5 Nutrient Deficiencies That Leave You Tired, Inflamed & Hormones Out of Balance

In today's episode of the Being Brigid Show, I'm going to walk you through 5 key nutrient deficiencies that we see most commonly in women after testing thousands of nutrient deficiency tests over the years, and then the best way that you can think about these nutrients and optimize for them. The nutrient deficiencies that we'll discuss today can be linked to a whole host of symptoms that we see on a regular basis in women that we're working with, everything from low energy and extreme fatigue to insomnia, to poor metabolic health and increasing blood sugar levels, mood swings, anxiety, depression, brain fog, difficulty focusing, difficulty with memory and recall, inflammation. The list goes on and on. But yet so many women walk into their doctor's office with a whole host of symptoms, especially after the age of 40, and they're told their labs are normal. And so often these women do not realize that most doctors are not testing for micro micronutrient deficiencies, especially in the way that they need to be tested in order to uncover what exactly is happening. So you need to start thinking about your micronutrients, meaning your vitamins and minerals, and how your vitamins and minerals impact every single cell in your body. You have your cells that each have more than 1,000 mitochondria that create energy, and they're completely dependent on vitamins and minerals, but yet most doctors aren't testing them, and then most doctors are not connecting the dots for why you're having certain symptoms tied to certain deficiencies. So it's really important to be aware of these deficiencies, the signs and symptoms that you wanna watch for, and then ways that you can help to ensure that you're getting enough of what you need. As a registered dietitian with 12 years of experience running nutrient deficiency lab testing in thousands of people, Starting at the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine in 2014, we were running nutrient deficiency testing on every person that came in then, to now having my own nutrition business where I have a team of dietitians that work with people all over the country regularly running labs to assess levels of nutrients. And we see nutrient deficiencies flagged every single day, even in people that are eating very healthy. So I do think that sometimes people have the idea that because they eat healthy that they are not at risk of nutrient deficiencies. And that could not be further from the truth. I am super passionate about this because of my own health journey. I had my first nutrient deficiency panel, an organic acids test, which is what we test today, in 2005, more than 20 years ago, to assess my nutrient deficiencies, knowing that in connection with my extreme fatigue, my neurological autoimmune disease, my horrible acne, my horrible period pain, my horrible GI symptoms, and so many of the symptoms that we were seeing seen many different conventional specialists for, to be able to understand the way that nutrients play a role in so many different symptoms and then have the nutrition and supplement plan that was based on my needs changed the trajectory of my health. That combined with better understanding the gut issues that I was having and food sensitivities that impacted me, in addition to understanding the way that blood sugar and insulin, which was a puzzle piece that I connected many years later, Those 3 things have completely changed the trajectory of my health and they have changed the trajectory of so many women's health that I have worked with in the last 12 years, especially after the age of 35 when hormones start to shift so much that it actually impacts our nutrient absorption even more. So as you transition into perimenopause and menopause, your absorption of certain nutrients can actually go down. Some of this is because of changes that are happening in the gut microbiome that researchers have been able to identify, knowing that we need a healthy gut in order to actually absorb our nutrients. The best way to know whether you have nutrient deficiencies is truly to test and not guess and understand what this means in context to your own health history and your goals. We do run these tests in my virtual program, my virtual 12-week program, My Food Is Health. We run an organic acid test. Test that compiles 12 pages of results to uncover your nutrient deficiencies and then help you connect those with symptoms that you're experiencing and establish a personalized plan with specific nutrition and supplement recommendations, in addition to troubleshooting with your dietitian throughout the 12 weeks. If you're interested in joining us for the upcoming round of My Food Is Health and you're sick of putting these puzzle pieces together for yourself and you want to better understand what these nutrient deficiencies mean for you, you can go to beingbrigid.com/my-food-is-health. Again, that's beingbrigid.com/my-food-is-health. You can also schedule a discovery call with our lead dietitian, Michelle, to understand if our services align with the needs that you have. Again, I feel very passionate about this because of my own personal experience and because of the fact that nutrient deficiencies are a common driver of chronic inflammation, blood sugar imbalances, and so many symptoms that many of you are struggling