motivation, poor concentration, fatigue, irritability, poor behaviour in children, headaches, shortness of breath. I get the shortness of breath. I've been low on iron most of my life and it's a shortness of breath that I get. Dizziness, very pale appearance, low immunity and a smooth, swollen tongue can often be a sign of iron deficiency. Iron is in, of course, red meat, liver, kidney, chicken, lamb, veal, nuts, seeds, eggs, seafood and some leafy greens and things like soy, tomatoes, that sort of thing. There's humine and non-humine, basically stuff that comes from animals and stuff that comes from veggies. In my opinion, you need both, so you can't just do one or the other. I think that we need both. Anyway, that was iron and now B vitamins. There's lots of B vitamins.
Fiona Kane:It's not just one thing, but generally speaking, when people are low in B vitamins, you might see low energy, you might see mouth sores or those like cracks in the side of the mouth, like ulcers, mouth ulcers as well. Low mood, not able to deal with stress, confusion, nausea, susceptibility to infections, skin rashes, things like dermatitis, abdominal cramps. Also weakness, tired, light-headed, dizzy, heart palpitations and this also actually some of these, particularly those last few ones, the weakness, tiredness, heart palpitations they're a real B12 thing. Again, with B12, you'll get the swollen tongue. So the swollen tongue can relate to B12 deficiency or iron deficiency. They're different kinds of anemias and things like nerve problems, like numbness and tingling, even vision loss.
Fiona Kane:And I will suggest to you particularly if you have a vegan diet, if you're getting these symptoms, please go and get it checked out, because if you have B12 deficiency for long enough, you will actually end up with brain damage, so it doesn't work well for you in the end, like you can't reverse that. So please ensure that you are aware of your B vitamin status, particularly your B12. Hang on, I just need to have a break. I'll be back in a moment. Sorry about that. I'm back. So my computer just started doing weird things, so I just stepped away for a moment to fix that problem. So we were just talking about things, b12 and please, if you're a vegan, you probably should actually be taking B12, because even if you don't have a deficiency Now, you will ultimately end up with a deficiency because there are plant sources of B12 but there don't seem to be the kind of B12 that is helpful. So, anyway, just please get it checked and please get onto it if there's a problem, because, especially if you're having those numbness, tingling, vision loss, those sorts of things, you can end up with permanent damage. So please don't risk that. And B12 is in meat, seafood, eggs and cheese the B12 that actually is useful, I think, the B12 in plants, et cetera. I don't think it is as and doesn't work as well as the B12 in animal products.
Fiona Kane:So iodine is the next one. Being low in iodine causes low mood, depression, fatigue, sensitive to cold, inability to lose weight, and that can be because of the effect of thyroid. So we need iodine to make thyroid hormone. So one of the common causes of thyroid issues is actually being low in iodine, and so you get the sluggish metabolism, the dry skin, the constipation, and they're all signs of thyroid disease, and in the case of this, they can be corrected by having enough iodine. It's not as common deficiency anymore because it's fortified in our food, so it's put in bread and cereals and that kind of thing. However, it can be an issue, so it's good to be aware of that. It's also in table salt, so the iodized table salt that's in there and it's also in things like milk, fish, cocoa, egg yolks, oysters, scallops and seaweed. Now, iodine is also. It's very, very important, for if you're planning to get pregnant it's very, very important to have enough iodine. And look at those amounts. All of these nutrients it's very important. But iodide deficiency can cause a really severe brain function deficits in babies. So yeah, it's something you have to have a real awareness around.
Fiona Kane:Okay, essential fatty acids like omega-3s that we see from things like we talk about fish oils. There's omega-3s, there's omega-6s, but omega-3s in particular are essential. Back of them low mood, dry hair, dry skin, joint pain, forgetfulness. So yeah, a lot of Kind of brain sort of symptoms. I think that the forgetfulness, etc. But also tired. You can be tired from it as well.
