While you may take your daily dose of vitamins, they may not all absorb into your system. A few different conditions could cause your body not to absorb vitamins, or even just particular vitamins from being absorbed. You may not notice that your body isn't absorbing vitamins right away, until you begin to experience certain side effects.
Function
Vitamins help maintain skin, teeth, bones, hair and they also help regulate certain organs such as your heart, liver, kidneys and eyes. Without vitamins, your body wouldn't have the nutrients it requires to function properly. Vitamins are especially vital during adolescence while bones are developing and growing, since certain vitamins, such as vitamin D, help you grow and maintain strong, healthy bones. As you grow older, vitamins become important for a different reason. They help prevent certain conditions, such as osteoporosis, and nutrient deficiency diseases like scurvy.
Types
There are two types of vitamins; water-soluble and fat-soluble. Your body stores fat-soluble vitamins within your body fat for later use, according to KidsHealth.org. Water-soluble vitamins exit your body when you urinate, as your body cannot store them. Your body requires water-soluble vitamins on a regular basis to replenish itself. Your body does not require fat-soluble vitamins as frequently as water-soluble vitamins, unless your body is unable to absorb vitamins.
Causes
Certain conditions such as celiac disease, irritable bowel disease and other similar conditions, such as ulcerative colitis, may inhibit your body's ability to absorb vitamins, as well as other nutrients, according to KidsHealth.org. Celiac disease affects your body's digestive system, along with the small intestine, and prohibits your body from absorbing vitamins because the villi in the small intestine become destroyed. Irritable bowel disease and ulcerative colitis can cause chronic diarrhea, which can prohibit your body from absorbing vitamins and nutrients, as your body cannot process them before they exit the body.
Effects
Certain causes, such as chronic diarrhea from an illness, such as food poisoning are temporary. A temporary condition does not create as great a threat as a long-term medical condition. If an adolescent has celiac disease and the condition is left untreated, the child may not grow properly, due to an inadequate supply of nutrients. Long-term vitamin absorption problems also pose the risk of vitamin deficiency, which can lead to other conditions such as ricket's, osteomalacia or scurvy. Some vitamin deficiencies can cause anemia or affect your vision.
Considerations
If you have been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel disease, celiac disease or another similar condition, address concerns about vitamin absorption with your health care provider. If you begin to suffer long bouts of diarrhea for a prolonged period of time, seek medical care as this could indicate another underlying illness. If you begin to show symptoms of a vitamin deficiency, schedule an appointment with your health care provider so he may perform additional testing to determine the cause and discuss your diet.
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