Nutrient deficiency
Nutrient deficiency: your body goes without a vitamin or mineral for a long time. When you're losing weight, it happens faster than many people think.
Ausführlich erklärt
A nutrient deficiency is when the body goes without a vitamin, a mineral or another essential substance for so long that its stores run empty and bodily functions suffer. With a varied diet, this is rare in Germany – with a few exceptions: according to the German National Nutrition Survey II and the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany's public health agency, many people fall short of the recommendations for vitamin D, iodine and folate, and for iron it's mainly women and girls.
The risk rises when you're losing weight. If you eat less, you automatically take in fewer nutrients – which is why very low-calorie diets (below about 1,200 kcal a day) should only be followed under medical supervision. One-sided patterns (only shakes, only salad, cutting out whole food groups) make things worse. The solution is nutrient density: plenty of vegetables, pulses, wholegrains, nuts, dairy or dairy alternatives, fish or eggs – little energy, lots of nutrients.
The signs are subtle and easy to miss: persistent tiredness, paleness, hair loss, brittle nails, cracked corners of the mouth, trouble concentrating, muscle cramps, frequent infections. Because the same symptoms can have many causes, they should be checked out by a doctor – a blood test tells you more than any self-test from the internet.
If you're vegan, you need a vitamin B12 supplement – the German Nutrition Society (DGE) and experts agree on that; women trying to conceive and pregnant women need folic acid, pregnant and breastfeeding women usually need iodine too, and babies need vitamin D. For everyone else, taking supplements with a scattergun approach doesn't help and can even do harm in the case of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) and iron. Get checked by a doctor first, then supplement in a targeted way.
Growing children are especially vulnerable: they need iron for their blood and brain, calcium and vitamin D for their bones and iodine for their thyroid. That's why dieting has no place in childhood – varied family meals and regular check-ups at the paediatrician's are the best protection.