You maintain a balanced and healthy diet, eat fresh fruit and vegetables every day, choose whole grain products, healthy fats, and drink plenty of water – and yet you still sometimes feel tired, unfocused, or easily ill? Perhaps a blood test has even shown that you're lacking important vitamins or minerals like vitamin D, magnesium, or iron. This phenomenon is widespread and affects many people who actually eat mindfully and regularly incorporate healthy foods into their daily routine.
The reason for this often lies not in poor food choices, but in the complex interrelationships between nutrient intake, metabolism, individual needs, and external influences. Even if the food on your plate looks healthy, the final deciding factor is how well the body can utilize these nutrients—and how high your actual needs are. What's particularly insidious is that a deficiency doesn't necessarily have to be noticeable immediately. It can develop gradually, often over many months or even years, and only become apparent later.
When everyday life consumes more nutrients than you consume
One of the biggest, often underestimated, factors causing nutrient deficiencies is stress. Work pressure, family obligations, constant availability, and a high level of activity place the body under constant strain. In these situations, the need for certain micronutrients increases significantly, particularly magnesium, vitamin C, and various B vitamins. These nutrients are crucial for the normal functioning of the nervous system, energy metabolism, and immune defense. However, under stress, they are depleted significantly faster than they can be absorbed through diet alone.
The problem is that long-term stress acts like a constant "consumer," slowly but steadily depleting the body's energy stores. Even if you eat nutrient-rich foods every day, the balance can be negative—especially if stress levels remain high for weeks or months. The result is depleted energy stores, which manifest themselves in the form of fatigue, tension, reduced performance, or an increased susceptibility to infection. In addition, stress often brings with it other unfavorable side effects: irregular eating habits, skipping entire meals, increased caffeine consumption, unbalanced food choices, or reduced sleep times. Therefore, anyone who wants to protect their health in the long term should not only pay attention to a healthy diet, but also plan for targeted regeneration, develop stress management strategies, and actively replace lost reserves.
Eating healthy does not automatically mean being optimally supplied
Many people associate the term "healthy eating" with fresh, unprocessed foods, balanced meals, and mindful eating habits. But even those who consistently follow these principles are not automatically protected from nutrient deficiencies.
One important reason: everyday life. Often, there's simply not enough time for elaborate, freshly prepared meals. Instead, ready-made salads, take-out meals, or quick snacks end up on the plate – even if the basic ingredients seem healthy. Such meals can't always meet the need for folic acid, zinc, omega-3 fatty acids, or iron, especially if they're one-sidedly composed or heavily processed.
There's also a factor that many underestimate: the quality of our food. Even fresh vegetables and fruit often contain fewer minerals today than they did a few decades ago. Depleted soils caused by intensive agriculture, monocultures, longer transport routes, and long storage times lead to a decrease in nutrient density. Those who rely solely on theoretical nutritional tables when calculating their nutrient intake could, in reality, be consuming significantly less than they think.
Particularly crucial, however, is the individual body's ability to utilize vitamins and minerals from food. A healthy intestinal flora and an intact intestinal mucosa are prerequisites for nutrients to enter the bloodstream. However, if the intestine is out of balance—for example, after antibiotic therapy, years of an unbalanced diet, chronic stress, silent inflammation, or food intolerances—this process can be disrupted. Food is digested as usual, but vitamins, minerals, and trace elements are no longer absorbed in sufficient quantities.
This means that even if your plate is full of nutrient-rich foods, your body isn't getting what it actually needs. In such cases, it's a good idea to first restore balance to your gut—for example, through a gut-friendly diet, targeted development of your intestinal flora, and reducing stress factors. At the same time, a temporary, targeted intake of individual nutrients can help replenish empty stores until your gut is functioning optimally again. This not only corrects an acute deficiency but also sustainably improves your long-term nutrient supply.
Invisible opponents in everyday life
In addition to the obvious causes, there are also many invisible factors that quietly contribute to iron deficiencies. Coffee, for example, is a daily companion for many, but can inhibit iron absorption if consumed directly with meals. Certain medications also alter nutrient balance: acid reducers reduce the absorption of vitamin B12 over time, and hormonal contraceptives or diuretics can affect vitamin and mineral balance. Painkillers, alcohol, and smoking also deprive the body of valuable micronutrients.
Alcohol, for example, not only accelerates the breakdown of certain vitamins but also puts a strain on the liver, which plays a key role in metabolism. If an already increased need isn't met – as happens with stress, illness, or intense physical activity – the effects quickly add up. These silent adversaries are often not consciously perceived, but act like invisible nutrient robbers, creating deficiencies over time despite a healthy diet.
A gradual process – why defects often go unnoticed for a long time
A nutrient deficiency rarely develops overnight. It usually develops over weeks, months, or even years. The body has certain reserves that it can initially draw on when daily dietary intake is insufficient. As long as these stores are full, you often don't notice any changes. But over time, they diminish, and at some point they are no longer sufficient to optimally supply all metabolic processes.
The insidious thing about it is that the first signs are often nonspecific and easy to overlook. Mild fatigue, concentration problems, irritability, or increased susceptibility to infection are often attributed to other causes—such as lack of sleep, work-related stress, or simply a "bad day." Only when the deficiency becomes more pronounced do more obvious symptoms appear, such as brittle nails, hair loss, muscle cramps, or skin problems. Having your nutrient status checked regularly can detect this insidious process early and take targeted countermeasures—before it noticeably impacts your well-being and performance.
Your needs are as individual as you are
The official daily recommendations for vitamins and minerals—the so-called NRV values—are based on average values. Yet hardly anyone lives, works, and eats "averagely."
Personal requirements depend heavily on individual factors: Physically active individuals often require significantly more magnesium, zinc, and vitamin C to optimally support muscles and the immune system. Those who spend many hours in front of screens every day place significant strain on their eyes and nervous system and benefit from additional B vitamins, omega-3 fatty acids, and antioxidants.
Dietary type is also crucial. A vegetarian or vegan diet can be very healthy, but requires special attention to nutrients such as vitamin B12, iron, and zinc, which are often found in smaller quantities or in a less readily available form in plant-based foods. During certain life phases such as pregnancy or breastfeeding, the need for folic acid, iron, iodine, and omega-3 fatty acids increases significantly. Relying solely on average values during these phases risks unknowingly developing a deficiency—even with an overall healthy diet. Phases of high stress, intensive training, or illness can also significantly increase requirements in the short term.
Conclusion: Healthy nutrition remains the basis – but sometimes it alone is not enough
A balanced diet is the foundation for a good supply of vitamins and minerals. However, stress, lifestyle, medications, food quality, and the ability to absorb nutrients can still lead to nutrient deficiencies. By knowing your individual needs and keeping an eye on potential risk factors, you can take targeted countermeasures and thus ensure long-term health and performance.
Even if you maintain a healthy diet, it can be beneficial to regularly check whether your body is truly receiving optimal nutrition. If a test reveals a deficiency, there are now high-quality supplements available for almost every need – from individual micronutrients like magnesium or iron to specially formulated combinations. They can help you compensate for deficiencies and supplement your diet in a targeted manner – always tailored to your personal needs. This way, you can ensure that your body gets everything it needs to stay productive and healthy, even during stressful, demanding, or special phases of life.
