Which Deficiency Causes Tingling in Hands & Feet?

In established countries, vitamin deficiencies are extremely rare. Access to a variety of foods helps us meet our nutritional needs and protect our bodies from becoming deficient. When a nutrient deficiency occurs, it is usually due to an underlying illness or lifestyle habit. 

Tingling in the hands and feet, sometimes called paresthesia, can be caused by several different factors, one being a nutrient deficiency. We’ll discuss which deficiencies can lead to tingling appendages, and how to correct them. 

We’ll also talk about a newly discovered nutrient deficiency that affects approximately one in three people worldwide. In fact, you may be deficient in this essential nutrient and not know it. Don’t worry: we’ll give you an easy way to fix the deficiency and restore your circulating levels of this important nutrient. 

What Causes Tingling Hands and Feet?

If you have ever wondered why your hands and feet tingle, there are explanations that do not involve a dietary deficiency. 

Many factors can cause hands and feet to tingle, like:

• Diabetic neuropathy
• Past trauma to the hands and feet
• Nerve damage
• Circulatory problems
• Peripheral neuropathy
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Underlying illnesses or diseases such as hypothyroidism, Lyme disease, shingles, guillain-barre syndrome
• Lack of vitamins

Even sitting or standing in the same position for long periods can result in tingly hands and feet. Although it is less common for you to have tingling hands and feet due to a vitamin deficiency, it is possible. 

What Vitamin Deficiencies Cause Tingling Hands and Feet?

A few vitamin deficiencies may cause the hands and feet to tingle. 

Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 is an essential vitamin that is important for the health of red blood cells. B12 is also important for proper nervous system function and the creation of DNA. Vitamin B12 deficiency (also known as pernicious anemia) could lead to common symptoms like fatigue, pale skin, dizziness, and tingling in the hands and feet.

Most people get plenty of B12 from meat, eggs, dairy, and fortified cereals. However, people on restrictive diets (like vegans) and people with certain autoimmune diseases that affect vitamin B12 absorption are at higher risk of not getting enough and may require B12 supplements.

Vitamin B6

Vitamin B6 is also important for red blood cell health and plays a role in nerve function. Being deficient in B6 may lead to symptoms like fatigue, anemia, rashes, mouth sores, and tingling in the appendages. 

B6 is found in meat, eggs, bananas, avocados, spinach, beans, and lentils. Diets that limit the intake of these foods may cause you to become B6 deficient. Additionally, underlying illness could cause malabsorption issues that lead to vitamin B6 deficiency. 

Folate

Folate is another B vitamin (vitamin B9) that is essential to the body. Folate plays a role in DNA synthesis and cell growth. Not having enough folate in the diet may lead to symptoms like fatigue, anemia, mouth ulcers, and tingling in the hands and feet. 

Folate is found in foods like beans, legumes, broccoli, fortified cereals, liver, eggs, beef, and chicken. Malabsorption disorders (like celiac disease and Crohn’s disease), alcohol abuse, pregnancy, and breastfeeding may cause a person to become deficient. 

Diagnosis and Treatment

The only way to find out for sure if you aren’t getting enough vitamins and minerals in your diet is to have your healthcare professional perform a simple blood test. A blood test can determine if you are deficient, and working with your healthcare provider can help you understand the root cause of your deficiency. 

If you are deficient, you may be able to fix the problem by adjusting your lifestyle habits and/or treating any underlying illness. In addition, you’ll likely need to increase your dietary intake of the missing vitamin and potentially take a supplement, like a multivitamin. Dietary supplements are beneficial for filling in gaps and can help correct a vitamin deficiency in healthy people. 

Even people with underlying health problems are able to correct deficiencies through a combination of medications, dietary changes, and supplements. Once the deficiency is corrected, the bothersome side effects (like numbness and tingling) usually disappear on their own. 

These vitamin deficiencies are not common. The rate of folate deficiency, for example, is less than 1% in the United States. There is, however, one newly discovered nutrient deficiency that may be affecting up to ⅓ of the world's population.

A New Nutrient Deficiency

Discovery of a new essential nutrient is rare, and an accompanying deficiency is even rarer, but that is exactly what happened when researchers discovered a fatty acid. Scientists studying longevity in bottlenose dolphins noted that one population of dolphins had fewer occurrences of age-related illness. 

The dolphins’ diets were high in a specific fatty acid known as pentadecanoic acid, or C15:0 for short. Carrying their research further, the scientists discovered that these same health-protective benefits were available to humans, too. 

Further research proved that not only was C15:0 helpful to the human body, but it was also essential. Essential means our bodies need it to thrive but can’t make it by themselves. We have to get essential nutrients through our diets or from supplements. 

Accompanying the discovery of C15:0 was the realization that not having enough of it could lead to a deficiency called Cellular Fragility Syndrome. It is estimated that at least one in three people have a C15:0 deficiency worldwide. To fully appreciate the severity of this medical condition, we need to first understand how C15:0 works and why we’ve become deficient. 

