Legacy Healing Center Blog

Why Alcohol Causes Vitamin and Mineral Deficiencies

Alcohol consumption is widely known to cause damage to a person’s liver functioning and other organs. What many don’t know is that alcohol affects your body’s ability to absorb the necessary vitamins and minerals that help your bodies operate at optimal functioning levels. The more you consume alcohol, the harder it becomes to properly intake and maintain levels of nourishment through these essential vitamins and minerals, which makes finding the right alcohol detox supplements during addiction treatment extremely important.

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Alcohol creates deficiencies in vitamins and minerals for the following reasons:

• Decreased appetite due to alcohol use: Many heavy drinkers neglect to eat enough.  Once intoxicated, people often forget about eating or simply prioritize drinking alcohol over eating food.  It is very common for people struggling with alcohol use disorder to suffer from malnutrition. Often people arrive at alcohol rehab with nutrient deficiencies that need to be addressed. 
• Consuming empty calories: This happens specifically with alcoholics who consume the most calories through the drinks they’re having or from eating primarily unhealthy foods. Alcoholic beverages have no nutritional value, and when consumed, individuals will often turn to junk or fast food that has no nutritional value. 
• Inability to absorb nutrients: When a person with alcohol use disorder does consume a healthy meal, they cannot adequately process and store the nutrients due to the chemical misuse and imbalance within their body. 

Important Detox Nutrients

As you are going through your alcohol detox process, it is essential to replenish your body with vitamins and minerals for alcohol detox. Your body will be going through the few nutrients it has stored as you remove the toxins from addiction your body. Vitamins and nutrients used as alcohol detox supplements that are important to consume at this time are:

• C Vitamins: Increasing your vitamin C intake will improve your body’s ability to curb feelings of fatigue or depression. It is common to have these symptoms when you are going through withdrawals, so increasing your intake will work to lessen the severity of symptoms felt. 
• B Vitamins: Vitamins B12 and B6 help your body produce healthy blood cells, which will support you in better overall functioning. Increasing vitamins B1, B3, and B5 will keep turning sugar into energy. 
• Calcium: Regular alcohol consumption often depletes the amount of calcium stored in the body. Increasing your calcium consumption will help replenish your body’s natural stock of this. 
• Omega 3’s: These are essential for supporting overall health as Omega 3’s increase your heart functioning and aid with symptoms of depression.
• Protein: Consuming protein helps build up the body’s amino acids responsible for rebuilding damaged cells and neurotransmitters in the brain. This is crucial for your alcohol detox process as it will help reduce or eliminate potential drug or alcohol cravings. 

How to Ensure You’re Getting the Right Vitamins and Minerals for Alcohol Detox

During your alcohol detox, you will want to be mindful that you are receiving the proper nourishment you need from vitamins and minerals to help restore your body to optimal health. To do so, it is best if you try alcohol detox supplements using these methods:

• Avoid cleanses: The human body can already cleanse itself of toxins. By limiting your body of food with vitamins and minerals, you are stopping your body from naturally doing this on its own. 
• Eat a balanced diet or take a multivitamin: If you can stomach eating during your first few days of detox, it is recommended to begin eating a balanced meal. If you cannot eat, taking a multivitamin will give you the vitamins and minerals you need to replenish your body in the beginning stages of detox. 
• Enjoy fresh-pressed fruit and vegetable juices: At Legacy Healing Center we provide clients with fresh-pressed juices every day starting in detox.  These nutrient-dense drinks taste great, restore lost vitamins and minerals, and facilitate the body’s natural detoxification pathways.
• Detox in a medically supervised program: During a professional medical detox, you will be monitored by medical professionals who are trained to provide you with a comfortable and safe detox process. This will alleviate potentially uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms through medical treatment and methods of replenishing your vitamins and minerals through holistic measures.

For more information on alcohol detox supplements and the best vitamins and minerals for alcohol detox, contact Legacy Healing at 888.534.2295 today.