Vitamin and Mineral Deficiencies: Physical Assessment
This table might prove useful in detecting nutrient deficiencies during a nutrition-focused
physical assessment.
Vitamin or Mineral
Physical Signs of Deficiency
Vitamin A
 Hair follicle blockage with a permanent
“goose-bump” appearance
 Dry, rough skin
 Small, grayish, foamy deposits on the
conjunctiva adjacent to the cornea
 Drying of the eyes and mucous membranes
 Night blindness
Vitamin D
 Rickets (children)
Vitamin K
 Small hemorrhages in the skin or mucous
membranes
Thiamine












Riboflavin
 Tearing, burning, and itching of the eyes
with fissuring in the corners of the eyes
 Soreness and burning of the lips, mouth,
and tongue with fissuring and/or cracking
of the lips and corners of the mouth
 Purple swollen tongue
 Seborrhea of the skin in the nasolabial
Weight loss
Muscular wasting
Sometimes edema (wet beriberi)
Malaise
Mental confusion
Tense calf muscles
Distended neck veins
Jerky movement of eyes
Staggering gait and difficulty walking
Infants may develop cyanosis
Round, swollen (moon) face
Foot and wrist drop
folds, scrotum, or vulva
 Capillary overgrowth around the corneas
Niacin






Vitamin B6
 Tongue inflammation
 Inflammation of the lining of the mouth
 Fissures in the corners of the mouth
Folate
 Weakness, fatigue, and depression
 Pallor
 Dermatologic lesions
Vitamin B12
 Lemon-yellow tint to the skin and eyes
 Smooth, red, thickened tongue
Vitamin C
 Impaired wound healing
 Edema
 Swollen, bleeding, and/or retracted gums or
tooth loss; mottled teeth; enamel erosion
 Lethargy and fatigue
 Skin lesions
 Small red or purplish pinpoint
discolorations on the skin or mucous
membranes (petechiae)
 Darkened skin around the hair follicles
 Corkscrew hair or unemerged, coiled hair
Dermatitis or skin eruptions
Dementia
Diarrhea
Tremors
Sore tongue
Skin that is exposed to sunlight will
develop cracks and a scaly form of
dermatitis with pigmentation
 Anorexia
 Indigestion
 May also show signs of riboflavin
deficiency
Magnesium
 Tremors, muscle spasms, and tetany
 Personality changes
Iron




Skin pallor
Pale conjuctivia
Fatigue
Thin, concave nails with raised edges
Zinc






Delayed wound healing
Hair loss
Skin lesions
Eye lesions
Nasolabial seborrhea
Decubitus ulcers
Copper
 Hair and skin depigmentation
 Pallor
Iodine
 Goiter
Chromium
 Corneal lesions
Reference and recommended reading
Gallagher ML. Intake: the nutrients and their metabolism. In: Mahan LK, Escott-Stump S,
Raymond JL. Krause’s Food and the Nutrition Care Process. 13th ed. St Louis, MO: Elsevier
Saunders; 2012:32-128.
Review Date 1/14
G-0890