with on a day-to-day basis. So let's dive in. Nutrient number 1 is magnesium. This should come as no surprise. Magnesium is one of the most important minerals in the body, and it is one of the most common nutrient deficiencies that we see when we actually test nutrient levels. Magnesium is key for over 300 enzymatic reactions in the body, which means that if you're not getting enough or you're not absorbing enough, that, that can lead to a whole host of symptoms. Everything from issues with muscle function to energy and fatigue to sleep issues, heart function, blood sugar control, and so much more. So let's start out with where magnesium is used most commonly in even conventional medicine, which would be to treat constipation by many healthcare providers. Magnesium, it serves as a natural laxative and helps to soften the stool to promote bowel movements as an osmotic laxative, which is why it could be used in food and supplement form for that. Magnesium is also used in treating hypertension by interacting with calcium activity to promote the vasodilation and reduce vascular resistance, which can help with improving and reducing blood pressure. There's a few studies that do show that this is the case. They are limited, but it is something something that we see also clinical benefits from when using it appropriately. Magnesium is also thought to play a role in diabetes, affecting glucose metabolism, and some studies have actually shown beneficial effects of supplementation on improving glucose and insulin sensitivity in people that have diabetes. We work with a lot of women who may or may not have type 2 diabetes. Some of them have prediabetes, or they're just at that borderline, and their doctors aren't really making a lot of recommendations, or they have insulin resistance, without having prediabetes, and we do see magnesium supplementation and increases in magnesium in the diet to play a role. Research has also shown that higher magnesium consumption has been associated with lower levels of inflammatory markers. This includes interleukin-6 and TNF-alpha. So eating and getting enough magnesium can really help with inflammation. Magnesium is also extremely popular, probably most popular for sleep. Now there is Some evidence to show this, but not robust large studies showing the role for magnesium in sleep. But that is what we see people report the highest improvement on is adding magnesium before bed. Magnesium is also— plays a very important role in regulating your central nervous system. It can help to calm overactive nerve signals and support overall relaxation. When magnesium levels are low, the point at which your adrenal glands produce adrenaline and cortisol is actually much lower. Meaning that you become biologically more sensitive to small stressors. On top of that, some research has shown that you tend to burn through more magnesium via urine during times of stress, which further exacerbates this exact issue and can cause this really vicious cycle of a lower stress threshold and then decreasing levels of magnesium. Magnesium supplementation can play a huge role in supporting nervous system dysregulation, something that we're seeing more and more be a core underlying root cause of blood sugar imbalance, of autoimmune disease, of a number of different hormonal experiences that women have and symptoms that they're experiencing. So being able to regulate your nervous system is so incredibly important, and magnesium can play a role in that. There was actually a really interesting study that was done in 2016 looking at rugby players that were performing tasks of great physical stress. And they found that the group— I'm actually pulling up the study right now because it was so interesting. They found it was only in 23 rugby players, but they were randomly assigned to either the intervention, which was the magnesium, or the control group. And what they found was that the influence magnesium supplementation might have on the change of parameters of HPA axis activity and the reduction of immune response activity, meaning that the players that were taking magnesium did not have as high of levels of interleukin-6, which is an inflammatory compound that is released from physical exercise. That's, you know, is why sometimes inflammation can be higher without proper recovery. They found this to have a greater effect in the group that did not take the magnesium supplement compared to the group that did, meaning that magnesium supplementation helped with improving HPA axis activity and also decrease those immune markers, namely the interleukin-6. So let's talk about common symptoms of magnesium deficiencies. We see a whole host of them from a symptom standpoint when women are coming in to work with us. This can include muscle cramps, numbness and tingling, fatigue, weakness, irregular heartbeats, nausea, decreased appetite, elevated blood pressure, just to name a few. I would also say not able to sleep throughout the night. This could be a sign of magnesium deficiency, but also many other deficiencies as we'll talk about today. So the first thing you want to do is make sure that you are getting great sources of magnesium from your diet. There are certain foods that are highest in magnesium. You want to get variety as well to make sure that you're hitting the bases with all of these nutrients. But, um, particularly pumpkin seeds are