Fiona Kane:Sometimes if you're tired you take some fish oil. It will pep you up, so and that's omega-3 is, like I said, fish oil. So it's in things like walnuts and flaxseed oil and and other Like alveys and things like that. And omega-6 as you get from things like sunflower seeds and pine nuts and Brazil nuts. So Just have essential fats, say, are important. They're called essential in nutrition. Essential means your body can't make it, you must eat it so, and it's essential for health and life. So that's what essential means. If you ever see the word essential in nutrition, it's not like all the essential handbag of the season, it's not that. It's actually essential for health and life and survival and all of that jazz. So I've only got a couple more to go on, just to wear of time.
Fiona Kane:Okay, so calcium, calcium. Obviously we hear about calcium in regards to bone health, but calcium, a lack of, like a deficiency in, calcium, can also cause things like confusion, muscle cramps again back to those muscle cramps is a few nutrients evolved there Because magnesium and calcium work together. It's complicated so I'm not going to go into it, but they work together but also things like tingling of the lips and fingers and brittle bones. So with calcium, calcium is not the only thing that you need for bones. You need lots of nutrients for bones. So don't get caught up and it's just about calcium.
Fiona Kane:Also, I would say to you don't take calcium unless you are supervised by a sensible doctor or a sensible nutritionist or naturopath, because calcium can cause problems when you take it as a supplement, and it can. It can build up around your arteries and sort of Contribute to those sorts of issues. So we need to make sure when we, when we are taking calcium, that it is being absorbed into our bones. And you need vitamin K2 to be present for that, you need vitamin D to be present, for that, you need good fats to be present. For that it's. It's complicated. It's a complicated mechanism.
Fiona Kane:We used to think, oh okay, someone's low in calcium, take, take calcium full stop. But the calcium we take well ends up in people's kidneys. It ends up in arteries, ends up in all sorts of sizes, but not necessarily the bones. So please don't just go and buy a calcium supplement. Find out if you need it first and then, if you do, get someone who knows what they're doing to prescribe it appropriately for you, also that's person to keep an eye on Any issues that it might cause if it does go to the wrong place. So it's not just like I know people think I use calcium supplement. If you're just taking a calcium supplement because you know, just in case, not a good idea, please go and get advice. Or if you've got someone prescribed it ten years ago, five years ago, whatever, and you just keep taking it not a good idea, please stop taking it. Get advice from me or your GP or someone who is a professional in this.
Fiona Kane:So, but, but yeah, so calcium is in, as we know, dairy, but it's also in some soy products, it's in wheat germ, it's in cinnamon and tahini like tahini is really good source actually, which is kind of sesame seeds, so it's like it's some sesame seeds that have been crushed up and turned into like a paste sort of thing, and Brazil nuts, sunflower seeds, seafood, cabbage, bok choy, mustard, spinach and fresh herbs. So it's not only and for people are having. Okay, if dairy goes straight through you and you're having dairy for your calcium, not like I Find out, work with someone like me to work out whether or not you can tolerate dairy or not, or if there's ways you can do it. But if it's going straight through you and not absorbing it, just focus on the forms of calcium that you can absorb. If you can deal with dairy, fantastic, it's a great source and you know, have your Yogits and things like that brilliant.
Fiona Kane:So the next one is vitamin D, very closely associated with both magnesium and calcium. Lack of vitamin D Can you can have low mood, depression, low immunity, bone health issues like rickets. So rickets is something that when you get sort of, you see that the bow legs, just the damage and the bones and the legs of children as they develop. And with vitamin D, we get it from sunlight but we also get it from all of those kind of if you think of the, the oily fish, so the hearings, the sardines, and then calamari and things like cheese, milk and egg yolks. So don't avoid your egg yolks unless you actually have an allergy to them. There's no reason to avoid egg yolks not cholesterol, not hot, not any of those. No reason to avoid egg yolks and they should actually have an allergy to them.
Fiona Kane:And that's where you get all of your lovely nutrients. So that's where you get your vitamin D from and, like I said, I see it in association with blood blood glucose levels as well. I think it relates to the magnesium that they work together. But vitamin D is really really important nutrient. Again, vitamin D, whether you take it or not, get advice around it. I think if it's low then it needs to be boosted up, but it's about what's the best way to do that.
Fiona Kane:You could also get vitamin D. It will come in. It will come in cod liver, all so cod liver, all the thing that my grandma used to give me when I was a child. She was right and in saying that it's not on my list here. But vitamin A is another one.
