5 Common Nutrient Deficiencies (and what to do about it)

Iodine

Iodine is a trace mineral with big implications for our health, especially of the thyroid.

Deficiency Symptoms

1. Hypothyroidism – Iodine is a crucial ingredient in thyroid hormone, so a lack of iodine in the diet will reduce the thyroid’s ability to manufacture thyroid hormone. Symptoms of hypothyroidism include weight gain, an inability to lose weight, fatigue, elevated blood lipids, hair loss, dry skin, loss of libido, infertility and more.
2. Goiter – In an iodine-deficient state, the thyroid gland will enlarge in order to overcompensate. This will often result in a highly visible lump in the neck.
3. Cretinism – Iodine deficiency during pregnancy often results in abnormal neurodevelopment and lowered IQ in the child.

Why Might Deficiency Occur?

1. Removal of iodised salt from the diet. Most table salt is iodised with the minimum required dose, but many people nowadays reduce salt intake considerably due to a fear of high blood pressure or the idea that salt intake is generally bad for health (which is not the case by the way). 
2. Insufficient intake of iodine-rich foods, like seaweed and seafood.
3. Excessive intake of goitrogen-rich foods, which interfere with iodine uptake by the thyroid gland. This, then, isn’t a true whole-body deficiency, but rather an inability of the thyroid to get the iodine it requires.

Where to Get It

1. Eat seafood, fish, shellfish, crustaceans, and basically any creature that lives in the ocean. Looks like pollack, codfish, and abalone rank highest, but there are lots of good sources. Cooking method will also determine iodine content, with boiling losing the most and frying retaining the most. Grilling retains far more iodine than boiling, and just a little less than frying. Raw seafood will retain the most iodine.
2. Eat seaweed. 
3. Eat pastured egg yolks. Although the specific amount depends on the dietary iodine of the laying hen, if there’s iodine in the diet, it’ll show up in the yolk. After all, chicken baby brains need iodine just as much as human baby brains.
4. Supplement. Popular ones include kelp supplements.

Dosage
RDA is 150 micrograms. Seaweed-eating Japanese populations often get upwards of 12.5 milligrams (or 12,500 micrograms) per day. 150 mcg should be the bare minimum, and if you’re feeling any of the deficiency symptoms, consider increasing your intake. 

Selenium

While severe selenium deficiency in adults is pretty rare, minor deficiency is easy to get and can have some unpleasant effects on our health.
Deficiency Symptoms

1. Selenium supports efficient thyroid hormone synthesis and is required for the conversion of thyroid hormone T4 into the active T3, so a selenium deficiency can manifest with hypothyroid symptoms.
2. Selenium deficiency symptoms look an awful lot like the side effects of statins, especially muscle damage and polyneuropathy.

Why Might Deficiency Occur?

1. Lack of selenium in the soil. Lack all other minerals, selenium must be present in the soil to show up in the food. It isn’t created out of thin air.
2. Insufficient intake of selenium-rich foods.
3. Intestinal disorders, like Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and celiac, can reduce the absorption of selenium from foods.

Where to Get It

1. Brazil nuts (one or two a day are enough to improve selenium status), wild salmon, kidneys, crimini and shiitake mushrooms, lamb, turkey, shrimp, cod, halibut, and egg yolks are all good sources of selenium.
2. Supplement. 

Dosage
200 mcg appears to be the safe supplemental dose, but there’s very little evidence of selenium toxicity from a diet high in selenium rich foods.

Magnesium

Ah, magnesium. Everyone touts its importance, and yet few seem to get enough through diet. In fact, most research suggests that only around half of US adults reach the RDA, with low intakes being linked to type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, osteoporosis, heart disease, asthma, and colon cancer.
Deficiency Symptoms (Just Some of Them)

1. Insulin resistance.
2. Constipation.
3. Migraines.
4. Restless leg syndrome.
5. Cramping. Muscle pains
6. Hypertension.
7. Fibromyalgia.

Why Might Deficiency Occur?

1. Lack of magnesium in the soil. 
2. Lack of magnesium-rich foods in the diet. Or too many beans, nuts, grains and seeds- these foods impair the absorption of magnesium (as well as zinc, calcium and iron).
3. Removal of magnesium from drinking water. People drink tap water (which has very few minerals) as opposed to mineral rich water.

Where to Get It

1. Leafy greens
2. Dark chocolate, espresso, and halibut.
3. Mineral water. One brand, Gerolsteiner, is particularly high in magnesium. 
4. Supplement. The chelated magnesiums (those ending in “-ate,” like citrate, glycinate, or taurate) tend to be the best absorbed. You can also apply magnesium oil topically for transdermal absorption. 

Dosage
400 milligrams daily is the minimum, I’d say. If you eat plenty of grains, nuts, beans and seeds you need to supplement daily.

Vitamin K2

Most people haven’t even heard of vitamin K2. Is it any surprise that they might be a bit deficient, too?
Deficiency Symptoms

1. Tartar buildup on the teeth, and eventually tooth decay.
2. Osteoporosis.
3. Arterial calcification

Why Might Deficiency Occur?

1. A total lack of knowledge of the vitamin’s existence. 
2. A lack of vitamin K2-containing foods in the diet. 

Where to Get It

1. Food. For the animal form, MK-4 (which is the form that our bodies can absorb) you need to eat pastured yolks, liver, butter, aged cheese, and fish eggs. 
2. Food-based supplements like high-vitamin butter oil.
3. Straight-up supplements, like Thorne MK-4 drops.

Dosage
It’s tough to say. Studies on osteoporosis and heart disease use rather large doses (45 mg/day) without ill effect, but the amount you’d get from food is far lower – maybe 1 mg, max.

Vitamin B12

Deficiency Symptoms

1. Lethargy.
2. Unwanted weight loss.
3. Dementia/Alzheimer’s-like symptoms.
4. Anxiety and depression.
5. Autism spectrum disorder in children.

Why Might Deficiency Occur?

1. Vegan/vegeatrian diets that seem to have become main stream and popular recently.
2. We aren’t absorbing the B12 in our food. Gut disorders like Crohn’s or diarrhea affect our ability to absorb nutrients, minerals, and vitamins, including vitamin B12.
3. We set the bar for “normal” too low. Everything could check out and look fine on paper, but the lower end of “normal” is too low and can still cause B12 deficiency symptoms. Other countries, like Japan, have higher “normal” B12 markers and fewer cases of Alzheimer’s/dementia.

Where to Get It

1. Animals. Liver, sardines, and salmon rank highest, with liver running away with it. There are no vegetarian sources.
2. Supplements. 

Dosage
If you eat animal products regularly and liver occasionally, you’ll be getting plenty of B12 in your diet. No need to supplement if you have none of the symptoms listed above. But if you have some of the symptoms, or you have a gastrointestinal disorder that may be compromising your ability to absorb vitamin B12, consider getting your levels tested during your next visit to the doctor.