How Can You Spot The Signs Of A Growth Hormone Deficiency?

Not a commonly publicised condition, growth hormone deficiencies can be either a total or partial condition and result in impaired physical development. Growth hormones are created y the pituitary gland (hypophysis) which is a small gland found on the underside of the brain. The amount of hormone produced is controlled by other hormones which are released by a different part of the brain. When this hormone is secreted into the bloodstream, it stimulates the liver to secrete yet another hormone, which develops an insulin-like growth factor – primarily IGF-1. As we age, we naturally produce less growth hormones compared to young adults. There are various reasons for this problem, including an insufficient release of the stimulatory hormone from the hypothalamus, an insufficient production of the growth hormone by the pituitary gland, a decrease in the IGF-1 hormones, as well as problems caused by defects in the receptors which absorb the hormone in the body’s cells. Some people may have a deficiency due to a genetic birth defect, or because it is hereditary, or they may have had a lack of oxygen at birth. Some studies suggest that diseases in the pituitary gland can lead to a defect, as well as abnormalities in the hormone receptors. For most people, though, there is no clear reason – it simply occurs.

 

If a patient has a total hormone deficiency, it will often be discovered in a child’s infancy. This is because an infant’s height and weight are normal at the time of birth, but between three and nine months the growth rate will be reduced in children with a growth hormone deficiency – this is known as growth disturbance. There will be signs later in life too, including weight diminishing, delayed teeth development, and they may also develop a thick layer of fat under the skin. However, this symptom won’t always be visible if there is just a partial growth hormone deficiency. Although everyone can measure and weigh their children, there will be regular growth examinations carried out by your health visitor and GP, who will follow specific guidelines to check that your child is developing at a normal rate. If you’re worried about your children’s growth rate though, you should seek the advice of your GP. Your GP will measure and weigh your child, then draw growth curves – they will take the parents’ height and weight as adults, at puberty and as infants into account. They will also ask questions about the child’s diet, their appetite, patterns of defecation, exercise habits, and any social problems so as to rule out other health problems. They will be examined for signs of disease, as well as puberty and tooth development if need be. They may also suggest an x-ray of the left hand and wrist, to examine the bone development. If there is a growth hormone deficiency, the ‘bone age’ may be lower than the child’s genuine age.

 

If this problem is not treated, it can lead to severe growth impairment, particularly their height. However, if the problem is treated in the early phase then it is likely that the child will gain several extra centimetres which will bring them into a normal range for their age. Treatment tends to rely on synthetic growth hormones being injected each day until the child stops growing, and this is done at specialised paediatric units. Parents will be trained to administer the injections so that the correct amount is provided. Though side effects are rare, the child will be monitored closely so that no risks are taken with their health.

Categories: Child, Deficiency, growth, growth hormone, growth hormones, growth rate, hormone, hormone deficiency, hormones, pituitary gland, treatment

How an Iron Deficiency Can Lead to Health Problems

Iron is one of the most vital nutrients for the body, an essential mineral that transports oxygen throughout the body as an important component of haemoglobin. It is also one of the common nutritional deficiencies, especially in women.

So it’s vital that everyone gets enough iron because you need it for energy levels and if you are iron deficient, your body can’t make enough healthy oxygen-carrying red cells and you are likely to be anaemic. When you’re anaemic, you’re likely to be easily tired, perhaps even exhausted by doing simple things such as walking up stairs and this fatigue can affect brain function and your immune system.

An iron deficiency will also affect your hair, skin and nails so it’s important to get this sorted out as quickly as possible. At-risk groups include menstruating and pregnant women, the elderly, vegetarians and those who don’t eat red meat.

The recommended daily amount (RDA) of iron for adults in the EU is 14mg. Babies need more iron than adults to deal with their fast-growing bodies, while boys and girls should get 10mg daily until aged eight and then 8mg daily from 9-13. However, excess iron can be toxic so keep iron supplements away from children at all times.

Most people will get all the iron they need from their diet – from the likes of red meat and from leafy green vegetables and dried fruit. However, these are two different types of iron. The haemoproteins found in red meat are the most easily and effectively absorbed. The inorganic iron in fruit and vegetables comes in two different forms – ferrous and ferric.

If you have an iron deficiency, you can try to redress the balance by eating iron-rich foods but many people use supplements, often in combination with vitamin C, to improve their iron levels.

How an Iron Deficiency Can Lead to Health Problems

Categories: Deficiency, iron, Supplements

How Can You Spot A Vitamin B Deficiency?

Pernicious anaemia is the cause of vitamin B12 deficiency, which in turn is caused by a lack of glycoprotein known as intrinsic factor. Without this compound, the body can’t absorb vitamin B12 which is where deficiencies forge. it’s needed to convert homocysteine to methionine, which is one of the most important amino acids that are used to synthesise proteins. The body uses this vitamin in a number of ways, and a deficiency can lead to a number of processes slowing down or becoming impaired. For example, cell division is slowed without this vitamin. When this slows, red blood cells are enlarged and become misshapen, which means they are more likely to be destroyed by the immune system. There are a number of symptoms which highlight a deficiency, including gastrointestinal concerns and neurological problems. Here are some of the more common signs, some of which may be mistaken for other health problems.

Incontinence

Incontinence occurs when the individual can no longer hold urine, causing leakages to occur. This can be brought on by a lack of vitamin B12 in the body.

Chronic Fatigue

Vitamin B deficiency can lead to chronic fatigue, which is a persistent feeling of tiredness and extreme weakness in the body. This is due to the effect on the red blood cells, which can lead to a lack of iron in the body and, as such, as feeling of weakness and lack of energy.

Weight Loss

Weight loss can be brought on my inadequate quantities of B12 in the body, which means it can also lead to a number of health problems, such as weakness, gastrointestinal problems and sleeplessness.

Shortness of Breath

People often notice that when they have a vitamin B12 deficiency, they find themselves getting out of breath more easily and more regularly. This is because the B12 isn’t be absorbed properly in the body, so it leads to laboured breathing.

Tingling in Fingers and Toes

A tingling sensation in the fingers and toes can be down to poor circulation or a neurological problem. Often, simply getting the correct intake of B12 can help to treat this problem.

Forgetfulness and Confusion

Because of the neurological effects of a B12 deficiency, some people find that they become more forgetful than usual, or become easily confused.

Psychosis and Hallucinations

As previously mentioned, the impact on the neurological systems can lead to mental effects, such as psychosis and visual hallucinations in the more advanced stages of a deficiency in vitamin B12.

Tremors

Uncontrollable movements in the arms and legs can be seen in prolonged bouts of deficiency. This is due to the effect of B12 on the neurological health, which can lead to the nervous system being affected in this way.

Depression

When the body has been deprived for a long period of time, depression may set in. This can alter the mental state of a person if they go without adequate nutrition. This is because the neurological effects become stronger over time without B12 to combat them. Sometimes, this deficiency can be confused with other diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s Disease and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. Various tests are available to test your levels of vitamin B12 and to rule out any of the health problems associated with it. It’s vital that you eat a balanced diet that includes rich sources of this vitamin in order to combat this risk and to keep your body functioning properly. If you’re concerned about your levels of B12, or think you may be suffering from a deficiency, you should speak to your GP as soon as possible to rule out any concerns.

Categories: Deficiency, diet, vitamin B12

Puzzled by Pill Popping: Do You Need Supplements or Not?

Wellness experts are so at war over vitamin and mineral supplements that just listening to the debate can be damaging to your wellbeing. Some argue that popping vitamins is the easy way out to offset your poor diet habits, but others believe that you may not be as deficient in vitamins as you think. So, should you take supplements or not?

 

According to Dr. A K Gvalani, professor and HOD of general surgery, KEM hospital, ‘Your Recommended Daily Allowance of nutrients, found in regular, well-rounded meals, is enough to take care of your body’s nutritional requirement. Dietary supplement companies have marketed their products in a way that makes you feel compelled to take them. But unless you have undergone tests to figure out what you are deficient in, I’d advise against popping multivitamins.’

 

However, Dr. Purwa Duggal, head of nutrition at Fortis Hospital in Mulund, does recommend one multivitamin pill a day. She argues, ‘In today’s fast-paced world, taking a multivitamin helps address deficiencies that may arise later due to prolonged consumption of select food items. Also, pregnant and lactating mothers, the elderly, the lactose intolerant are prime candidates for supplements.’ But as more than a third of us here in the UK take supplements, surely these supplementers aren’t all young mums, old or lactose intolerant. Maybe it’s individual vitamins that have us heading for the supplement aisle.

 

Dr. Gvalani explains, ‘Omega-3 fatty acids help prevent heart disease and up life expectancy among the old, folic acid is a must for pregnant women to help prevent birth defects, and calcium and vitamin D are good for post-menopausal women to prevent bone-thinning and osteoporosis.’ Nutritionist Naini Setalvad adds, ‘B12 plays a crucial role in maintaining nerve tissue health and efficient functioning of the central nervous system. Although it’s found only in non-vegetarian food and dairy products, it’s not as if only vegetarians are B-12 deficient. One in four in the world is.’