Fiona Kane:Now, vitamin A is Not available in a vegan diet at all. Pro vitamin A is, which is the stuff that you see in carrots and that sort of thing Retin, retin, retinol, retin, but that's you. So pro vitamin A is, but vitamin A is not. Now some most people all I don't know about most, but anyway Some people can't convert pro vitamin A into actual vitamin A. I don't know what the percentages are, but some people are unable to do that and they are the people that get very, very ill on vegan diets and end up with immune system breaking down, bones breaking down, all sorts of issues, spine falling apart. So please be aware that just because you've got pro vitamin A, it doesn't mean you're converting it into vitamin A itself.
Fiona Kane:Vitamin A is also in cod liver oil and vitamin A and D sort of work together and offered in similar places, and vitamin A is used for the lining of your digestive system. So if you think of, like, all the wet things inside, well, all the wet things, basically, any orifice in the body, basically that inside lining, that wet mucus membrane lining. Vitamin A is very associated with that. Things like allergies, those sorts of things as well, and just in general skin issues. So often when you see a lot of skin issues there's a vitamin A deficiency and if you can have too much vitamin A you do have to have an awareness around it. But again, get advice because if you've got a deficiency it does need to be corrected. So, and they cod liver oil and vitamin A is pretty much all the same things that vitamin D is in all the oily, oily fish and egg yolks and things like that, and meat, I think, as well.
Fiona Kane:So last two, one is chromium. Chromium helps you balance your blood sugar levels. If you've got a lack of chromium then you'll see problems of blood sugar regulation. So you might be getting hungry all the time and you might be getting confused or having impaired coordination. Chromium is in things like ham and white fish and parsley, olives and cottage cheese, and it can be important, for it's often used in supplements for weight loss in regards to blood sugar control to stop you from craving. So calcium and magnesium and chromium work together quite well that way in just helping correct your blood glucose function so that you're not getting low blood sugar all the time and craving sugar all the time, craving food all the time.
Fiona Kane:The last one I will cover today is vitamin C and vitamin C we know in relation to immune system. Also, connective tissue, like things like gin to virus or any of those mouth issues can relate to a vitamin C deficiency, poor wound healing and low mood and depression. And vitamin C is in things like guava, banana, blackberries, capsicum, strawberries. Think of all of the citrus roots, think of just all the colours. All the different colours of vitamins and minerals are in those colourful vegetables.
Fiona Kane:Just a quick note to going back to the vitamin A. In Australia you don't think this is happening, but in Australia I don't have the article or the information in front of me there was a child. He went blind in one eye and he was going blind in the other eye and it was a vitamin A deficiency. So don't think this does not happen in Australia and it couldn't be fixed. Like once, you go blind from the vitamin A deficiency, you go blind. So that's the other thing with vitamin A night vision. So if your night vision is starting to go, you have a vitamin A deficiency and you might not be getting enough. If you are eating fruit and vegetables, you might not be getting enough from those. So be very aware that vitamin A is a really, really important nutrient.
Fiona Kane:And yes, children going blind in Australia from a vitamin A deficiency and this was, I think he was eating I'm just trying to remember now but all he ate was chips, hot chips kind of thing, or fries you might call them wherever you are but just hot chips, fries, that kind of thing. He's pretty much just eating those, I think, just like white foods made from potato and stuff. And he ended up going blind in one eye and lucky they caught it in time because they didn't diagnose it, because no one believes this is happening in Australia, but it is happening in Western countries. You can be overnourished as far as too much food, but undernourished as far as not enough nutrition, and so that happens. It doesn't just happen in places where they've got lack of food. It actually happens in places where we have an abundance of food but a lack of healthy diet and balanced diet.
Fiona Kane:Anyway, I will leave it at that. I hope that was useful to you. Remember, it's the sort of thing that I can help you with at InformtHealthcomau, where you can book NNC me or Rebecca and we can help you with these nutrition issues. And also, don't forget to like and subscribe and share and all of those lovely things to ensure that this podcast gets out there. I really appreciate you watching and all listening. Hope you have a great week. See you next time. Bye.