Vitamins & Minerals

Introduction: With an increasing incidence of obesity and weight loss surgery, there is an increased awareness of vitamin D deficiency and its metabolic sequala. The conventional treatment for vitamin D deficiency is not adequate for a subset of bariatric patients, both pre-and postoperatively. Compounded injectable vitamin D is an alternative for most people who do not respond adequately to oral Vitamin D supplements after bariatric surgery.

Method: Those patients diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency were all prescribed oral supplementations and levels rechecked in three and six months and yearly after that. Our recommendations included Vitamin D injections to those patients who had either not responded or further worsened their vitamin D levels. Repeat levels of vitamin D of both those on injection and oral supplements were rechecked. We did not include those Patients with preexisting Primary hyperparathyroidism or hypercalcemia. Their work up included medical, nutritional, and psychological evaluations, also to complete metabolic panel. At the time of the operation, all patients were older than 18 years old and younger than 67.

Results: Between February 2011 and June 2019, 147 patients were recommended vitamin D injections since oral supplements failed to improve the serum levels. There was a significant improvement in the Serum level for those patients who received Vitamin D compared to those who continued on higher dose oral supplements.

Conclusion: Compounded Vitamin D injections should be considered a treatment option for patients who do not respond to oral supplementations following weight loss surgery.

Vitamin B12 assay is one of the most frequently ordered tests particularly as a part of regular medical checkups. The deficiency is rampant in vegetarian population. It is of immense importance that laboratories establish their own reference interval (RI) of analyte specially Vitamin B12 as a diagnosis of Vitamin B12 deficiency based on RI of kit insert inadvertently leads to unnecessary treatment or work up. A blind reliance on RI of kit insert should be discouraged as they do not take into account population characteristics and do not truly reflect RI specific to the population under study.

I am pleased to introduce Journal of Vitamins & Minerals (VTE) a rapid peer reviewed Journal which have a key concerns over the Food & Nutrition which covers the knowledge regarding Micro nutrients, Trace minerals, Probiotics, Multivitamins, Macro nutrients, Vitamins, Beta Carotene, Flavonoids, Biotin, Folic acid, Riboflavin, Mineral density. The Journal features a wide selection of fields in its discipline to form a platform for the authors to make their contribution towards the journal. I am pleased to announce that, all issues of volume 09 were published online well within the time and therefore the print issues were also brought out and dispatched within 30 days of publishing the issue online during the year of 2020.

Aim: : People who are at risk of developing vitamin D deficiency are not usually tested for vitamin D when present to hospital. The aim of this study was to explore the incidence of Hypovitaminosis-D and its treatment in admitted patient category of Cavan General Hospital, Ireland. Methods: This is a cross sectional study which was conducted randomly among admitted patients in medicine department at CGH from August 2016 to August 2017. A random data was collected from total of 100 patients. All blood samples were stored and labeled properly in the CGH Hematology lab till further blood profile analyzed. Data was statistically analyzed through using DSAASTAT (Onofri, Italy). Results: Selected population of 100 patients expressed almost equal numbers in gender distribution including males and females at 51% and 49% respectively. The data was analyzed on the basis of age and gender distribution. Selected Population was divided in 3 age groups. There were 9 patients under the age-group of 30-50 years, 47 of 51-80 years and 44 of >80 years age-group. Among these patients, males comprised of 57% with hypovitaminosis D (vitamin D deficiency) and females were 43% respectively. Out of these 100 patients, 33 people were recorded with normal vitamin D level and 67 patients found to have low vitamin D level. These 67 patients with low vitamin D levels were selected for treatment with vitamin D as per guidelines. Out of these 67 patients, unfortunately 3 people died, 11 lost their follow up, so remaining 53 patients participated in receiving treatments. Out of those 53 patients with low vitamin D, there were 29 males and 24 females. After receiving treatment with vitamin D, 40 people ± 0.0001 recovered, showing vitamin D level >30 nmol/L, 9 patients ± 0.0002 found mildly deficient with vitamin D levels between 21-30 nmol/L and 4 patients ± 0.0003 were severely deficient with levels of <10 nmol/L. All those people with severe deficiency were more than 80 years-of-age and also were not sure about their compliance with medications. The probability value was p ≤ 0.05. Conclusion: This study was conducted to determine hypovitaminosis D (Vitamin D deficiency) in population, admitted to hospital with previous comorbid medical conditions which are prone to develop its deficiency. This study showed that 67% population has hypovitaminosis D with almost equal percentage in both genders. After receiving treatments with Vitamin D replacement, almost majority (>90%) showed recovery of vitamin D levels with very small number (8%) showed persistent severely low levels.

Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals found in food that help to nourish and sustain your health. They are essential for your overall well-being. The best way for your body to get what it needs to be balanced is to eat foods rich in vitamins and minerals every day. However, studies consistently show that most Americans' diets are deficient in vitamins and minerals. Adult Americans, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), do not get enough of the following nutrients: Magnesium, fibre, calcium, potassium, Vitamins A, C, D, and E all contain. Try to incorporate more of these nutrients in your daily diet. It’s best to get these nutrients through food, instead of just taking a multivitamin. This is because it is easier for your body to absorb micronutrients through food. Calcium is a mineral that is present in, it is needed for the development of strong bones and teeth in childhood and adolescence. Calcium is necessary to maintain bone mass as an adult. According to the USDA, the average American adult can consume 1,136 milligrammes of calcium per day (based on a 2,000-calorie diet).