What Is C15:0? 

C15:0 is an odd-chain, saturated fatty acid that helps support our ability to live longer, healthier lives. 

C15:0 helps our bodies on a cellular level by:

• Restoring strength to cell membranes. With age, cell membranes become flimsy and weak. C15:0 is a sturdy fatty acid that integrates into cell membranes to strengthen them by up to 80%.
  
• Removing “zombie” cells. Some cells experience degeneration but don’t totally die. Instead, they hang around in our bodies, causing inflammation. C15:0 activates AMPK, the body’s housekeeper, and helps clear away damaged cells.
  
• Calms and lowers proinflammatory cytokines within the body. These molecules are key drivers in aging.
  
• Fixing worn-out mitochondria. The mitochondria are the powerhouses of our cells, but as we age, so do they. They lose function and produce more reactive oxygen species, which aren’t good for the body. C15:0 restores mitochondrial function, increasing ATP (energy) by up to 350% and reducing reactive oxygen species.

C15:0 helps restore homeostasis (or balance) to our bodies through AMPK and PPARɑ and PPARẟ receptor activation. These molecules and receptors control glucose uptake, our immune systems, and even appetite and sleep. 

C15:0 has consistently been associated with lower LDL cholesterol and improved liver enzymes, along with an improvement in the gut microbiome. Additionally, two recent peer-reviewed papers have discussed the link between higher C15:0 levels and a lower risk of heart disease. 

There are now more than 100 peer-reviewed papers supporting the essentiality and efficacy of C15:0. 

Cellular Fragility Syndrome

The discovery of C15:0 is great news because it means we can be more proactive about our ability to live longer, healthier lives. However, the discovery of C15:0 meant that researchers needed to learn whether or not our bodies could be deficient in this fatty acid. 

As published in the scientific journal Metabolites, low levels of C15:0 can result in fragile cells that accelerate cellular aging and increase the risk of developing chronic metabolic, heart, and liver conditions. This nutritional C15:0 deficiency syndrome has been named Cellular Fragility Syndrome and may be impacting as many as 1 in 3 people worldwide.

Cellular Fragility Syndrome is also linked to a type of cellular death known as ferroptosis. Ferroptosis appeared as population-wide levels of C15:0 began to decline. 

Ferroptosis is associated with negative metabolic and heart health, but increasing level of C15:0 

reverses all core components of ferroptosis by stabilizing cell membranes, stopping liver iron deposition, repairing mitochondria, and lowering reactive oxygen species. 

Are You Deficient?

Most likely, and there is a logical explanation why. C15:0 is only found in trace amounts in full-fat dairy products (like whole milk), some fish, and a few plants. 

Few people consume whole milk these days, likely due to nutritional guidelines issued in the 1970s that told us to avoid all fat. Our avoidance of whole-fat dairy has probably led to a natural decline in C15:0 levels, but fixing the problem isn’t as easy as simply increasing our intake of full-fat butter and whole milk. 

The only way to know for certain if you are deficient is to have a blood test. Your healthcare provider can order a test, or you can order our at-home finger-prick test here. Once you know your C15:0 level, you’re a step closer to fixing Cellular Fragility Syndrome and protecting your longevity.

How Can I Increase My C15:0 Levels?

Drinking more whole milk isn’t the best solution for increasing your C15:0 levels for a few reasons.

1. Absorption is an issue.

In whole milk and other full-fat dairy products, 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. 

2. Not all fat is good fat

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). 

3. Whole-fat dairy is high in calories.

Whole-fat dairy products provide excessive calories, including sugars (aka lactose). The calories in whole-fat milk likely explain why a large-scale recent study showed that adults who drink more dairy milk are more likely to have a higher body weight. 

4. Whole dairy isn’t vegan-friendly.

The movement to more plant-based milk and meat replacements is driven by a desire for more animal-free products, as well as a desire to veer from cows and cattle because of concerns around methane production. Interestingly, plant-based milk replacements lack C15:0 altogether. 

A solid solution? Fatty15.

Fatty15 is the first and only supplement that contains the pure, vegan-friendly version of C15:0 known as FA15™. This sustainable supplement contains just one calorie per dose and is already in free fatty acid form. It isn’t mixed with other fats and isn’t derived from cows. It’s an easy way to elevate your C15:0 levels without experiencing negative health impacts.

Deficiency Solved

Tingly hands and feet could be a sign of a nutrient deficiency. A blood test can help your doctor provide appropriate medical advice, deciding if a deficiency is responsible and how to correct it. 

In the meantime, you can start to elevate your C15:0 levels and take a massive step towards improving your total body health and improving your longevity. Fatty15 is a foolproof way to support your cells and elevate your long-term health.

Sources:

About the Second Nutrition Report | CDC. gov

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

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

Dairy consumption and overweight and obesity: a systematic review of prospective cohort studies - Louie - 2011