If you think you \’re doing everything right to lose or maintain a healthy weight, but then you just keep on gaining. There might be a vitamin deficiency to blame. According to studies published in 2012 in ISRN Endocrinology, obese people continue to experience elevated levels of nutrient deficiencies. Many supplement products are enriched with vitamins such as vitamin D or B-vitamins. If your diet includes low-quality products, you do not get enough of those vitamins to help your body burn energy and avoid weight gain. In this article, we will walk you through the various vitamin deficiencies that can cause weight gain.
Two vitamin groups must be a part of your regular diet. Water-soluble vitamins like vitamins C and B need to be eaten regularly. Any excess amounts of these vitamins exit the body by urine naturally. You can store fat-soluble vitamins such as D, E, A, and K in your liver and fatty tissues. However, you do need to regularly take in small quantities of each of these vitamins to avoid deficiencies.
Vitamin Deficiency and Weight Gain
#Vitamin D
A 2014 report published in Obesity Reviews indicates that obese people have lower vitamin D levels but it is still not clear whether low levels of vitamin D lead to obesity, or whether obesity causes low levels of vitamin D. Nevertheless, a low-vitamin D diet can cause general tiredness and aches and pains that can lead to weight gain by making it hard to stay physically active and burn calories. You get vitamin D from access to sunlight and dietary sources like fish such as swordfish, tuna, and salmon; egg yolks, and fortified foods such as milk, yogurt, orange juices, and cereals.
#Lack of Vitamin C
Although vitamin C deficiency does not lead you to put on weight, lower vitamin C may be indicative of a poor quality diet that contributes to weight gain. Your primary source of vitamin C will be fruits and vegetables. A diet low in such foods means that your calories come from less nutritious foods, such as fried and processed foods, sodas, and high in refined sugar. A 2005 study published in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that vitamin C was low in men and women with a higher waist-to-hip ratio. Low vitamin C can also cause tiredness, sore joints, and reduced immunity.
#B And Iron and Vitamins
(Note that none of this applies to patients with special dietary requirements following weight loss surgery, which should be addressed with a doctor)
Going forward from Vitamin D, obesity also often comes alongside Vitamin b and iron deficiency. Several obese patients have thiamine deficiencies (Vitamin B9). Research indicated a prevalence of 16-29%. Some research reported deficits in vitamin B12; for example, found that serum B12 rates in obese and overweight patients were substantially lower relative to normal-weight controls.
Takeaway
It is very clear that certain significant nutrient deficiencies are more likely to occur in people with obesity. However, there is not sufficient evidence to show that supplementing with such foods would do much for weight loss. Obesity is a complex and multifaceted disease. Everyone would have been slim if we could treat it with vitamin D supplements.
It does not necessarily disprove the obesity hypothesis of nutrient shortages. For example, if the problem is a nutrient malabsorption, then taking a supplement that gets absorbed readily does not fix the real nutrient deficiency that causes the continued hunger. But it does indicate that addressing the issues of inflammation, gut health/malabsorption, and other root causes of deficiency would possibly be more useful than merely supplementing.
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