Your body utilizes many nutrients each day to help maintain functional cells and tissues. Failure to consume enough of any number of nutrients can negatively affect your health and your tissue function. Nutritional deficiencies can lead to a number of side effects. Specifically, deficiencies in select vitamins, minerals and other nutrients can lead to fatigue.
Iron
Deficiencies in the essential nutrient iron may lead to abnormal fatigue. Iron found in proteins on the surface of your red blood cells binds to and carries oxygen throughout your bloodstream, and iron deficiencies can lead to decreased tissue oxygenation. Your cells' metabolism and ability to produce energy relies on oxygen from your bloodstream, and deficiencies in iron can affect your energy levels, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. A simple blood test can often identify iron deficiency, and consuming iron-rich foods and supplements can reverse the deficiency to alleviate fatigue.
Folic Acid
Another nutrient potentially linked to abnormal fatigue is folate, also called vitamin B-9. Folate helps your body form new red blood cells. Folate deficiency can reduce the number of functional red blood cells within your bloodstream. This condition, called folate-deficiency anemia, causes fatigue, along with headaches and a pale complexion, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. Depending on the underlying cause of the folate deficiency, simply taking folate supplements and eating folate-rich may help reduce your fatigue.
Biotin
In some cases, consuming biotin may also help fatigue. Also called vitamin H, biotin works in your body to help break down the carbohydrates from your diet and produce energy within your cells, explains J. Anderson, a nutrition specialist at Colorado State University. As a result, deficiencies in biotin can affect your energy levels, causing fatigue and anemia. Other symptoms of a vitamin H deficiency include muscle pains, digestive upset, and neurological symptoms, such as depression.
Vitamin B5
Vitamin B5, or pantothenic acid, may also play a role in abnormal fatigue. Like biotin, pantothenic acid helps your cells produce energy, so failure to consume enough of the vitamin can affect your energy levels. J. Anderson explains that vitamin B5 deficiency can cause fatigue and lead to difficulty sleeping, which may in turn exacerbate fatigue. Food milling and refining leads to the loss of pantothenic acid from foods, so if you consume a diet rich in processed foods you may face increased risk of pantothenic acid deficiency and fatigue. Consume relatively unprocessed foods, like whole grains and legumes, to help boost your pantothenic acid intake and fight fatigue.
References
- NetWellness: Symptoms of Vitamin Deficiency?; Lisa Cicciarello Andrews, MEd, RD, LD; September 1998
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Iron Deficiency Anemia; January 2008
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Folate-Deficiency Anemia -- Symptom; Yi-Bin Chen, MD; January 2010
- Colorado State University: Water-Soluble Vitamins; J. Anderson et al.; August 2008