high in magnesium, and almonds, your green leafy vegetables like spinach, and kale can be good sources, and beans are also a good source of magnesium. Dark chocolate can also give you some magnesium, so that can be a source as well. And then magnesium baths are a great way to increase magnesium absorption with an Epsom salt bath. I'll even do this for my kids sometimes, like when my son is constipated, I throw him into an Epsom salt bath and do a few other things as well from a hydration and fiber standpoint. But that could be very effective because you actually can absorb the magnesium that you're putting into the bath. The one thing I do want to highlight is that our soil is not as rich in nutrients as it once was. So even eating a whole food diet can lead to not enough magnesium, especially if you also have higher levels of stress where you're burning through magnesium faster and you, you require more. So that's where supplementation can really play a role. The needs that you have are going to differ for every single person. The type of magnesium will also differ. What I will say is that different types of magnesium have different bioavailability, and then the effects are different for each type. We most commonly will recommend magnesium bisglycinate and magnesium citrate, depending on what your symptoms are. Nutrient number 2 is omega-3 fatty acids. I will die on this hill that more women need to know their omega-3 fat levels. Because we can test these very easily with blood prick testing, which is what we do in My Food Is Health to be able to look at your omega-3 and your omega-6 levels because of how much this plays a role in overall inflammation. So omega-3 polyunsaturated fats, these play a very powerful role in increasing your production of anti-inflammatory eicosanoids, cytokines like TNF-alpha, and reactive oxygen species. Are decreased, and it can play a powerful role in decreasing inflammation and oxidative stress because of that. Now, omega-3s are essential, meaning that your body doesn't actually produce them on their own. We need to get them from food-based sources, and we need to make sure that we're getting enough of them in order to help to combat inflammation, especially given that we are exposed to so many— to a higher number of toxins and other environmental pollutants that are increasing inflammation on its own. So omega-3s They are unfortunately very low in the American diet. This is a nutrient that is severely lacking. And at the same time, most Americans are overconsuming another type of fatty acid, which are called omega-6 fats. This imbalance can then create a high level of omega-6s to omega-3s. That is an index, a ratio that actually can be measured in your blood, your omega-6 to omega-3 ratio, which is something that we look at when we're working with clients on a more in-depth level so that we can make recommendations for decreasing reducing inflammation. So when we're looking at an omega-3 index, something that we run, then we're looking for an 8 to 12% therapeutic range. That is the key for helping to improve cognitive support, improve cardiovascular health, and improve a lot of symptoms that can be tied to the inflammatory response when you're not getting enough omega-3s. Things like fatigue, imbalances with different hormones, issues with cognitive recall and memory because of the role that omega-3s play in brain health. Now, there are ways that you can get more omega-3s from your diet. We always encourage a minimum of 2 to 3 times per week having omega-3-rich fish. These could be things like salmon, mackerel, sardines, anchovies. You can get small amounts, some in pasture-raised eggs. You can also get them in plant-based sources like chia seeds and flaxseeds, although that will give you alpha-linolenic acid, which then has to be converted into EPA and DHA. Now, the concern is that most women convert alpha-linolenic acid into EPA and DHA at about an 8 to 10% effectiveness rate, meaning that only about 8 to 10% is truly converted into EPA and DHA. And as women go through menopause, this actually becomes even less efficient. So the recommendation that we make is to try to get 2 to 3 servings of those fish-based sources. And then if you are not eating fish, making sure that you are supplementing with a supplement. I will say that even when you are eating fish 2 to 3 times per week, that we still see deficiencies in omega-3 levels, which very much surprises people. So sometimes even doing it 2 to 3 times per week in fish sources is not enough in order to get those therapeutic levels for your omega-3 fatty acids, which is then where the case for having the right dose of an omega-3 supplement to get you into that therapeutic range and not too high is extremely important. Now, the research on omega-3 fatty acids is particularly beneficial when— some of the evidence is mixed, but it's particularly beneficial when we're looking at inflammatory conditions, GI issues like inflammatory bowel disease, cognitive decline, cardiovascular issues like hyperlipidemia, hypertension, osteoarthritis, depression, where we find beneficial outcomes in the research. And then from an actual clinical standpoint, using omega-3 fatty acids can improve so many aspects of overall health that I already talked about as far as the most common signs and symptoms. Okay, nutrient number 3 is vitamin D. Vitamin D is extremely