No One Is Thinking About Vitamin B12- The Most Important Nutrient
Health Tips Source
Getting enough vitamin B12 daily is crucial and most of you have probably not thought about this important nutrient which is one of the most important vitamins for our organism. Often times, we forget about this vitamin since we have the tendency to concentrate on one vitamin and forget about the rest. For example, upon insisting of the consumption of vitamin C, we forget about the remaining ones such as beta carotene, vitamin K, D, E, lycopene, etc.
Probably you are forgetting about this vitamin because vitamin B12 deficiency lowers the ability to think clearly!
Vitamin B12 is crucial for our overall health and metabolic functioning, and plays a big role, but the negative thing is that not a lot of foods contain it.
Vitamin B12 helps in the proper functioning of the nerve cells and myelin production which speeds up neural transmissions, in DNA replication, and in the red blood cells production.
If you suffer from vitamin B12 deficiency i.e. you become anemic (which you can treat with folate as well), your brain may not function as it should and you will age quicker since the body is unable to produce healthy cells.
The manifestation of the deficiency includes anemia, swelling, irritability, irritation of the tongue and mouth, dizziness, fatigue, numbness, tingling, etc. The most serious symptom is impaired brain functioning since your nerve cells are unable to work properly and this can lead to dementia which is similar to Alzheimer’s disease. Luckily, this type of dementia can be solved with enough vitamin B12. Mostly, this vitamin is in the animal foods, but also in fortified cereals and some nuts. This is the reason why vegans have to find a different source for vitamin B12. Moreover, a protein called intrinsic factor is needed so that B12 can efficiently enter the blood and this protein is produced by the stomach, so, if you suffer from gastritis or some other stomach problems, it may pose a problem for your organism to absorb B12. Therefore, avoid medications that can harm the stomach.
Additionally, if you suffer from pernicious anemia, it is for the best to treat it with B12 injections, not orally, since the intrinsic factor will prevent the absorption.
Furthermore, also genetic mutations can lower the proper absorption of B12. In these cases, you have to get in active form called methylcobalamin. However, in general, B12 deficiency usually occurs in patients over 50.
