Which Deficiency Causes Foot Cramps?

A painful foot cramp can wake you up in the middle of the night. A muscle that tightens in the foot and won’t release can be agonizing and make you wonder what you did the day before to cause yourself such pain. Before you blame your daily walks or yoga practice for all your foot-related muscle cramps, it’s a good idea to make sure the cause isn’t related to a vitamin deficiency.

Traditionally, most of us consider a lack of potassium the culprit behind muscle spasms, foot aches, and nocturnal leg cramps. However, that may not be the cause. There are a few other nutrients that could be missing from your diet and causing you to experience these issues, and some causes that are not dietary related.

We’ll discuss what may be causing your foot cramps and also talk about a nutrient you probably don’t know you’re deficient in. Don’t worry; even though you’re probably deficient, the solution to restoring your levels is very simple. 

What Causes Foot Cramps?

There are numerous reasons why you might be suffering from foot cramps, and although a vitamin deficiency may be one of them, it’s important to explore all the possibilities. 

Inactivity

More common than from physical activity, cramping is often related to a lack of movement. If you lead a sedentary lifestyle or sit for long hours each day without taking breaks to get up and walk around, you may be more prone to foot cramping, especially at night. 

Likewise, inactivity during the night may lead to foot cramping if you sleep in a position that does not promote proper blood flow to your feet. Make sure you sleep with your legs in a slightly bent or straight position to ensure proper blood flow. During the day, taking breaks from work to go for a quick walk can help get blood flowing to your extremities.

Pulled Muscles

If you overexert your muscles, you could end up with a cramp. While it’s hard to pull a muscle in your foot, it’s definitely possible. Problems with your stride while walking or running long distances can place strain and extra load on muscles that aren’t as well developed, leaving you with cramps. 

It’s also possible to pull a muscle during certain activities, like climbing or yoga. If this happens, rest is usually the best recipe for healing, along with gentle stretches to encourage blood flow and help the muscles relax.

Improper Footwear

Wearing shoes that don’t fit properly or aren’t designed to support your feet can become the cause of muscle cramps. If you notice you only experience foot pain and cramping after wearing a certain pair of shoes, you’ve probably discovered the source of your misery. Replacing the shoes or switching to supportive shoes can help you avoid future foot pain.

Underlying Medical Conditions

People who suffer from type 2 diabetes may develop nerve pain in their feet, called neuropathy. This painful condition can cause cramping and feelings of “pins and needles” in the feet and toes. In addition, conditions like hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, anemia, and kidney disease can also lead to muscle weakness and cramping. 

Certain medications used to control blood pressure, as well as birth control pills and statins, may also include side effects like foot cramping. Lastly, being pregnant can lead to foot cramps, but thankfully, they subside once a person is no longer pregnant.

If none of these causes of muscle pain can explain your foot cramps, you may very well have a vitamin deficiency.

Deficiencies That Cause Foot Cramps

In America, vitamin deficiencies are fairly uncommon because of the abundant availability of food. However, it is still possible you could be deficient in a particular nutrient. 

The popularity of certain elimination-style diets that exclude entire food groups could leave your body depleted. If you never had foot cramps before making a dietary change and find that you have them now, you could be missing out on an important nutrient.

Magnesium

Magnesium plays a role in how our muscles function, and magnesium deficiency is thought to contribute to muscle cramping. Interestingly, a meta-analysis of several randomized controlled trials of magnesium supplementation in populations of people who experienced muscle cramps did not provide enough data to support that the supplementation helped with leg cramps, except when used in pregnant people. 

However, because magnesium is involved in muscle function, a lack of magnesium could cause muscles to become weaker and no longer function as they should. This could result in cramps and sore muscles. 

Potassium

Potassium, like magnesium, is an electrolyte that plays a role in muscle function. This mineral is essential, and certain dietary restrictions or medications can cause your body to become deficient. 

If someone is deficient in potassium or magnesium, it is sometimes called an electrolyte imbalance. Having an electrolyte imbalance can also be common after a long period of intense exercise, especially if a person is losing a lot of fluid through sweating. 

Calcium

A mineral deficiency in calcium can lead to leg cramps. Getting plenty of calcium is usually not difficult, even if you have a diet that isn’t rich in dairy products. 

