VERIFIED CONTENTAuthor: Aleksandra Żyłowska-Mharrab, dietitian, food technologist, educator

Physical and mental fatigue as well as cognitive decline may be a symptom of deficiencies of vitamins and minerals essential for he alth. The plethora of micronutrients is related in various ways to the body's energy management, signaling in the nervous system, and resistance to stress, be it emotional or environmental. Do you often feel tired, lack of energy and willingness to act? Wondering what to take for fatigue? Take a look at which active substances may be responsible for the loss of vitality. We explain what various vitamins and other chemical compounds, important for he alth, have to do with energy.

What is called fatigue?

Fatigueis simply a state of energy deficiency. But not only energy in terms of fuel and calories, but also vitality, mental willingness to perform activities. Fatigue can be purely physical. Too many hours at work, intense training, mental effort, hunger.

The feeling of fatigue also appears as a result of factors affecting the mental state, including stress, tension, worry at home and at work, noise, too high or too low temperature. On the other hand, too little sleep or sleep that does not give you rest, from which you often wake up, affects both the level of physical and mental energy.

It is not difficult to notice that physical and mental fatigue cannot be separated. No matter how you look at energy and fatigue, physical and emotional factors are intertwined. This means that for the feeling of energy, strength to act and fight against constant fatigue, you need nutrients that:

  • provide energy or calories,
  • are involved in energy metabolism at the cellular level,
  • transport energy to cells and tissues,
  • affect hematopoietic processes and blood flow - nutrients are transported with the blood,
  • affect oxygen transport - tissues cannot function without oxygen, and oxygen deficiency also manifests itself in physical and mental fatigue,
  • affect neurotransmission,
  • modulate the body's response to stressors.

What will help with fatigue?

For surenot all supplements at once. First, check your iron, ferritin and vitamin B12 levels. Perhaps it is anemia that is the cause of the constant lack of energy. Then it is necessary to treat her.

When your morphology is normal, but you are still accompanied by a low energy level and lack of strength to act, you should consider supplementing with a complex of B vitamins, zinc, magnesium and coenzyme Q10.

Physically active people and those who notice muscle weakness may need larger amounts of L-carnitine and vitamin C. And all those whose main causes of lack of energy are stress and mental fatigue can use adaptogens and magnesium.

Vitamins for fatigue

B vitamins

All B vitamins, except folic acid, are involved in at least one, and often several stages of the cell's energy production process. Without delving into biochemistry, let's just say that without B vitamins, the processes of metabolism of nutrients into energy do not take place.

Vitamin B1 participates in the metabolism of carbohydrates, it is a precursor of many compounds from which neurotransmitters such as acetylcholine, glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid are formed. An early symptom of vitamin B1 deficiency is fatigue.

Too low level of vitamin B2 disrupts red blood cell production and shortens their life span. Riboflavin deficiency may adversely affect iron metabolism, especially heme formation in red blood cells, resulting in normolour and normocytic anemia. And anemia is associated with a disruption of oxygen supply to cells.

Vitamin B3 is a component of two coenzymes: nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP). They take part in the metabolism of proteins, fats and carbohydrates.

Vitamin B5 is a component of coenzyme A (CoA) involved in many metabolic processes. It is essential in the metabolism of carbohydrates and fats - producing energy from them. Vitamin B6 is involved in the transformation of carbohydrates, proteins and fats. It is necessary for the synthesis of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is crucial for the mood.

Vitamin B12 and B9

Vitamin B12, like other B vitamins, is involved in energy processes, especially in the transformation of carbohydrates and fats. Its role, however, is much broader. Vitamin B12 together with vitamin B9 are essential in the hematopoietic process. Without them, red and white blood cells are not properly produced and their maturation is disturbed.

Vitamin B12 or B9 deficiency (or bothsimultaneously) is manifested by megaloblastic anemia. In this type of anemia, the number of red blood cells is normal, but their size is not. B12 and B9 deficiency anemia is associated with physical and mental fatigue, just like iron deficiency anemia.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C is known primarily for its antioxidant and immune functions. However, it also plays a role in preventing fatigue. Vitamin C is a component of two enzymes necessary for the formation of L-carnitine. And L-carnitine is used as a transporter of long-chain fatty acids (energy source) to the mitochondria, where energy is produced.

Vitamin C plays an important role in energy production through beta-oxidation of fats, and its deficiencies are associated with faster physical fatigue and muscle pain. Fats become the main source of energy for cells during longer physical exertion and depletion of glycogen stores.

Check the symptoms of vitamin C deficiency

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Minerals to strengthen the body

Iron

Iron is important in preventing fatigue and adding energy for two reasons. The first is associated with the hematopoietic process. Iron is a component of hemoglobin - the red pigment in blood cells - which transports oxygen to the cells. Iron deficiency causes a drop in hemoglobin levels, anemia, oxygen deficiency in cells, and consequently lethargy, difficulty concentrating and fatigue.

