Vitamin Deficiency
Vitamin deficiency anemia is a lack of healthy red blood cells caused when you have lower than normal amounts of certain vitamins. Vitamins linked to vitamin deficiency anemia include folate, vitamin B-12 and vitamin C. Vitamin deficiency anemia can occur if you don’t eat enough foods containing folate, vitamin B-12 or vitamin C, or it can occur if your body has trouble absorbing or processing these vitamins.
Signs and symptoms of vitamin deficiency anemia include fatigue, shortness of breath, dizziness, pale or yellowish skin, weight loss and Numbness or tingling in your hands and feet. Vitamin deficiency anemia develops when your body has a shortage of the vitamins needed to produce enough healthy red blood cells. Red blood cells carry oxygen from your lungs throughout your body.
Causes of vitamin deficiency anemias include:
Folate deficiency anemia
Folate, also known as vitamin B-9, is a nutrient found mainly in fruits and leafy green vegetables. A diet consistently lacking in these foods can lead to a deficiency.
Deficiency can also result if your body is unable to absorb folate from food. Most nutrients from food are absorbed in your small intestine. You might have difficulty absorbing folate or folic acid, the synthetic form of folate that’s added to foods and supplements, if You have a disease of the small intestine, such as celiac disease or you’ve had a large part of the small intestine surgically removed or bypassed.
Vitamin B-12 deficiency anemia
Vitamin B-12 deficiency can result from a diet lacking in vitamin B-12, which is found mainly in meat, eggs and milk.
However, the most common cause of vitamin B-12 deficiency anemia is a lack of a substance called intrinsic factor, which can be caused when your immune system mistakenly attacks the stomach cells that produce this substance. This type of anemia is called pernicious anemia.