There are plenty of dark, leafy green veggies that have a high calcium content. To ensure calcium is properly absorbed, make sure you couple your calcium with vitamin D, which helps your body take in calcium and is also essential for preventing osteoporosis. 

If you think you might be deficient in a particular nutrient, a simple blood test can tell you for certain. However, the average American doesn’t have a problem getting their recommended daily allowance of dietary nutrients, except when it comes to pentadecanoic acid. 

The New Deficiency To Know About 

While most nutrient deficiencies are uncommon, there’s one that most of us have without even knowing it. Pentadecanoic acid, also known as C15:0, is an odd-chain, saturated fatty acid that is essential for bodies to thrive. Essential means our bodies must have it but cannot make it on their own. 

We know that some fatty acids are essential, but to date, there are only three: omega-3, omega-6, and C15:0. While omega-3 and omega-6 are usually obtained through dietary sources, it’s almost impossible to get the C15:0 we need from our food because it is primarily found in whole dairy products like full-fat milk and butter. 

The bad news is that without C15:0, you could be sacrificing a fundamental key to improving your health span and increasing your longevity.

How Does C15:0 Work?

First, it’s important to understand that the foundations of our health lie in our cells. Cells make up the tissues and organs that create entire systems in our bodies. 

When our cells are healthy, we are healthy. When we experience a decline in cellular health, we often feel the negative impacts, such as poor metabolic health, decreased cardiovascular health, and compromised liver function. 

Here’s where C15:0 steps in. C15:0 actually reverses the cellular aging process, which can cause cells to slow down and eventually lose their function. By integrating into our cells and strengthening them, C15:0 can dramatically improve cellular signaling, repair mitochondria, and even increase cellular energy.

C15:0 studies have proven that this fatty acid:

• Strengthens cellular membranes by 80%. As we age, cell membranes can wear out and become flimsy. When a cell loses its shape, it may lose its function. C15:0, a sturdy fatty acid that is solid at room temperature, digs into the cell membranes to fortify them. 

• Improve mitochondrial function. Aging cells have mitochondria that don’t produce as much ATP (cellular energy) as they once did. At the same time, they produce more harmful ROS (reactive oxygen species). This combination means your cells aren’t as energized and are subject to a higher level of oxidation than they should be. C15:0 repairs damaged mitochondria, decreasing ROS by 45% and increasing ATP production by up to 350% in studies.

• Lowers “bad” LDL cholesterol

• Improves liver enzymes

• Improves the gut microbiome

• Targets six out of the 12 hallmarks of aging (better than the study of rapamycin’s effects on these cellular aging processes). 

In addition, C15:0 binds to receptors called PPARs, which regulate functions such as sleep, mood, appetite, immunity, and glucose uptake. By binding to these receptors, C15:0 helps restore total body homeostasis.

How Much C15:0 Do I Need?

There’s been a great deal of research into how much C15:0 a person needs to maintain wellness and enjoy the benefits we know it provides. You might find it interesting to learn that when C15:0 was discovered, it wasn’t in human studies. 

Scientists researching longevity on Navy dolphins discovered that populations with higher levels of C15:0 had fewer occurrences of age-related illnesses. And another big paper was just published on a newly discovered nutritional C15:0 deficiency syndrome called Cellular Fragility Syndrome. 

Its discovery is a noteworthy finding, considering conditions related to nutritional deficiencies (such as scurvy due to vitamin C shortage or rickets due to insufficient vitamin D) are infrequently detected.

This report delineates the role of C15:0, a vital fatty acid, in maintaining cell strength. A lack of C15:0 can cause cellular brittleness and a phenomenon known as ferroptosis, which in turn expedites the aging process and influences the health of our metabolism, liver, and heart.

The silver lining is that the peer-reviewed paper shows that fixing C15:0 deficiencies strengthens cells, fights ferroptosis, slows cellular aging, and protects our long-term metabolic, liver, and heart health. 

What's even more exciting? Measures to maintain ideal C15:0 concentrations could arguably boost our overall well-being and longevity, even to the extent of the so-called Blue Zones, where people routinely live to 100 years old and older.

How Do I Know if I’m Deficient?

The only way to know for certain is by ordering the fatty15 C15:0 at-home test or having your doctor perform a blood test. Additionally, you can determine the result of increasing your C15:0 levels by monitoring your complete blood count, fasting lipid panel, and liver enzymes.