 

The takeaway, then, is that you may need a specific supplement if you’re in a particular group of people, or you have a certain deficiency, but the best way to get your general vitamin needs is from your diet. Consult your doctor or a dietician for more information about your personal requirements.

Categories: Deficiency, elderly, vitamin B12

Hair Loss, Spots, Cracks: Do You Have a Vitamin Deficiency?

According to says Dr. Susan Blum, the founder of the Blum Centre for Health and the author of the new book The Immune System Recovery Plan, ‘With today’s diet of processed foods, it’s easy to become vitamin-deficient, either by not eating enough of the right foods or not absorbing them properly due to digestive issues. You may not get a disease, but you can end up with impaired functioning, because vitamins are cofactors for all the biochemical reactions in the body. We need them in order to function properly.’ So what are the signs that a vitamin-deficiency is affecting your wellbeing?

Firstly, if you have cracks at the corners of your mouth, you could be deficient in a number of vital vitamins, Blum says, ‘It’s common if you’re a vegetarian to not get enough iron, zinc, and B12’, which is what this symptom represents. The fix is to eat more poultry, salmon, tuna, eggs, oysters, clams, sun-dried tomatoes, Swiss chard, tahini, peanuts, and legumes like lentils. As vitamin C helps your body to absorb iron, throw in some broccoli, red bell peppers, kale, and cauliflower for good measure.

If you have red, scaly rash on your face and hair loss, your wellness may be affected by a deficiency in vitamin B7 or Biotin. Also known as the hair vitamin, vitamin B7 is water soluble, which means that your body cannot store it. Therefore, you need to up your daily intake of salmon, avocados, mushrooms, cauliflower, soybeans, nuts, raspberries, and bananas. Cooked eggs are also beneficial, but if the eggs are raw then they still contain avidin – which inhibits your body’s ability to absorb biotin.

A sign of deficiency in vitamins A and D and essential fatty acids is red or white acne-like bumps. These typically appear on your cheeks, arms, thighs, and backside, so a fix is definitely in order! For the essential fatty acid deficiency, focus on adding more salmon and sardines, nuts like walnuts and almonds, and seeds like ground flax, hemp, and chia to your diet. To get more vitamin A, pile on leafy greens and colourful veggies like carrots, sweet potatoes, and red bell peppers. Blum explains, ‘This provides beta carotene, a precursor to vitamin A, which your body will use to make vitamin A. For vitamin D, though, I recommend a supplement—2,000 IU a day in one that also contains vitamins A and K, which help with D absorption.’

Categories: Deficiency, hair loss, spots

Are Your Child’s Bones at Risk Due to Vitamin D Deficiency?

Your children need vitamin D for strong bones and muscles. This is according to the US Bone and Joint Initiative, who note that a deficiency in vitamin D, a nutrient which is mostly made by your body when your skin is exposed to sunlight, can impact your child’s wellbeing by damaging their musculoskeletal system, leading to a greater risk of osteoporosis.

Ellen Raney, MD, of Shriners Hospitals for Children, Portland, explained, ‘A vitamin D deficiency in growing children can keep their bones from growing straight or it can make bones too weak to support a child’s body weight, resulting in broken bones.’ Yet vitamin D deficiency is becoming more and more prevalent. If children do not get enough sunlight on their skin, or certain types of food, they can experience severely stunted growth, arms and legs that don’t grow straight, and bones that are weak and easily broken.

But why do vitamin D deficiencies occur so often? There are a number of reasons why your child may be lacking in the vitamin; he or she might not be going outdoors enough, or wearing sun-cream constantly when they do. The limited availability of vitamin D−rich foods may also be a contributing factor. A good diet is important but it may not be enough; you need to look for specific foods with a Daily Value (DV) of 20% or more of vitamin D. These include fish, such as salmon, cod liver oil and fortified foods such as milk, breakfast cereals and some brands of juice, yoghurt or margarine.

For babies, the American Academy of Paediatrics recommends a daily intake of 400 IU a day of vitamin D during the first year of life, beginning in the first few days. After this, the Institute of Medicine advises that children and adolescents consume a daily intake of at least 600 IU per day. There are many child-friendly forms of vitamin D supplements, such as gummy vitamins or liquid. For more information, consult your family doctor. He or she will be able to determine the correct amount of vitamin D for your children and what, if any, changes to make to their diet and supplementation regimen.