important. I'm sure that you are very much familiar with vitamin D as it is the one test that most doctors are testing on an annual basis. Something that you want to be testing— all of these nutrients you want to be testing on an annual basis in my opinion. Vitamin D is key for many things. Most people know about it as being key for healthy bones, but it's also very important to support a strong immune system. So if you're getting sick often, then you definitely want to make sure that you're getting your, your vitamin D tested. It is also a nutrient that supports central nervous system function. So meaning that if you are extremely burnt out and constantly stressed, you want to make sure that your vitamin D is in the optimal range. It's very important for supporting a healthy mood. And so looking at this from a mental health standpoint and knowing your vitamin D level can be helpful for that, for muscle function, and so much more. Vitamin D is very unique in that it has antiviral properties, antimicrobial, and also is a hormone. It's a vitamin and a hormone, which means that having a therapeutic range is important. And that there's a level that most doctors will look at vitamin D and say conventional ranges consider anything above 30 nanograms per milliliter to be fine. And then some functional medicine doctors will say like up to 100 is perfectly healthy in order to get it into that optimal threshold. We're really striving for health optimization to get you to about a 60 to an 80 nanogram per milliliter for your vitamin D levels. And that is because of the prohormone effects that vitamin D can have and knowing that you want to get optimal levels for improving your health and your risk factors for many things that I'll talk about, but also decreasing the risk of too much, given that it is a fat-soluble vitamin, meaning that you cannot pee out extra levels like you can with B vitamins or vitamin C, and that it plays a role in our hormone production. So vitamin D deficiency, many people know of it as leading to rickets, hypocalcemia. It can also lead to hyperparathyroidism, musculoskeletal symptoms like bone pain, myalgias, generalized weakness, as well as increasing your risk for osteoporosis. It can also be associated with lower brain health, poor memory, cognitive decline, and as I mentioned, issues with mood stability. Vitamin D can also play a role in insulin sensitivity. So if you are having increases in your blood sugar, if you're having you know, hormones that are off. All of these things are signs that really your doctor should be testing vitamin D on a regular basis and making sure that you're in the therapeutic range. I also feel that there's a case for even doing vitamin D testing more than once per year if you live in a climate where the weather is changing, so that you can adjust the dosage of your supplementation appropriately for where you're living. Also knowing that absorption depends on many different factors. Your skin tone, knowing that when you have darker skin pigmentation, it decreases absorption of vitamin D. So people that have darker skin tone sometimes need even more supplementation. If you carry extra fat, that also decreases the absorption. Your age, where you live, all of those will impact how much vitamin D you need. So of course you can try to get vitamin D through food-based sources. I am always a fan of getting as much of a particular nutrient through food-based sources as our foundation. You cannot supplement your way out of a non-optimal diet. That can include things like fatty fish, pasture-raised eggs, mushrooms that are grown outside. And then there's foods that are actually fortified with vitamin D, like milk, which, you know, some people tolerate milk okay and others not so much. So I typically recommend sticking with foods like the pasture-raised eggs, the fatty fish, mushrooms that are grown outside, and then getting your labs tested 1 to 2 times per year to determine the supplementation dosage that's best for you, knowing that we want to get into that 60 to 80 therapeutic range. Generally speaking, adults that are not exposed to sunlight during winter months may need, you know, even more than 5,000 IUs per day. And that is going to depend again on those various aspects of your absorption and where you're living. But that is another way that you can get vitamin D is through being outside and not wearing sunscreen. So not that we would promote not wearing sunscreen on an all-day basis, but there is, you know, evidence to show that 15 minutes of sunlight exposure without sunscreen can be helpful for increasing vitamin D absorption. Again, vitamin D is a fat-soluble nutrient, so we want to avoid overdoing it as it can become toxic in the body if it's in excessive amounts. Okay, nutrient number 4. I lumped all of your B vitamins into nutrient number 4. We commonly see various B vitamin deficiencies, and your B vitamins play such a large role in many different aspects of our health. You have vitamin B1, B2, B3. You have vitamin B6, B9, B12. These are the most common. You have biotin as well. These are the most common that we see from a deficiency standpoint, and I want to break down a few specifically. So vitamin B12 is extremely common. After, as people age, your absorption of vitamin B12 goes down as stomach acid goes down because you need intrinsic factor in order to fully absorb vitamin B12. So as people age, they tend to stop absorbing vitamin B12 as well. Symptoms of vitamin B12 can range from things like extreme fatigue to anxiety or depressive symptoms, hormonal imbalances, cognitive decline, difficulty finding your words, like recall and those sorts of things. And, you know, a lot of times you go into your doctor, you complain about these symptoms, your labs look normal, and they send you on their way. Or they, you know, in the instance that your doctor is testing nutrients, may test vitamin B12, and your vitamin B12 level is like a 200. And technically it's not like off the charts deficient, but it's definitely not optimal. And when we see women be able to double or triple their vitamin B12 levels, that can lead to drastic improvements in various symptoms. The other thing is that there are a number of reasons for why some people can and cannot absorb vitamin B12 as well. I talked about aging as being one factor. So if you do have issues with absorbing, then you do need vitamin B12 in certain forms. Sometimes that'll be an injection, other times that'll be, um, sublingual, like under the tongue, in order to absorb it in an easier way. And so all of that is just dependent on what your personal needs are. And what will work best for you as far as getting your, your labs into that normal range. But the first place is really understanding what your levels are. Now, in an organic acids test like we run in My Food Is Health is a very specific form of B12 that we look at that looks at the functional form of B12 instead of just your total vitamin B12 that doctors are checking for. So vitamin B12 is a very common one. The great thing for vitamin B12 is that you can get it in a lot of animal proteins. Liver is actually a very high source of vitamin B12. So various organ meats, you can get vitamin B12 through chicken and, um, grass-fed beef, and you can get it through salmon. If you are not eating animal-based products, one of the easiest ways to get vitamin B12 is through nutritional yeast, although you do sometimes need to also supplement in order to make sure that you're getting enough. So knowing your vitamin B12 levels could be really helpful. I also wanna highlight vitamin B6. Because we commonly see B6 deficient. And vitamin B6 is very central to mood regulation. It's also involved in progesterone production. So we see changes to energy levels and a number of other things when a person has a vitamin 6 deficiency. And like B12, animal sources are the most bioavailable form of B6. So you could get B6 from foods like salmon, chicken, uh, grass-fed beef. Beef liver is also high in B6. Eggs are another source. Chickpeas are one of the highest plant-based sources. You can also get it from things like potatoes, sweet potatoes, avocado, sunflower seeds will all contain vitamin B6. And vitamin B6 works synergistically with vitamin B12 and folate. So having food diversity is helpful where I mentioned like, where I mentioned different food sources, having rotation in your diet ensures that you are increasing your exposure to these different nutrients while also highlighting the fact that gut dysfunction, if you have bacterial overgrowth or a leaky gut or gut dysfunction that's happening underneath the surface, which is common in the women that we're working with, then you may absorb vitamin B6 poorly, even if you're getting adequate amounts. So sometimes when practitioners see nutrient deficiency lab testing, they'll just jump to recommending a number of different supplements without trying to step back and think from a deeper puzzle piece connecting standpoint of saying, what— why is it that you aren't absorbing the vitamin B6 and B9 and B12 that you're exposed to, and how can we help to support that process? Vitamin B6 is so central to, like I said, mood regulation. It is involved in neurotransmitter synthesis, so it impacts serotonin, dopamine, GABA. It's also involved in that progesterone receptor sensitivity that I talked about. It can impact PMS symptoms. Um, because of that, it also can impact estrogen metabolism. So it's a very important nutrient that impacts a number of different reactions in addition to blood sugar regulation. So these nutrients, if you're having issues with blood sugar balance, may be at the heart of what's happening there. Nutrient number 5 is zinc. Zinc is a super important mineral. Most people know of it as playing a role in your overall immune health, because a lot of times when people get sick, they will supplement with zinc. Now, there is research to show that zinc can be effective for supporting your immune health, but it does so much more than just that. So zinc also supports your central nervous system, and it plays a large role in your hormones. So zinc is involved in testosterone production. It serves as a cofactor for enzymes that are involved in the synthesis of testosterone. So if you have low testosterone or symptoms of low testosterone, uh, which of course increase as women age, zinc is definitely a nutrient that you want to test and be able to look at upstream to see if that is potentially impacting testosterone levels. We also know that low zinc levels have been associated with impaired follicular development and reduced egg quality, so it can impact fertility. After ovulation, the corpus luteum, which is the structure that's left behind after the egg is released, it requires