C15:0 levels should be above 0.2% of your total fatty acids to prevent nutritional deficiencies and Cellular Fragility Syndrome. It’s worth noting that in blue zones (where people consistently live to be 100), C15:0 levels usually measure between 0.4% and 0.6% of total fatty acids.

How Can I Get More C15:0?

Why are you deficient in C15:0? It could be because you avoid saturated fats due to dietary guidelines issued in the 1970s that are still in effect today. 

It could be that you don’t consume much (or any) full-fat dairy products. Most people today avoid whole-fat dairy, and 40% of American households use plant-based milk (which is completely void of C15:0) instead of dairy milk. 

Still, increasing your C15:0 by doubling down on full-fat dairy isn’t the solution. That’s where supplementation with C15:0 may be a good solution. 

Why a Supplement?

There are a few reasons why taking a supplement to obtain this essential fatty acid may be beneficial. 

• It’s absorbable. In milk (and other foods), C15:0 is attached to branches of lipids called triacylglycerides, aka triglycerides. That means our gut has to use digestive enzymes to break down these triacylglycerides to release C15:0 as a free fatty acid. Once C15:0 is released, it is ready to be absorbed. These multiple steps can make our absorption of C15:0 from foods less efficient. In contrast, FA15 in fatty15 is our proprietary pure, powder C15:0 ingredient already in free fatty acid form. Less work for the gut, more good C15:0 for our bodies.
• It’s not mixed with “other” saturated fats. While the good C15:0 fatty acid is present in whole-fat dairy products in trace levels, there are much higher levels of 'bad' even-chain saturated fatty acids that continue to be associated with poorer health. That is probably why studies evaluating the effects of milk on our health are mixed (some say dairy fat is bad for us, while others say it is good for us). Fatty15 provides just the good fat without the bad fats.
• It’s a vegan solution. To get C15:0 from your food, you’ll need bovine involvement. If you’re on a vegan diet or are looking for more animal-free products, a supplement is the solution.
• It has fewer calories. Let’s be honest: whole dairy packs in a wallop of calories that most of us don’t need. In contrast, the amount of calories in fatty15, the world’s first and only C15:0 supplement, is just one.
• It’s scientifically proven. In a randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled study recently published in the Journal of Nutrition, fatty15 was proven to prevent and treat Cellular Fragility Syndrome. This supplement was shown to reverse ferroptosis, slow cellular aging, and safely increase C15:0 levels — as well as all the health benefits for your metabolism, liver, and heart.

By taking a supplement, you can increase your C15:0 levels, avoid animal-based products, and also excuse yourself from additional calories and unhealthy fats that could lead to negative health outcomes. It’s an easy way to make up for a dietary deficiency and support your health.

Relief for Feet

Dietary interventions may help you get rid of foot cramps, but if you have certain risk factors (like underlying conditions or medications), you may need to seek medical advice for other solutions. In the meantime, you can focus on an aspect of your health that is easy to manage and will net you some serious benefits in terms of your overall healthspan and longevity. 

Fatty15 is the science-backed solution for improving your cellular health and living a longer, healthier life. 

Sources:

Effect of magnesium therapy on nocturnal leg cramps: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials with meta-analysis using simulations|PubMed

Muscle cramp - Symptoms and causes | Mayo Clinic

Efficacy of dietary odd-chain saturated fatty acid pentadecanoic acid parallels broad associated health benefits in humans: could it be essential? | Scientific Reports

A review of odd-chain fatty acid metabolism and the role of pentadecanoic Acid (c15:0) and heptadecanoic Acid (c17:0) in health and disease | PubMed

Effect of an Asian-adapted Mediterranean diet and pentadecanoic acid on fatty liver disease: the TANGO randomized controlled trial | ScienceDirect

Pentadecanoic Acid (C15:0), an Essential Fatty Acid, Shares Clinically Relevant Cell-Based Activities with Leading Longevity-Enhancing Compounds | MDPI

Plant Based Food Statistics - Size & Growth 2023 | Strategic Market Research

The Cellular Stability Hypothesis: Evidence of Ferroptosis and Accelerated Aging-Associated Diseases as Newly Identified Nutritional Pentadecanoic Acid (C15:0) Deficiency Syndrome | Metabolites

Pentadecanoic Acid Supplementation in Young Adults with Overweight and Obesity: A Randomized Controlled Trial | The Journal of Nutrition