Are Your Child’s Bones at Risk Due to Vitamin D Deficiency?

Categories: Deficiency, Supplements, Vitamin D

A review of numerous studies has indicated that vitamin D deficiency might partly explain why the wellness damage of muscle disease, or myopathy, is so often observed in those whose wellbeing also suffers from chronic alcoholism. Myopathy simply means that your muscles don’t function, and so become weak and waste, and according to Jan W. Wijnia, a researcher at Slingedael Korsakoff Centre as well as corresponding author for the study, ‘Muscle weakness is by far the most frequent symptom of alcoholic myopathy, causing difficulties in rising from a chair or in climbing a staircase. In alcoholic myopathy, improvement of muscle weakness usually occurs six to nine months following alcohol abstinence.’ According to Frits A. J. Muskiet, a professor of pathophysiology and clinical chemical analysis at the University Medical Centre Groningen, ‘40-60% of alcoholics suffer from alcohol-related myopathy’ and also have low levels of vitamin D, which prompted the authors of the study to investigate the association. However, Muskiet says that ‘since these symptoms are rather a-specific, this is no more than an association, which is obviously not the same as a proven cause-and-effect relation. There are similarities, but also differences.’ Wijnia says that as previous studies did not believe a deficiency in diet could cause alcoholic muscle disease, and so their study is innovative and provides important new information as new research could prove that ‘It is possible that vitamin D supplementation may assist in prevention and treatment of alcohol-related chronic myopathy, thus, assessment of vitamin D status may help clinicians to early diagnose severe vitamin D deficiency and hence offer appropriate treatment’. Muskiet adds ‘The paper is important because of this connection, but the real proof of the pudding should now be provided by doing research trials.’ He concludes that supplements may not be the only solution to vitamin D deficiency as ‘There is good evidence that 90% of type 2 diabetes, 80% of coronary heart disease, and 70% of colon cancer and stroke can be prevented if people pay more attention to their weight, physical activity, excessive alcohol drinking, smoking, vegetables/fruits, etc. A small daily amount of alcohol keeps the doctor away. With no alcohol and especially with too much alcohol there is higher chance of many diseases, including all cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, stroke, cancer, etc. Again, it is a matter of balance.’ Drinking leads to Vitamin D Deficiency and Muscular Weakness

A review of numerous studies has indicated that vitamin D deficiency might partly explain why the wellness damage of muscle disease, or myopathy, is so often observed in those whose wellbeing also suffers from chronic alcoholism.

 

Myopathy simply means that your muscles don’t function, and so become weak and waste, and according to Jan W. Wijnia, a researcher at Slingedael Korsakoff Centre as well as corresponding author for the study, ‘Muscle weakness is by far the most frequent symptom of alcoholic myopathy, causing difficulties in rising from a chair or in climbing a staircase. In alcoholic myopathy, improvement of muscle weakness usually occurs six to nine months following alcohol abstinence.’

 

According to Frits A. J. Muskiet, a professor of pathophysiology and clinical chemical analysis at the University Medical Centre Groningen, ‘40-60% of alcoholics suffer from alcohol-related myopathy’ and also have low levels of vitamin D, which prompted the authors of the study to investigate the association. However, Muskiet says that ‘since these symptoms are rather a-specific, this is no more than an association, which is obviously not the same as a proven cause-and-effect relation. There are similarities, but also differences.’

 

Wijnia says that as previous studies did not believe a deficiency in diet could cause alcoholic muscle disease, and so their study is innovative and provides important new information as new research could prove that ‘It is possible that vitamin D supplementation may assist in prevention and treatment of alcohol-related chronic myopathy, thus, assessment of vitamin D status may help clinicians to early diagnose severe vitamin D deficiency and hence offer appropriate treatment’.

 

Muskiet adds ‘The paper is important because of this connection, but the real proof of the pudding should now be provided by doing research trials.’ He concludes that supplements may not be the only solution to vitamin D deficiency as ‘There is good evidence that 90% of type 2 diabetes, 80% of coronary heart disease, and 70% of colon cancer and stroke can be prevented if people pay more attention to their weight, physical activity, excessive alcohol drinking, smoking, vegetables/fruits, etc. A small daily amount of alcohol keeps the doctor away. With no alcohol and especially with too much alcohol there is higher chance of many diseases, including all cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, stroke, cancer, etc. Again, it is a matter of balance.’

 

Drinking leads to Vitamin D Deficiency and Muscular Weakness

Categories: Alcohol, Deficiency, Information