Assignment
Question: Select a vitamin or mineral and address the associated question(s).
Imagine you are attending your yearly health risk assessment. When you came to the appointment, you thought you had a proper diet and were of average health. It turns out, the doctor that examines you has a special interest in nutrition. She notices some inconsistencies with what you discuss with her and suggests that you may have a deficiency or toxicity of your selected vitamin or mineral. Your post should include the following information:
· Based upon the vitamin or mineral that you have chosen, what were your doctor's observations and diagnosis?
· Do you have a toxicity or deficiency? Explain any disorders associated with the deficiency or toxicity.
· Briefly describe what your recommended daily allowance based upon your profile (sex, age, physical status, etc.) should be, your present intake estimate, and your action plan (adjustment in diet, etc.).
· If left untreated, what might be some of the more serious long term and detrimental effects this might have on your body?
· Which special populations (pregnant women, children, etc.) are most affected and why?
· What other prevention, treatment, and safety measures might be beneficial to regulate your health?
Task: Response to the two statements separately with a minimum of 100 words each. Respond to each statement with whether you agree/disagree and include one quote and reference citation from an attached reading and reference provided with each statement and also based on the question stated above.
Statement 1: - Vitamin D
Vitamin D is needed for such things as bone growth and is typically not found in many foods. Normally sunlight or ultraviolet rays are the main source of vitamin D for people. The big issue is not absorbing too much sunlight because that can lead to other issues such as skin cancer. Vitamin D "...promotes calcium absorption in the gut and maintains adequate serum calcium and phosphate concentrations to enable normal mineralization of bone and to prevent hypocalcemic tetany. (NIH, 2018)" After talking to the doctor they noticed that I have received an abnormal amount of bone breaks from non-stressful situations. The doctor then ran a test and determined that I have a vitamin D deficiency. There is not many diseases known occurring from a lack of vitamin D, in children there is a disease known as rickets which "... is a rare disease that causes the bones to become soft and bend. (MedlinePlus, 2018)" Vitamin D deficiency can cause osteomalacia which is more commonly found in adults. Osteomalacia "... causes weak bones, bone pain, and muscle weakness. (MedlinePlus, 2018)" Given my age range falls above 18 years of age and under 51 years of age and I am a male who is mildly overweight the recommended daily allowance would be 600 IU. One big way to help increase my take of vitamin D would be to stay outside longer and have the sun rays hit my body as well as consume multivitamins which contain about 100 IU per serving. If I was to continue ignoring my lack of vitamin D deficiency I would develop weak bones as well as muscle weakness, meaning it could become so severe that I wouldn't have strong enough muscles to lift various items. According to Dana Leigh Smith (2017) the following groups are more at risk for developing vitamin D deficiency people with darker skin, office workers, and vegans. People with darker skin colors are more at risk because of their increased melanin it is more difficult for the body to produce vitamin D from sunlight. Office workers are more at risk because they spend at least 8 hours a day indoors with little to no sunlight at all for at least 5 days of week. Vegans are more at risk because their diet has little to no vitamin D and unless they go out of the way to add this vitamin to their diet it's highly possible they won't be consuming vitamin D from food.
References
MedlinePlus. (2018, May 31). Vitamin D Deficiency. Retrieved from MedlinePlus.
National Institute of Health. (2018, March 2). Vitamin D.
Smith, D. L. (2017, September 4). These 10 Groups Of People Are More Prone To Vitamin D Deficiency.
Statement 2: Vitamin B12
During my yearly health risk assessment I had complaints of weakness and fatigue over the past month or so. I also began to have an extreme loss of appetite, which never has happened to me. My doctor asked what I had been doing differently and I explained how I had recently decided to try out the Vegan diet. After finding this out we did a couple blood tests and found out that I had Vitamin B12 deficiency. She continued to tell me that if I didn't boost my intake of Vitamin B12 I may start to experience neurological changes such as confusion, memory loss, and depression (NIH, 2018).
My recommended daily allowance for Vitamin B12 should be 2.4 mcg (NIH, 2018). Yes, this is a very small amount. But, due to my diet change, I barely would take in 1 mcg per day. Vitamin B12 comes naturally from animal products (i.e. meat, eggs, milk, etc.) therefore my intake decreased a tremendous amount since starting my diet (NIH, 2018). Luckily, since I found out about the deficiency almost immediately, simply taking a multivitamin will help boost my B12 intake and will help get rid of my deficiency.
If I don't make any corrections to help take away the deficiency there could be very bad circumstances. According to an article from Harvard Health, "If left untreated, the deficiency can cause severe neurologic problems and blood diseases," (Bistrian, n.d.). The groups that have the highest risk of becoming Vitamin B12 deficient are older adults, individuals with gastrointestinal disorders, and vegetarians/vegans (NIH, 2018). Older adults and those with gastrointestinal disorders become deficient due to the fact that the digestive tract can not easily digest vitamins from blockage or swelling (NIH, 2018). Vegetarians and Vegans become Vitamin B12 deficient due to the fact that as I said above, B12 comes from animal products, and neither of these diets allow these products in the diet (NIH, 2018).
If you have a major deficiency, Vitamin B12 injections may be needed (NIH, 2018). If your deficiency is recent or minimal, B12 supplements may be taken or eating grains that have been fortified with Vitamin B12 can also help (Skerrett, 2017). If one is not a vegan or vegetarian, increasing intake of animal products can increase and help treat Vitamin B12 deficiencies (NIH, 2018).
References:
· National Institutes of Health. (2018, March 2). Vitamin B12.
· Skerrett, P. (2013, January 10). Vitamin B12 deficiency can be sneaky, harmful.
The response should include a reference list. Double-space, using Times New Roman 12 pnt font, one-inch margins, and APA style of writing and citations.
Text Book: An Introduction to Nutrition by Maureen Zimmerman and Beth Snow.