You carefully choose your meals every day, but have you ever stopped to think about what nutrients they provide?   Are you getting all the important vitamins and minerals your body needs, or are some slipping through the cracks?  

Vitamin deficiencies are one of the leading contributors to worldwide diseases, with ½ of the world population being affected.¹​  Vitamin deficiencies can lead to a range of symptoms and health concerns, particularly affecting your brain and general health.  For instance, a deficiency in vitamin B12 can result in muscle weakness and low energy levels, while a deficiency of vitamin D may contribute to a poor or depressed mood.​² 

So, what might be causing these vitamin deficiencies?  We’ll examine some of the key causes. 

Poor Diet 

As mentioned, your diet is the primary source of the vitamins and minerals your brain and body need to thrive.  It’s no surprise, then, that a poor diet can lead to vitamin deficiencies.  While you have control over what you choose to eat, various other factors can influence why we often end up consuming less nutritious foods.  Let’s break down each of these factors to better understand their impact on your nutrition.  

The Ultra Processed Food (UPF) Industry:  

In today’s world, ultra-processed foods are everywhere.  Their flashy, brightly colored packaging and ready-to-eat convenience make them hard to resist.  These foods include soft drinks, snacks, preserved meats, and frozen meals.  While they offer quick satisfaction, they contribute to more than half of total caloric intake in the USA but provide little nutritional value.​³​  Specifically, these UPF’s can lead to more vitamin's deficiencies with vitamin D, vitamin E, and magnesium to name a few.  Beyond their lack of nutrients, they often contain components you should be avoiding for better health, like saturated fats, added sugars, and high sodium levels.  As these foods become more prevalent, their inadequate nutrient profile and unhealthy ingredients become a growing concern for your brain and overall health.​³​  Ask yourself, have you found yourself eating things like packaged chips, breakfast cereals, or sodas in the past few days?  If so you’re not alone.  

Economic Constraints and Education: 

Many people want to improve their diet to avoid vitamin deficiencies, but economic challenges and limited education often restrict their options.  For one, rising food prices make it harder to access a diverse and high-quality diet, leaving those with lower income with less options.  Families facing food insecurity, which can be influenced by both economic status and lack of dietary education, often turn to cheaper, ultra-processed foods that are filling but lack important nutrients.  This shift away from fruits, vegetables, and high-quality proteins increases the risk of vitamin and mineral deficiencies.​⁴​   This is all more common than you think.  Even those with high income may have poor dietary education.  How many can answer how an omega-3 fat is different from a saturated fat, or what an antioxidant is?   

Remote Areas and ‘Food Deserts’: 

Your environment drastically influences your food choices.  If healthy foods are readily available where you shop, you're more likely to purchase them.  However, if you're surrounded by poor options, or the healthier choices are expensive or of low quality, like bruised produce and spoiled meats, you might skip them altogether.  This is the challenge faced by many remote areas, known as "food deserts."  In these regions, grocery stores are few and often small, offering a limited range of healthy foods.  Additionally, certain regions may struggle with access to specific foods due to their location, making it even harder to maintain a balanced diet.  Some well-known examples of food deserts include Detroit, Michigan, and the South Bronx in New York City, where residents often struggle to find supermarkets with fresh produce.  Have you ever found yourself living in a similar situation, where access to fresh, nutritious food was a challenge?  With such limited options, the risk of vitamin deficiencies increases significantly.​⁵​ 

Are you ready to embrace a diet packed with vitamins and minerals to help you manage deficiencies?  Our free "Learning to Eat the Mediterranean Way" e-guide can help you get started!  Inside, you'll find simple strategies, delicious recipes, and helpful tips for incorporating the Mediterranean diet into your daily life.  Download below. 

Older Age 

As we age, we benefit from greater wisdom, but a downside is that vitamin deficiencies become more common due to various factors.  Older adults often face challenges like chronic diseases, poor digestion, and nutrient-drug interactions, which can compromise vitamin levels and hinder the absorption of vitamins from food.  One key issue is the decline in gastric function, which can lead to vitamin B12 deficiency.  Additionally, older adults often spend more time indoors, resulting in less exposure to sunlight and potentially leading to vitamin D3 deficiency.​⁶​  Moreover, as lean body mass decreases with age, it becomes essential to increase protein intake to support muscle maintenance.​⁷ 

Additionally, malnutrition is a significant concern, with up to 50% of older adults in residential care and 85% in long-term nursing homes at risk.​⁸  Age-related changes, such as altered taste and smell, difficulty chewing or swallowing, and reduced appetite, further reduce food intake.  As people age and mobility starts to decline, they may become socially isolated, and this social isolation and loneliness can lead to poor dietary choices, further increasing the risk of malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies. For instance, older adults may opt for quick, nutritionally poor meals like “tea and toast” for every breakfast, instead of preparing a balanced meal.​⁹​   

Poor Soil Conditions  

Today's soil quality is not what it used to be, leading to a significant decline in the nutrient richness of the food we grow.   Over the years, American cropland has seen about a 50% reduction in soil organic matter, which is essential for healthy, nutrient-dense crops.   One major factor contributing to this decline is the practice of tilling—turning over the soil to prepare it for planting.   While tilling helps control weeds and mix in fertilizers, it also disrupts the soil structure, depletes organic matter, and leads to erosion.   As a result, the soil becomes less fertile, and the crops grown in it are less nutritious than those grown in the past.​¹⁰  Commercial agriculture is a major driver for poor soil quality, as the process of harvesting plants and livestock at large scale essentially "mines" the soil of nutrients.  When crops are harvested, they remove vital nutrients from the soil, and while fertilizers can replenish some of these nutrients, they rarely replace them fully.  Over time, this leads to soil nutrient and trace mineral depletion and degradation.​¹​   

There is also the issue of pesticides.  Pesticides (and herbicides) are commonly used in agriculture to protect crops, but they come with significant downsides.  Heavy use of pesticides can cause a decline in beneficial soil microorganisms, which are crucial for maintaining healthy soil.  Soil scientist Dr. Elaine Ingham compares this to the overuse of antibiotics in humans, stating, “If we lose both bacteria and fungi, then the soil degrades.  Overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides have effects on the soil organisms that are similar to human overuse of antibiotics.  Indiscriminate use of chemicals might work for a few years, but after awhile, there aren't enough beneficial soil organisms to hold on to the nutrients.”​¹¹​  

What nutrients do we know are most affected by soil depletion?  They are more common than you may expect, like magnesium, vitamin E, vitamin B3, and carotenoids to name a few.  

