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Summary

Are you running low on essential nutrients without realizing it? According to Health Canada, up to 40% of Canadian adults are nutrient deficient. Discover the 5 most common nutrients Canadians are missing, including Vitamin D, Magnesium, and Iron, and the best food sources and tracking tools to get your energy and health back on track.

You eat. You take care of yourself. And yet, you might still be running low on some of the nutrients your body needs most.

According to Health Canada’s Canadian Community Health Survey, as many as 25 to 40% of Canadian adults may be nutrient deficient often without knowing it. The deficiencies tend to be quiet: no dramatic symptoms, just a slow drain on energy, immunity, bone health, and mood that’s easy to chalk up to aging or stress.

Here are the five nutrients Canadians are most likely to be missing, what happens when you combine food and supplements, and how to track where you actually stand.

1. Vitamin D: The Sunshine Vitamin We’re Not Getting Enough Of

Let’s start with the big one. Of all nutrients measured in Canada, vitamin D has the highest prevalence of inadequate intake in the population, and it’s not surprising when you think about our geography.

Canada sits far enough north that for roughly half the year, the sun’s angle is too low to trigger vitamin D production in the skin. The risk of vitamin D deficiency more than doubles during winter months, from 5% of Canadians in summer to 13% in winter. Roughly 1 in 5 Canadians with Black, East or Southeast Asian, Middle Eastern, or South Asian ancestry are at elevated risk year-round, as are people with obesity and those with lower household income.

Why it matters: Vitamin D helps your body absorb calcium and is critical for bone strength. Low levels are associated with increased risk of fractures, osteoporosis, and increasingly, immune dysfunction, depression, and cardiovascular disease.

Get it through food: The top food sources of vitamin D in Canada are cow’s milk, fortified plant-based beverages, margarine, fish, and eggs. Salmon, herring, tuna, and sardines are your best bets from whole food. Drinking one glass of milk daily or one fortified plant-based beverage 

There’s also some recent good news on this front: as of December 31, 2025, Health Canada’s updated fortification rules became mandatory, meaning cow’s milk and goat’s milk now contain more than double the vitamin D they used to (up from 2.3 micrograms per cup to 5 micrograms), and margarine levels have nearly doubled as well. Yogurt, kefir, and plant-based beverages are also now allowed to include vitamin D, though they aren’t required to. Check the label and if you drink milk regularly, you’re already getting a meaningful boost compared to a year ago.

Food + supplement: Canadians who take a vitamin D supplement are nearly four times less likely to have deficient blood levels than those who don’t. Health Canada recommends that adults over 50 take a daily supplement containing vitamin D. Most doctors suggest 1,000 IU daily as a safe baseline for adults, with some recommending higher doses in winter months or for those at higher risk. Taking vitamin D with a meal containing fat improves absorption.

How to track it: You don’t necessarily need a doctor’s requisition to get tested. LifeLabs offers a direct-to-consumer vitamin D test, you order online, go to a LifeLabs location, and receive your results. For Ontario residents, their clinical partner MD Connected, an OHIP-covered virtual healthcare service, can issue the requisition, review your results, and send prescriptions to your pharmacy if needed. For those outside Ontario, a conversation with your family doctor or nurse practitioner is your best route, and the test is covered in most provinces.

2. Magnesium: The Mineral Behind 300 Body Functions

Magnesium is involved in over 300 enzymatic reactions in the body, everything from muscle contraction and nerve function to blood sugar regulation and sleep. And yet more than 34% of Canadian adults consume magnesium below the Estimated Average Requirement, with the rate rising above 40% in many adult age and sex groups, according to Health Canada’s analysis.

Why it matters: Low magnesium can show up as muscle cramps, fatigue, poor sleep, headaches, and irritability. Over time, inadequate intake is associated with higher blood pressure, increased insulin resistance, and greater risk of cardiovascular disease. People with diabetes are particularly at risk, as research from the Canadian Health Measures Survey found that having diabetes was associated with meaningfully lower serum magnesium concentrations.

Get it through food: Dark leafy greens (especially spinach), pumpkin seeds, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and dark chocolate are all rich sources. A single serving of cooked spinach provides about 40% of your daily magnesium need.

Food + supplement: Increasing dietary intake is the preferred first step but if you supplement, most adults can safely take up to 350 mg of elemental magnesium per day from supplements. Going higher than that can cause digestive upset, particularly loose stools. Magnesium glycinate is often better tolerated than magnesium oxide. Most forms of magnesium can be taken with or without food, though taking it with a meal reduces the chance of GI side effects.

How to track it: Standard blood tests often miss low magnesium because only 1% of magnesium is in the blood, most is stored in bone and tissue. Tracking your dietary intake against recommended amounts (310–420 mg/day for adults, depending on age and sex) using a free app like Cronometer is a practical starting point.

3. Iron: More Common a Problem Than We Thought

Iron deficiency is one of the largest nutritional public health problems in Canada and recent Health Canada research suggests it’s even more prevalent than previously estimated.

Using updated analysis methods on data from the Canadian Health Measures Survey 2012–2019, researchers found that iron deficiency affects women of reproductive age disproportionately: 21.3% of girls aged 14–18 and 18.2% of women aged 19–50 have iron deficiency. Among premenopausal women, the prevalence is 16%.

Why it matters: Iron is essential for producing hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout the body. Low iron shows up as fatigue, brain fog, difficulty concentrating, headaches, and feeling cold. In more serious cases, it can cause a rapid heart rate, dizziness, shortness of breath, and weakened immunity. Correcting low iron can take months.

