Vitamin B12 is a water soluble vitamin. This means that it doesn’t stay in the body for a long period of time and that more frequent support with Vitamin B12 may be needed to maintain healthy Vitamin B12 levels in the body. Vitamin B12 deficiency has been associated with:
- Fatigue
- Alcoholic liver disease
- Anemia
- Cancer
- Ulcer
- Dementia
- Neural tube defects
- Depression
- Memory loss.
While adequate levels of Vitamin B12 correlate with improved balance, energy and endurance in athletics. In other benefits, Vitamin B12 is important for energy, for balance related sports, for endurance sports, for healthy red blood cells, for memory, among other roles in the body.
Vitamin B12 Deficiency & Anemia
Vitamin B12 is vital to maintain your red blood cell counts. Our body produces millions of blood cells. This production falls when we are deficient in Vitamin B12. Thus the RBC count falls making us anaemic.
Symptoms of Vitamin B12 Deficiency caused Anemia
Some of the most common symptoms of anemia are:
- Panting (shortness of breath)
- Fatigue (tiredness)
- Palpitations (irregular heartbeat).
- Menstrual problems
- Depression
- Forgetfulness
- Confusion
- Tingling in the fingers of hands or legs
- Frequent infections
All the above may all be indication of a Vitamin B12 deficiency and anemia induced due to that. All of these may require Vitamin B12 supplementation for quick correction.
6 Key Causes of Vitamin B12 Deficiency
B12 deficiency could occur due to following five key reasons:
- Poor diet OR primarily a vegetarian diet: High Risk individuals such as vegetarians and vegans who avoid animal foods such as milk, eggs, meat and fish have higher susceptibility to develop B12 deficiency. They need to overcome the deficiency via Vitamin B12 supplementation.
-
Reduced / Inability of absorption from gut: Individuals with gastrointestinal disorders such as IBS, Celiac disease etc. Individuals who regularly use antacids creating a low acid environment in the stomach. Another high risk population are senior citizens with increased requirement of Vitamin B12 but lower ability to absorb Vitamin B12 from gut primarily due gastrointestinal disorder or maybe due to lower stomach acid and hence reduces digestive enzymes produced by the body. This group will also benefit from Vitamin B12 supplementation.
-
Chronic Alcoholism: This group need s to find help with alcoholism and start aggressive Vitamin B12 supplementation.
-
People who have their small insetting surgically shortened (short bowel syndrome) Individuals with SBS can become malnourished due to the inability of the shortened small intestine to absorb enough nutrients from food. This includes Vitamin B12.
- Sudden distress Emotional or physical distress leads to a reduction in the body stores of B12. Any kind of severe physical injury or surgery is always followed by an immediate fall in body b12 stores, as this vital vitamin is spent on repair. Balanced diet with short term supplementation will do the trick for this group.
- Medication induced Vitamin B12 Deficiency: Certain medication may also cause Vitamin B12 depletion. Growing age also result into Vitamin B12 deficiency in the body.
Recovering from Vitamin B12 Deficiency with Supplementation
When you have Vitamin B12 Deficiency, you must supplement yourself to stay healthy. Below are some of the supplements you may consider:
- Methylcobalamin or MB12: Methylcobalamin or MB12 is the best or most Bio-available or Active form of Vitamin B12.
- Lithium Orotate: When combined with Lithium B 12 works best, as lithium is a B12 transporter, means it helps the B12 get into your cells. To support your methylation cycle combine B12 with lithium ororate, low dose B6 and active folate.
References:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/jf401545z