Medical Conditions 

Medical conditions can significantly impact our health and vitamin levels, leading to vitamin deficiencies.  Certain illnesses and chronic conditions can interfere with the body’s ability to absorb, utilize, or store vitamins, increasing the risk of deficiencies.  

We’ll explore a few common conditions here (although this is not an exhaustive list): 

Pernicious Anemia: Pernicious anemia is an autoimmune disorder that impairs vitamin B12 absorption, causing a deficiency and “megaloblastic anemia,” where the body produces large, immature red blood cells.  It affects people of all ages but is more common in those over 60.  The condition occurs because the body doesn’t produce intrinsic factor (IF), a protein necessary for B12 absorption, leading to anemia and related health issues.​¹²​ 

Celiac Disease: Celiac disease is a common condition where the immune system reacts negatively to gluten (a protein commonly found in wheat) in people who are genetically predisposed.  This reaction damages the small intestine, reducing its ability to absorb nutrients.  As a result, individuals with celiac disease often face vitamin deficiencies, including shortages of vitamin D, vitamin B12, and magnesium.  For instance, around 92% of people with celiac disease have a vitamin D deficiency.  Thankfully, treating celiac disease, like following a strict gluten-free diet, can help heal the intestine and improve vitamin levels.​¹³​ 

Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (UC), can lead to vitamin deficiencies due to impaired digestion, absorption, and reduced food intake.  This results in a higher risk of vitamin and mineral deficiencies, like magnesium, and vitamins B12, D, and E.  The condition can cause diarrhea, depletion of nutrients and water, and further worsening nutritional deficiencies.​¹⁴​ 

Medications 

In the U.S., nearly 60% of adults use prescription drugs, and over ½ of Americans use at least one prescription drug within any 30-day period, with this use increasing as they age.​¹⁵​  Medications are often critical for managing health conditions and alleviating symptoms, but they can also have unintended side effects, including vitamin deficiencies. 

Next, we'll explore both common and newer medications that can impact vitamin levels: 

Semaglutide and Tirzepatide: Highly trending and newer drugs are semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro), which are GLP-1 analogues that reduce blood sugar levels and may stimulate insulin secretion in response to glucose levels.  Ozempic is widely used for treating type 2 diabetes and obesity, and has also become popular for general weight loss due to its appetite-reducing effects.  However, while Ozempic can lead to weight loss, studies have shown that its use can result in significant decrease in vitamin B12 levels.  Additionally, because Ozempic reduces appetite, people may not eat enough nutrient-dense foods, potentially leading to further vitamin deficiencies.  Monitoring your nutritional intake and discussing any concerns with your healthcare provider is important while using this medication.​¹⁶​ 

Metformin: Metformin is a commonly prescribed medication for managing high blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetes.  It helps control glucose levels by improving the body’s response to insulin and reducing the amount of sugar produced by the liver.  While generally considered safe, long-term use of metformin can lead to vitamin B12 deficiency in about 22% of patients.  This occurs because metformin can interfere with the absorption of vitamin B12 by affecting how calcium-dependent processes in the digestive system work.​¹⁷​ 

Diuretics: Diuretics are medications that help remove excess sodium and water by increasing urine production.  Common types include loop diuretics (e.g., furosemide) for heart failure and kidney issues, thiazide diuretics (e.g., hydrochlorothiazide) for high blood pressure, and potassium-sparing diuretics (e.g., spironolactone) to preserve potassium.  Both loop and thiazide diuretics can lead to magnesium deficiencies.  Loop diuretics inhibit magnesium reabsorption in the kidneys, while thiazides increase magnesium excretion, with long-term use posing a higher risk for magnesium deficiency.​¹⁸  

Concluding Thoughts  

While striving to meet your nutrient needs through a balanced diet is important for maintaining health, it's crucial to recognize that other factors can impact vitamin and mineral levels.  Medical conditions, medications, and lifestyle choices may create situations where dietary adjustments alone are insufficient.  Nutritional supplements can be an effective way to address specific deficiencies and support your health.  It's always important to consult with a healthcare professional to tailor your approach and ensure that any supplementation complements your medical circumstances. 

When developing RELEVATE, our brain health supplement, we collaborated with leading experts from top institutions like Cleveland Clinic, Rush University Medical Center, and Barrow Neurological Institute.  Understanding the reality of vitamin deficiencies, even in those who follow a healthy diet, we aimed to address these gaps.  RELEVATE provides 17 vitamins and minerals often lacking in average diets, supporting brain health and your health in other areas, like immune, eye, cardiovascular, and metabolic health.  RELEVATE’s formulation offers diet-informed doses, making it easy to integrate into your existing routine without large “mega” doses that may interfere with medications.  RELEVATE offers peace of mind that your brain receives the nourishment it needs, even if your diet or other factors might be affecting your vitamin levels.  Explore more about RELEVATE or order by clicking here. 

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