Is it true that in the winter and spring months it is necessary to prevent vitamin deficiency?

There is an opinion that at the end of winter and the beginning of winter our body suffers from vitamin deficiency, so every year during this period we need to take vitamin complexes. We decided to check if this is actually true.

The most common symptoms of vitamin deficiency called general malaise, low mood, constant fatigue, drowsiness and difficulty waking up in the morning, low performance and fatigue, poor skin, hair or nails, frequent colds, exacerbation of chronic diseases. Almost every person can experience at least one of these manifestations in February-March (or even at other times of the year). Drugs For treatment vitamin deficiency huge many - for example, the popular online pharmacy "Zdravcity" offers as many as 685 titles.

If we turn to the International Classification of Diseases, then in class E - “Diseases of the endocrine system, nutritional disorders and metabolic disorders” - you can discover a whole group of diseases associated with vitamin deficiency. These include: vitamin A deficiency (popularly called night blindness), thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency, which causes beriberi disease and Wernicke encephalopathy, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) deficiency, better known as scurvy, niacin deficiency (vitamin PP), or pellagra, and vitamin D deficiency, which leads to rickets.

For example, vitamin C deficiency (scurvy) manifests itself characteristic hemorrhagic rash, bleeding gums, tooth loss and anemia, ultimately leading to the death of the patient. Counted, that in 200 years (from 1600 to 1800) about a million sailors died from scurvy, which is more than in all naval battles during the same period. Beriberi disease characterized damage to peripheral nerves, leading in severe cases to paralysis, as well as irritability, delirium and even amnesia. Pellagra - no less dangerous a disease that is called the disease of the three “Ds”: diarrhea, dermatitis, dementia, and in the English-language literature they usually add a fourth one - death (“death”). As can be seen from the descriptions of these diseases, these conditions are much more dangerous than what is meant by vitamin deficiency.

It should also be noted that, unlike the symptoms that are popularly associated with the winter-spring period, these diseases do not arise due to the time of year. For example, scurvy were exposed first of all, it was the sailors due to the undiversified diet, consisting mainly of corned beef. From take-take suffered primarily prisoners in prisons in Southeast Asia, and pellagra amazed the poorest segments of the population, as well as those suffering from alcoholism. In all these cases, the cause of vitamin deficiency was extreme restriction of the diet.

Candidate of Medical Sciences, general practitioner Vyacheslav Babin draws attention to the fact that “the need for vitamins is much less than the need, for example, for essential fatty acids (omega-3 and omega-6) and amino acids. Deficiency of some vitamins is possible only with general exhaustion.” Vitamin deficiency can also cause bring and other reasons - diet abuse, fasting, alcoholism, some diseases of the gastrointestinal tract that impair the absorption of nutrients, bariatric surgery (surgery on the stomach and other digestive organs to treat obesity) and congenital diseases leading to the inability to obtain vitamins from food.

However, there are now different types avitaminosis are extremely common rarely. The exception is beriberi: for example, in Myanmar it is second by prevalence, the cause of postneonatal (from 29 to 365 days after birth) mortality. In this case, a slight deficiency of vitamins can occur; it is more correct to call it hypovitaminosis. And this is a really common condition: according to the Federal Research Center for Nutrition and Biotechnology, in Russia hypovitaminosis suffer more than 80% of residents.

There is not a single case when certain vitamins would be shown by default to all inhabitants of the Earth indiscriminately. However, for people living in non-sunny climates, the British Department of Health recommends Take maintenance doses of vitamin D from October to March. Also an exception is possible count taking folic acid by pregnant women or planning to become pregnant. According to the Cochrane review, there is definitely a need for taking other vitamins only in women in disadvantaged countries. For the rest, it is recommended to take any supplements only after a doctor’s prescription.

Taking other vitamins without indications or prescriptions from a doctor is not only useless for preventing the risk of certain diseases (For example, heart attacks and strokes), but can also be dangerous. So, taking large doses of vitamin E increases mortality from all causes (and the higher the dose of the vitamin, the higher the risk), and taking vitamin E along with beta-carotene in large doses increases risk of certain types of cancer. Excess Vitamin C leads to the occurrence of kidney stones, may call nausea, vomiting and allergies reactions. Abuse of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) is dangerous because they accumulate in the body and can cause poisoning.

Summarizes all these unwanted effects article from the American scientific journal Annals of Internal Medicine under the telling title “Enough is Enough”: “Adding beta-carotene, vitamin E and, probably, high doses of vitamin A to food is harmful to health. Other antioxidants, folic acid and B vitamins, and multivitamins and mineral supplements are of no use in preventing major chronic diseases or increasing life expectancy.” What then to do in winter and spring? Doctors converge in opinionwhat's the most the best is a varied and balanced nutrition, allowing the body to obtain and synthesize the necessary substances itself. Summarizes This is Candidate of Medical Sciences, therapist Yaroslav Ashikhmin: “If a person eats right, then he does not need vitamins.” 

To summarize, it should be noted that vitamin deficiency is a real group of diseases that, if untreated, even end in death. However, the change of seasons cannot lead to either of them. What is commonly called vitamin deficiency is most likely hypovitaminosis, and it needs to be “treated” with a varied diet, and taking most vitamins without a doctor’s prescription is not only useless, but can also be dangerous.

Not true

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