zinc in order to produce progesterone, which supports your luteal phase and early pregnancy. So when we see zinc deficiency It has been linked to a number of different symptoms, from irregular cycles to a lack of ovulation, poor egg quality, difficulties conceiving, low testosterone levels, which can lead to fatigue, low sex drive. It can lead to poor muscle development, even though you're strength training and not seeing those results. It's linked to a number of different symptoms. So knowing your zinc levels can play a large role in better understanding these underlying puzzle pieces. Now, the good news is, is that there's a lot of foods that are rich in zinc. It's not hard to get from a dietary standpoint, but we want to make sure that you're absorbing it and that if you do need additional support, that you're on the right supplement that isn't impacting your zinc and copper ratio. So sometimes what we'll see— this was happening a lot during COVID— is that we would see people supplementing with a lot of zinc, which then can impact copper ratio, your copper levels, and the two levels are connected and impact one another. So when it comes to food sources of zinc, I mentioned that there are a lot of good sources. This can include oysters. Oysters are particularly high in zinc, and that doesn't have to just be oysters that you're ordering when you're out at a restaurant. It could also be even like canned oysters. It's something that I'll pack with me when I'm traveling. Sometimes you can get canned smoked oysters. They have them on Thrive Market. They have them at Trader Joe's. Those are two places that I'll commonly get them. Grass-fed beef is again another source of this nutrient as well. Zinc— pumpkin seeds are high in zinc. Lentils are a good source of zinc, chickpeas, hemp seeds, and you can also get some from cashews. So there you have it. Those are the top 5 nutrients that we see. It was really hard to make this list because there are a lot of other nutrients that I left off of this list that play a role in your underlying inflammation, glucose levels, hormones, etc. But I think that this gives you a good understanding of why you don't want to just take a generic supplement that is recommended by an influencer or by a friend or someone that has success with something without understanding what it actually is that you need. These nutrients are driving so much of these underlying cellular processes, and knowing what your needs are and then why you have them is really central to the work that we do. So let's recap. We have number 1 nutrient deficiency, magnesium. Number 2 nutrient deficiency, omega-3 fatty acids. Every woman should know their omega-3 fatty acid index. Number 3, vitamin D, something that you want to check 1 to 2 times per year. B vitamins as number 4, specifically I reviewed vitamin B6 and vitamin B12. And then you have number 5, zinc. Lastly, I do want to highlight that when it comes to nutrient deficiencies, most people think because they're eating a nutrient-rich diet that that means that they're absorbing all of those nutrients. When you have a high need for support for a number of different nutrients, which we see all the time, even in people that are eating, quote unquote, healthy, it's either a result of poor digestion or low nutrient absorption. It's rarely a consumption issue, although sometimes it can be, but it's usually that people are eating good sources of these foods that would theoretically increase their nutrient levels, but they are having digestive issues, leaky gut, high levels of stress that are impacting their underlying nutrient absorption. So it's not just about working with a practitioner that will give you supplements for those nutrient deficiencies. It's about taking a holistic approach to understanding how you can work upstream to support your body in absorbing those nutrients. So one, it starts with getting tested. Two, it starts with identifying what those optimal therapeutic ranges are. 3, then it's about understanding why are you not at those, those levels and how can, how can we support your body? Thinking about the nutrients that you're eating in your diet, thinking about food as this incredible abundant form and source of your micronutrients, thinking about it as so much deeper than just your macronutrients or your calories and actually fuel and building blocks for every single cellular process that's happening under the hood. Will change everything about the way that you approach nutrition, the way that you eat, the consistency that you have, because information truly is power. And with that, thank you for tuning into the Being Bridget Show. If this episode was valuable, please, the best way that you can support this show— we continue to run this show with no advertising from any companies because I want to be able to remain as unbiased as possible. So we are self-funding this entire show. If you find any value from it, from any of the episodes, the, the greatest thing that you can do is share it with a friend, like it, and then make sure that you're subscribed to the channel. Subscribe to the channel on YouTube, on Spotify, on Apple, wherever you're watching and listening from, in order for us to be able to continue to grow the information and resources that we're pouring into the show. Again, thank you for tuning into the Being Brigid Show, and I will see you next time.