The second reason why iron is crucial for increasing energy is its involvement in the production of ATP (a high-energy compound that supplies energy to cells). Iron is part of the cytochromes needed for the production of cellular energy.

Cytochromes serve as electron carriers during the synthesis of ATP in the electron transport chain. Thus, iron deficiency affects a fundamental process of energy production in the body.

Magnesium

Magnesium plays a dominant role in the production and use of ATP. Each ATP molecule binds to the magnesium ion (Mg2 +) to form its biologically functional form: in the cell, most of the ATP is present in the form of Mg-ATP complexes. In this form, energy can be transported from where it is produced (mitochondria) to where it is needed.

Magnesium also acts as a regulator of the activity of several enzymes in the energy production pathway. The role of magnesium in the nervous system cannot be forgotten either. Magnesium is involved in the body's response to stress - one of the main factors of fatiguemental and physical. Low levels of magnesium can lead to oxidative stress and nerve cell death.

Zinc

Zinc plays an important role in various physiological processes, acting as an intracellular signaling molecule, participating in the repair of DNA damage, in cell proliferation, in the inhibition of NADPH oxidase, being responsible for the structure and stability of some enzymes, being involved in modulating the function of ATP and in the functioning of the immune system.

The activity of several enzymes in energy metabolism requires zinc, and low levels of zinc can reduce muscle strength. Scientific research shows that zinc is involved, directly or indirectly, in the mechanisms of fatigue.

Zinc deficiency is associated with the deepening of the lack of energy, e.g. in chronic fatigue syndrome, among people suffering from cancer and the elderly, which results from the production of markers of inflammation, immune activation and oxidative stress, which causes damage to the lipid membrane of cells.

Zinc supplementation is recommended by researchers as an effective method of fighting fatigue.

Other energy supplements

Adaptogens

Adaptogens can be defined as a pharmacological group of herbal preparations that increase tolerance to mental exhaustion and improve concentration, attention and mental endurance in situations of reduced performance.

The beneficial effects of adaptogens against stress result from the regulation of the body's homeostasis through several mechanisms of action related to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the control of key mediators of the stress response, such as molecular chaperones (e.g. Hsp70), stress-activated JNK1 kinase , cortisol and nitric oxide (NO).

The most important factor in the activity of adaptogens seems to be their action on the Hsp70 protein called the stress sensor. This protein plays an important role in cell survival and apoptosis (cell death). Hsp70 inhibits the expression of the NO synthase gene and interacts directly and via the JNK pathway with glucocorticoid receptors, thus reducing the level of cortisol and NO circulating in the blood.

Preventing stress-induced increases in nitric oxide levels and the associated decline in ATP (the high-energy compound that supplies energy to cells) results in increased performance and endurance. The increase in Hsp70 secretion caused by the action of adaptogen regulates resistance to stress and influences increased mental and physical performance.

The strongest scientific evidence for the beneficial effects of adaptogens onfatigue is related to Rhodiola rosea, Schisandra chinensis and Eleutherococcus senticosus, also known as Siberian ginseng.

L-carnitine

L-carnitine plays an important role in the metabolism of fats and the release of energy from them. Thanks to L-carnitine, long-chain fatty acids can enter the mitochondria, where they are transformed to generate energy. The skeletal muscles and the heart muscle use fatty acids as their main source of energy.

As a result, L-carnitine deficiency is associated with low energy levels and muscle weakness, which is partially deprived of the main fuel. In human studies, it has been found that low L-carnitine levels are associated with feelings of weakness and general fatigue, and supplementation increases energy and reduces muscle pain.

L-carnitine also supports the use of neurotransmitters such as serotonin and glutamate associated with mental well-being and mental abilities. L-carnitine deficiency is most often observed in people suffering from cancer, undergoing chemotherapy, suffering from nausea, vomiting and low appetite, and in patients with anorexia.

Coenzyme Q10

Coenzyme Q10 is a powerful antioxidant present in most body tissues. Research shows that people suffering from chronic fatigue have a low level of coenzyme Q10, and its supplementation has a positive effect on increasing the subjective feeling of energy and vitality and reducing the maximum heart rate during exercise.

Coenzyme Q10 participates in the production of ATP from nutrients. It reduces the effects of stress caused by free oxygen radicals and excess nitric oxide. Its low level is also observed in cognitive disorders, which may suggest that coenzyme Q10 has a positive effect on reducing mental fatigue.

Aleksandra Żyłowska-Mharrab, dietician Food technologist, dietitian, educator. A graduate of Biotechnology at the Gdańsk University of Technology and Nutritional Services at the Maritime University. A supporter of simple, he althy cuisine and conscious choices in everyday nutrition. My main interests include building permanent changes in eating habits and individually composing a diet according to the body's needs. Because the same thing is not he althy for everyone! I believe that nutritional education is very important, both for children and adults. I focus my activities on spreading knowledge about nutrition, analyze new research results, and make my own conclusions. I adhere to the principle that diet is a lifestyle, not a strict oneobserving meals from the card. There is always room for delicious pleasures in he althy and conscious eating.

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