Feel Cold All the Time? You May Not Be Getting Enough of These 5 Vitamins
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Some people are more sensitive to cold environments than others. Having an increased reaction to cold, or always cold, is known as the cold intolerance.
There are many reasons why you can always feel cold, including chronic diseases, low body weight, hormonal imbalances and anemia (low number of red blood cells).
If you always feel colder than others, it may also be because you lack certain vitamins, especially those that help regulate blood flow and witness body temperature.
Studies have shown that people with vitamin B12 tend to feel greater sensitivity to cold temperatures.
The exact reason why people without B12 tend to feel colder is not known. However, this may be due to the fact that a B12 deficiency can lead to anemia, which is a known cause of sensitivity to cold.
It is generally recommended that people aged 14 and more consume approximately 2.4 micrograms of vitamin B12 per day and that the speakers consume approximately 2.6 micrograms per day.
You can include vitamin B12 in your diet by eating foods such as eggs, dairy products and meat. However, people with a strict vegan diet or those who find it difficult to absorb vitamin B12 of food, such as people with inflammatory intestine disease (MII), may need supplementation to meet their needs.
If you are diagnosed with a B12 deficiency, your health care provider may recommend B12 injections to help you reconstruct your stores before transferring to an oral medication.
Like B12, a vitamin B9 deficiency can also lead to anemia, which can make you more sensitive to cold temperatures.
You can get folates naturally in fruits, legumes, eggs, green leafy vegetables and liver. Folats are poorly stored in the body, so a deficiency can develop in a few weeks in months if your diet is lacking in folate. Adults need approximately 400 folate micrograms per day to reconstruct their stores.
The speakers need more folate because it is essential for fetal development. It is recommended that the speakers get 600 micrograms of food folate per day.
People who drink high quantities of alcohol and people with hemolytic anemia (a condition in which red blood cells are destroyed faster than they are replaced) can also be at risk of folates deficiency.
Your healthcare provider will generally recommend taking around 1 to 5 milligrams of oral acid daily to treat folates deficiency.
Weak iron reserves can lead to a condition known as iron anemia. Iron anemia can make you feel cold in your hands and feet.
If your iron reserves are low, it can reduce the production of hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that helps transport oxygen throughout the body.
With less circulating oxygen, your body can find it difficult to make the typical responses to cold, in particular:
- Vasoconstriction: It is at this moment that blood vessels in the skin shrink to maintain the heat.
- Increased metabolism: this produces more heat in the body.
Iron deficiency is widespread in pregnant people, those with heavy menstrual periods, people with gastro-duodenological ulcer and people with gastrointestinal diseases such as celiac disease, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. If you fall into one of these groups, you may need to increase your iron intake using an additional cost.
You can also get meat iron (especially liver), chicken, fish, green leafy vegetables and legumes (such as beans and peas with black eyes). Some foods are enriched with iron, such as cereals, pasta, rice and grains.
Recommended iron intake is around 8 milligrams for men aged 19 to 50 and around 18 milligrams for women of the same age. However, the amount of iron necessary to manage an iron deficiency is higher than the quantity found in food and most daily multivitamin supplements.
If you have weak iron stores, your doctor can prescribe between 150 and 200 milligrams of elementary iron per day. However, always see your doctor to determine the exact dose you need.
Due to the important roles that zinc plays in metabolism, a zinc deficiency can cause poor temperature regulation, which can make you feel cold.
You can be deficient in zinc if your serum zinc levels fall below 70 micrograms by decline (MCG / DL) for women and 74 mcg / dl for men. If you are deficient in zinc, your health care provider can recommend between 20 and 40 milligrams of oral zinc per day.
The richest zinc food sources are fish, seafood (especially oysters) and meat. You can also get zinc from poultry, wheat germ, wild rice and nuts. If you are a vegetarian, consider foods like cashews, almonds, bacon beans and peas as options. However, the amount of zinc you get grains is less than that of animal sources.
Copper deficiency can cause hypothermia (when the body temperature falls below normal), which can make you feel unusually cold. A copper deficiency can also lead to anemia, which has been linked to cold intolerance.
You can find copper in many foods, including beef, crustaceans, nuts, seeds, potatoes, mushrooms, tofu and chickpeas.
Most people receive enough copper from their diet. However, people with celiac disease and Menkes disease (a rare genetic disorder) may have trouble meeting their copper needs due to absorption problems.
The recommended copper dose varies according to age and individual needs. People aged 19 and over need approximately 900 copper micrograms per day, while speakers need around 1,000 micrograms per day.
In large quantities, copper can be toxic, so it is preferable to always follow the dose recommended by your pharmacist or health care provider.
The other reasons you may feel more sensitive to cold include:
- Food disorders like anorexia
- Anemia
- Hypothyroidism (subactive thyroid)
- Problem with the hypothalamus (part of the brain which controls the body temperature)
- Diabetes
- Raynaud’s disease (a condition causing low blood flow to ends such as fingers and toes in response to colds or stress)
- Fabry disease (a rare genetic disease causing a deficiency in enzyme)
- Surgery
Feeling cold is not necessarily a sign revealing a vitamin deficiency. There is no sure way to know that you are deficient in a particular vitamin without consulting a doctor and doing a laboratory test.
Taking supplements to manage a self-diagnosed deficiency can be harmful. For example, zinc and copper supplementation is toxic to high doses. In addition, food supplements can interact with your drugs, interfere with laboratory tests or complicate surgery.
If you are concerned about your cold intolerance, consult your doctor, who will recommend the best treatment according to the results of your laboratory. If you need a supplement, they can recommend the exact dose you need to prevent exupplement.
Defers in certain vitamins and minerals, such as B12, Folate, Iron, Zinc and Copper, can make you feel cold. If you feel constantly or extremely cold, even when others seem comfortable, consult your health care provider.
Your doctor will often ask you routine questions to exclude other causes and can refer you for laboratory tests to see why you have developed cold intolerance. If you are deficient in some vitamins, they will be able to recommend the right supplements.




