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This common vitamin deficiency can mimic normal aging

The story of vitamin B12 is unusual because the body needs so little of it, yet the consequences of deficiency can be profound. Long before scientists understood its chemistry, doctors recognized that something in liver could restore strength, appetite and vitality to desperately ill patients. A century later, researchers are still finding that this tiny cobalt-containing molecule does more than prevent anemia. It may also help explain how cells maintain energy and function as the body ages.

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 Vitamin B12 deficiency is a common health problem that can have serious consequences – but doctors often overlook it

B12 is scarce in the diet, and it is found only in foods from animal sources. Fortunately, humans need only 2.4 micrograms of B12 daily, which is equivalent to one ten-millionth of an ounce – a very, very small amount. Without adequate B12 in the body, overall health and quality of life are negatively affected.

Articles of Interest

Vitamin B12 deficiency can be sneaky and harmful

Vitamin B12 deficiency can be slow to develop, causing symptoms to appear gradually and intensify over time. It can also come on relatively quickly. Given the array of symptoms a vitamin B12 deficiency can cause, the condition can be overlooked or confused with something else.

As the Stomach Churns: The Side Effects of Acid Suppression

Patients taking the strongest acid blockers for two years or more had a 65 percent increased risk for becoming B12 deficient.

B12 deficiency: a silent epidemic with serious consequences

B12 deficiency isn’t a bizarre, mysterious disease. It’s written about in every medical textbook and its causes and effects are well-established in the scientific literature. However, B12 deficiency is far more common than most health care practitioners and the general public realize.

B12 Shots for Deficiencies, Energy, and Weight Loss

Fallen for the craze (and worried your levels are in the clear)? B12 doesn’t build up toxicity like some other vitamins can when taken in excess, says Barrient. That means that you likely won’t see any negative side effects from too much. Like cellulite cream, it won’t help, but it probably won’t hurt.

B12 Shots: Should You Get One?

The nutritional necessity of B12 explains why it’s such a popular supplement, and also why some celebrities have touted B12 injections as the magic ingredient in their health regimens. The vitamin’s links to increased energy have also made B12 popular among some dieters and weight loss clinics—the thinking being that more energy will translate to more exercise.

Best Time To Take Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 contributes to the increase of energy and vitality, as well as to the stimulation of the metabolism and the nervous system. Therefore, it is recommended by experts maximum 2 doses per day, one in the morning and another dose in the afternoon.

Can't Beat Fatigue? You May Be Low in B12

Not all vitamin B12 supplements are created equal. A compromised digestive system can affect your absorption of certain vitamins and minerals, so I prefer to boost a patient's vitamin B12 levels through lozenges or vitamin B12 injections -- both of these methods allow nutrients to bypass digestion and enter directly into the bloodstream.

Everything you need to know about vitamin B12 deficiency

It’s essential for a healthy immune system and regulates mood. A growing number of UK clinics market vitamin injections to healthy people but do you really need them?

Everything you need to know about vitamin B12 deficiency

It’s essential for a healthy immune system and regulates mood. A growing number of UK clinics market vitamin injections to healthy people but do you really need them?

Limits of normal

B12 deficiency, formerly known as pernicious anemia because before B12’s discovery the patient always died, remains one of my favorite diagnoses. I get to save the patient’s life for less than a penny a day, with an injection given once a month. Yesterday on rounds I sat in a patient’s room and leafed through the lab work. With very large red cells on the CBC, and some vague neurologic symptoms, I had ordered a B12 level two days before. I suppressed a whoop of delight when I found a 188. “We can help you,” I said. One floor down, I talked with an alcoholic about a marginal B12 level, 244, and recommended starting B12 shots. Your depression won’t improve, I said, if you don’t have enough B12, and it’s hard to control your drinking when you’re so depressed.

Men Over 50 Have Trouble Absorbing This Essential B Vitamin. Here Are the Foods to Add to Your Diet.

The body’s ability to absorb vitamin B12 tends to decrease with age. Aging makes the digestive system prone to a condition called atrophic gastritis where the body makes less stomach acid and digestive enzymes needed to pull B12 from food. The recommendation for daily vitamin B12 is 2.4 micrograms a day. Dietitians advise older adults continue eating fortified foods but also consider a supplement to maintain adequate B12 levels.