Get it through food: Iron comes in two forms, heme iron (from animal sources, absorbed more efficiently) and non-heme iron (from plant sources). Top heme sources include red meat, poultry, and fish. Top non-heme sources include lentils, tofu, chickpeas, pumpkin seeds, and fortified cereals. Crucially: pairing plant-based iron sources with vitamin C dramatically improves absorption. A squeeze of lemon on lentils or a glass of orange juice with your fortified cereal can make a real difference. Conversely, coffee, tea, and calcium-rich foods consumed at the same time can inhibit iron absorption.

Food + supplement: Iron supplements can cause constipation and stomach upset. They’re best taken on an empty stomach with water and a source of vitamin C, but if that’s too hard on your stomach, taking with food is fine. Don’t supplement iron without testing first; elevated iron stores are also a concern, particularly in postmenopausal women.

How to track it: Ask for a serum ferritin test, a more sensitive marker of iron stores than hemoglobin alone. It’s especially worth requesting if you’re a premenopausal woman, vegetarian or vegan, pregnant, or frequently fatigued.

4. Calcium: The Bone Mineral We’re Under eating

Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the human body, over 99% of it is stored in bones and teeth. 

The numbers are especially striking for older Canadians: about half of men aged 50 to 70 and approximately 80% of women aged 50 and over don’t get adequate calcium from food alone. This matters most as we age, when bone loss accelerates and the risk of osteoporosis rises.

Why it matters: Over time, inadequate calcium intake weakens bone density, increasing the risk of fractures and osteoporosis. Calcium also plays a role in muscle contraction, nerve signaling, and heart function.

Get it through food: Dairy, milk, yogurt, and cheese, remains the most concentrated and well-absorbed dietary source. Non-dairy options include fortified plant-based beverages, canned salmon and sardines (with bones), tofu made with calcium sulfate, almonds, and leafy greens like kale and bok choy. Note that spinach, despite being high in calcium, also contains oxalates that block much of its absorption, therefore kale is a better choice.

Food + supplement: Calcium is best absorbed in smaller doses, no more than 500-600 mg at a time. If you’re supplementing, calcium citrate can be taken with or without food and is better absorbed in older adults who may have lower stomach acid. Calcium carbonate is better absorbed when taken with food. Importantly, vitamin D is required for calcium absorption, the two work together, so deficiency in one undermines the other.

How to track it: Calcium isn’t routinely tested through a blood test, since the body tightly regulates blood calcium levels even when bone stores are being depleted. The better measure is your dietary intake, aim for 1,000 mg/day for adults under 50 and 1,200 mg/day for those over 50, from food and supplements combined.

5. Vitamin B12: A Quiet Concern as We Age

Most younger Canadians have adequate B12 levels. Statistics Canada’s Canadian Health Measures Survey found that 96% of Canadians overall have sufficient vitamin B12. But that number shifts significantly with age.

Marginal B12 deficiency is observed in approximately 20% of adults older than 60, and the gap is often unrecognized. The reason: as we age, the stomach produces less acid and less intrinsic factor, a protein essential for B12 absorption. Studies estimate that 10 to 30% of older adults have atrophic gastritis, a condition that reduces stomach acid and impairs B12 absorption. People who take proton pump inhibitors (for acid reflux) or metformin (for diabetes) are also at elevated risk.

Vegans and strict vegetarians face a different challenge: B12 is found almost exclusively in animal-based foods, making dietary deficiency nearly inevitable without supplementation.

Why it matters: Vitamin B12 deficiency can cause anemia and, in some cases, permanent neurological damage. Symptoms can include fatigue, memory problems, tingling or numbness in hands and feet, balance problems, and mood changes. These are many of which are easy to attribute to “just getting older.”

Get it through food: The richest sources are clams, beef liver, fish, meat, eggs, and dairy. Fortified nutritional yeast and some plant-based beverages also contain B12, making them important for those eating plant-forward diets.

Food + supplement: For those over 50 or at risk, a supplement or fortified food is strongly recommended. Since because the crystalline B12 in supplements and fortified foods doesn’t require stomach acid for absorption, bypassing the absorption problem that makes food-based B12 less effective in older adults. Sublingual (under-the-tongue) tablets are another option with good absorption.

How to track it: Ask your doctor for a serum B12 test. If you’re over 50, plant-based, or on long-term acid-reducing medications, it’s worth asking proactively, it’s not always part of routine bloodwork.

A Final Note on Tracking

You don’t need to become obsessive about micronutrients, but a little awareness goes a long way. A few practical tools:

  • Cronometer is a free app that lets you log food and see exactly how your daily intake stacks up against recommended amounts for all five of these nutrients.
  • Routine bloodwork: ask your doctor to include vitamin D (25-OH), ferritin, and B12 when you’re due for a checkup. Especially if you’re over 50, pregnant, postpartum, vegetarian, or frequently fatigued.
  • Canada’s Food Guide (canadasfoodguide.ca) emphasizes whole foods, plenty of vegetables, protein variety, and water as your drink of choice. This is a pattern that naturally supports adequate intake of most of these nutrients.

You can’t supplement your way out of a poor diet, but you also can’t always eat your way to optimal levels of everything, especially vitamin D in a Canadian winter. The sweet spot, as always, is informed balance.

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The information provided on TheHealthInsider.ca is for educational purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice. TheHealthInsider.ca advises consulting a medical professional or healthcare provider when seeking medical advice, diagnoses, or treatment. To read about our editorial review process click here.

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