Introduction
Nowadays, in developed countries like ours, serious vitamin deficiencies are quite rare and generally related to situations that are considered completely out of the ordinary.
Severe deficiencies can be frequent in the case of disorders and diseases, such as, for example, alcoholism, eating disorders (DCA), diseases affecting the gastrointestinal tract, etc. On the contrary, the underdeveloped countries record cases of serious vitamin deficiencies in a decidedly higher number, certainly linked to the certainly not easy conditions in which these countries unfortunately find themselves.
In any case, according to some, a not negligible slice of the population of industrialized countries continues to suffer from slight vitamin deficiencies. These deficiencies are most likely attributable to an increasingly unbalanced diet and the abandonment of the healthy and varied diet that, instead, should be followed.
What are
What are Vitamin Deficiencies?
Vitamin deficiencies are defined as states of malnutrition characterized, in fact, by an insufficient intake of vitamins. It goes without saying that vitamins are substances indispensabili for the proper functioning and well-being of the whole organism. A reduced / insufficient intake, or worse, a lack of them, can therefore determine important negative consequences on the health of the individual.
Categories
Types of Vitamin Deficiencies
When we talk about vitamin deficiencies we are actually referring to multiple states of malnutrition which can be more or less severe. In fact, vitamin deficiencies can be differentiated according to the extent of the deficiency (we speak, more precisely, of hypovitaminosis or avitaminosis), as well as they can be differentiated according to the number (monovitamin deficiencies, multivitamin deficiencies) and the type of vitamins involved.
For more information about the deficiencies of the different types of vitamins and the possible consequences, we recommend reading the dedicated articles:
