Consuming an adequate amount of vitamins and minerals has become increasingly difficult as the standard American diet becomes richer in engineered and refined foods. Most of the nutrients your body needs are found in fruits and vegetables, which are largely lacking in a typical diet. If you are experiencing symptoms that you believe may be related to a nutritional deficiency, you need to figure out which nutrients are missing, and change your diet or use supplements to correct the problem.
Step 1
Evaluate your diet. Vitamins and minerals are usually found in colorful produce. Vitamin A, for example, is most abundant in orange foods like carrots and sweet potatoes, so if you are not consuming orange vegetables, you may not be meeting your daily requirement for this vitamin. It is a complicated process to research and compare all vitamin- and mineral-rich foods to your diet, so the process can be simplified by using a computerized dietary assessment program such as the one provided for free by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, MyPyramid. Be sure to evaluate at least three days' worth of intake to obtain an average value for nutrient intake for a more accurate depiction of your nutritional status.
Step 2
Narrow down potential deficiencies. The computerized assessment tool will generate a report of your nutrient intake. If you notice that one or more values are low, take note of this for discussion with your doctor. According to the Centers for Disease Control, iron, vitamin D and vitamin B12 are the most common micronutrients to be deficient. If these nutrients or any others are reported as inadequate, you must bring this information to your health care provider for confirmation.
Step 3
Request a comprehensive metabolic panel plus individual serum level tests. The comprehensive metabolic panel is a routine blood workup that tests for the presence of some vitamins and minerals--but contrary to its name, it is not a comprehensive exam. The test covers calcium, chloride, glucose, potassium, sodium, protein and cholesterol, along with other non-dietary-related health markers, but this leaves out many vitamins and minerals. The testing process for every individual nutrient can be very expensive, so having a list of suspected deficiencies derived from your dietary analysis is an important factor in determining vitamin and mineral deficiencies in a cost-effective way.
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