Popular Antacids Increase The Risk Of B-12 Deficiency

People who took acid-inhibiting drugs for two or more years were more likely to have B-12 deficiency, according to a study published Tuesday in JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association. The more medication they took, the more apt they were to be short on the vitamin.

Too Much of a Good Thing?

Folic acid in supplements and fortified foods might exacerbate vitamin B12 deficiency, which has been linked to cognitive decline in older adults.

Vitamin B-12 Deficiency: The Serious Health Problem That’s Easy To Miss

One woman’s health saga sheds light on a condition that is all too common and often goes undiagnosed by doctors.

Vitamin B12 Deficiency and its Neurological Consequences

B complex vitamins are important for various functions of the human body. Be it energy production, body defense mechanisms, or red blood cell formation, the B group vitamins play pivotal roles and carry on the functions by working in tandem or all alone. Vitamin B12, in particular, has a great impact on neurological health.

Vitamin B12 injections: do they work?

There isn’t much evidence to back up the celebrity fad for B12 injections. If you don’t have a deficiency, it probably won’t do anything. B12 is water soluble so, if your body doesn’t need it, the excess will simply be excreted.

Vitamin B12: A Comprehensive Review of Natural vs Synthetic Forms of Consumption and Supplementation

Vitamin B12, also known as cyanocobalamin, methylcobalamin, and adenosylcobalamin, is an essential vitamin that can be primarily obtained through the human diet. Although animal-based foods supply adequate B12 for most people, deficiency remains common in older adults, vegetarians and vegans, and in those with gastrointestinal disease or malabsorption. Deficiency can lead to megaloblastic anemia, neurologic symptoms, and pregnancy complications.

What Are the Effects of Vitamin B12 Deficiency?

A deficiency of B12, if left untreated, can lead to irreversible neurological problems.

What Are the Effects of Vitamin B12 Deficiency?

A deficiency of B12, if left untreated, can lead to irreversible neurological problems.

Resources

B12 Awareness

B12 Awareness is bringing vitamin B12 deficiency to the forefront by educating the public and health care community to the dangers of B12 deficiency. An estimated 15% to 25% of older adults have a B12 deficiency, but many of them are never tested or diagnosed.

B12 Deficiency

This site was created as a hub to bring all the key websites on vitamin B12 deficiency together in one place.

B12.com

Norman Clinical Laboratory, Inc. (NCL) provides a means to test individuals through the mail for cobalamin (vitamin B12 ) deficiency.

B12d

The B12 Deficiency Support Group (B12d, for short) is a charity. Our aims are to: • Raise awareness of this condition amongst doctors and the general public, so that people can be diagnosed appropriately • Explain the signs and symptoms that a doctor or person who is diagnosing themselves should look out for, and how to make sure that you reach the right diagnosis and don't confuse B12 deficiency with something else • Ensure treatment is tailored to the needs of the patient, and where possible, make treatment available free at the point of need

MayoClinic

The human body stores several years' worth of vitamin B12 in the liver, so low levels in the body are rare. Decreases in vitamin B12 levels are more common in the elderly, HIV-infected persons, and vegetarians. Inability to absorb vitamin B12 from the intestinal tract can cause a type of anemia called pernicious anemia. Fever and symptoms of "excessive sweating" have been reported with anemia due to low levels of vitamin B12; however, these are fixed with vitamin B12 treatment.

NHS

Vitamin B12 or B9 (commonly called folate) deficiency anaemia occurs when a lack of vitamin B12 or folate causes the body to produce abnormally large red blood cells that cannot function properly.

Patient

Vitamin B12 is present in meat and animal protein foods. Absorption occurs in the terminal ileum and requires intrinsic factor (IF), a secretion of gastric mucosal (parietal) cells, for transport across the intestinal mucosa. In pernicious anaemia, IF production is deficient. It is believed to be an autoimmune disease. Helicobacter pylori infection has been mooted to be an initiating factor, with subsequent autoimmune changes affecting the gastric mucosa. Genetic susceptibility to this process has been suspected.