Now we can get a lot of great nutritional information by just looking at someone’s lips. Today we’re going to talk about how to use the lips to help diagnose what’s going on inside.
Contents
Pale or grey lips
Let’s start off with pale or gray lips. This is usually a situation where you are anemic. There are two main types of anemia: one would be iron deficiency anemia and the other one would be B12 deficiency anemia. It could be either, but if you’re deficient in copper, that could affect your ability to absorb iron, so that can cause the deficiency as well. It could be a lack of copper, iron, or B12.
Normally we get iron in
- red meat
- especially liver
- seafood.
Spinach is not a good source of iron, despite all those Popeye cartoons. So as far as the scenarios that we could be iron deficient, it could be that you just don’t consume any meat at all, you’re more of a vegan, or it could also be a lack of hydrochloric acid. Let’s say, for example, you’re on an antacid. That can create a deficiency of iron, or let’s say you’re consuming a lot of grains with these phytates. Phytates are like anti-nutrients; they will block the ability to absorb minerals, especially iron. So if we’re doing a lot of grains, that could be why we’re iron deficient. It could also be that you’re a female and you have heavy periods; you’re losing a lot of blood. That’s another reason why you’re anemic. Also, it could be that you have inflammation in your gut.
Let’s say we have IBS or some type of Crohn’s, diverticulitis, or any type of inflammatory problem with the bowels. That can definitely stop us from absorbing minerals, including B12. As far as the anemia with B12, that can also be a lack of hydrochloric acid. It could also mean that we’re not consuming enough animal products, because that’s where we get B12 from animal products. And so the same things that can create an iron deficiency could also create a B12 deficiency.
Blue lips
What about if we have blue lips? It could be that we just came out of the cold. That could be one reason, because temperature can drive all the blood internally and create a lack of blood flow to our lips. It can also be other things, like we’re in shock. It could also be cyanide poisoning. Just as a side note, there’s a natural remedy for cyanide poisoning.
A good vitamin for cyanide poisoning: Hydroxocobalamin (a version of vitamin B12). It’s a type of B12 that we can actually order online. B12 combines with cyanide to form cyanocobolamine, helping reduce its toxicity.
Darker lips
What about if your lips are becoming darker? That could be because we are smokers or exposed to a lot of secondhand smoke. Of course, smoking has a lot of chemicals. Smoking decreases oxygen and circulation in the body, but smoking will interfere with the pigment melanin too, creating darker appearance on our lips. You may also notice these vertical wrinkles around the mouth if you’re a smoker.
vertical wrinkles around the mouth
Top potential causes of darker lips:
- Smoking
- Exposure to secondhand smoke
Dry or chapped lips
Now what about dry lips? There could be a couple of different reasons for dry lips. The biggest one would be a lack of essential fatty acids — specifically omega-3 fatty acids. That could be either we’re not consuming enough omega-3 because we don’t eat fish or cod oil. It could also be more commonly a situation where we’re consuming a lot of omega-6 fatty acids. That would be in the typical food that we would eat at a fast food restaurant or even a lot of the other restaurants out there. It’s omega-6 fatty acids that include corn, oil soy, oil canola, cottonseed oil, which are in so many of our foods. So, a lot of people are heavy on that and they’re not getting enough omega-3. That will just totally dry out your lips, which can also cause you to have chapped lips. Dry lips and chapped lips kind of cross over, but if you have just generally dry lips, I would start to beef up your omega-3 fatty acids with cod liver oil or by consuming more salmon or things like that.
Now if we have chapped lips. That could be a combination of omega-3 fatty acid deficiency and it could also be a vitamin D deficiency, which we’ll see in the wintertime. This is why people have chapped lips during the winter and they use carmex or they might use different types of lip balms, but that usually dries out the lips because it has mineral oil. Make sure you never put anything on your body that has mineral oil because it can extract the fat-soluble vitamins that includes taking mineral oil in any of your products. That’ll extract the fat-soluble vitamins and end up drying out things externally and internally. It’s not good for the liver.
It could also be a zinc deficiency, or it could be that we’re getting too much vitamin A. So vitamin A toxicity, which would usually come from a supplement you’re taking with just high doses, maybe you’re trying to get rid of your acne and taking a lot of vitamin A, is creating the vitamin A toxicity, which then will lead to chapped lips. Any one of these imbalances can create that. When we have too much vitamin A, we can actually deplete our vitamin D. So it’s really the balance of these fat cyber vitamins. Of course, the best way to get vitamin D is from the sun. The sun will give us a good amount of vitamin D. We would also get zinc in red meat and in seafood like shellfish and oysters.
Cracked corners of the mouth
What about the cracks in the corner of the mouth? That is usually a B2 deficiency that occurs because we’re consuming too many refined carbohydrates. Refined carbohydrates will create a B2 deficiency, and it can show up as a cracked corner of the mouth. The other way people become deficient in B vitamins is that they’re lacking the microbiome. They usually have an antibiotic or they’re eating foods that don’t support the microbiome because your microbiome can make B2.
Finally, the best diet to give you B2 would be a good amount of eggs, egg yolk, or cheese. Make sure it’s high quality cheese, not American. The leafy greens will give you a good amount of b2 as well. Moreover, you have to avoid refined grains!
