What is vitamin B12 and what does it do? Vitamin B12 is a nutrient that helps keep your body's blood and nerve cells healthy and helps make DNA, the genetic material in all of your cells. Vitamin B12 also helps prevent megaloblastic anemia, a blood condition that makes people tired and weak.
B12 (also known as cobalamin) is essential for keeping your brain and nerves healthy and for making DNA and red blood cells. B12 also helps lower levels of homocysteine, an amino acid linked (in high levels) to dementia, heart disease, stroke, and osteoporosis.
The usual dose for: diet-related deficiency is 50 micrograms to 150 micrograms, taken once a day. B12 deficiency not caused by your diet is one to two 1,000 microgram tablets, taken once or twice a day – this is usually if you cannot have vitamin B12 injections.
Once you begin treating your vitamin B12 deficiency, it can take up to six to 12 months to fully recover. It is also common to not experience any improvement during the first few months of treatment. If you can, it's a good idea to address what's causing the deficiency.
While B12 doesn't directly provide energy, it does give the body the tools it needs to convert food molecules into energy. Getting the recommended daily amount of B12 can therefore help ensure that the body is able to make the energy it needs to do everything you need it to do.
Vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause symptoms that affect your brain and nervous system (neurological symptoms), including: numbness. muscle weakness. psychological problems, which can range from mild depression or anxiety, to confusion and dementia.
Anticonvulsants -- include phenytoin (Dilantin), phenobarbital, primidone (Mysoline) Chemotherapy medications -- particularly methotrexate. Colchicine -- used to treat gout. Bile acid sequestrants -- used to lower cholesterol; include colestipol (Colestid), cholestyramine (Questran), and colsevelam (Welchol)
Some combinations should be avoided, even if they aren't inherently problematic. For example, although it's safe to take vitamin D with vitamin B12, it's not advisable, says Virgilio Sanchez, MD, a board certified family medicine physician at Conviva Care Center in Miami, Florida.
Diet-related
People who find it difficult to get enough vitamin B12 in their diets, such as those following a vegan diet, may need vitamin B12 tablets for life.
Bananas are a cheap, healthy, and nutrient-dense fruit that can easily become a part of every individual's diet. It is one of the best fruits rich in vitamin B12.
Vitamins B9 and B12 are both thought to treat symptoms of anxiety. Folic acid has many uses in the body, and B9 deficiency has been linked to higher levels of anxiety and depression. When taken in conjunction with B12, these B super-vitamins help metabolize serotonin, which is important for mood regulation.
If you have low vitamin B12 level for a long time, you can have nerve damage. Symptoms of nerve damage include: Confusion or change in mental status (dementia) in severe cases. Problems concentrating.
Vitamin B12 is one of those vitamins because it nourishes your hair follicles through production of oxygen-rich red blood cells, which promote healthy hair growth. In turn, satiated hair follicles not only provide fertile ground for growing hair, but vitamin B12 is also believed to strengthen and condition your hair.
The findings from this research suggest that vitamin B12 and folic acid may have the potential to positively impact liver health, specifically when it comes to individuals with fatty liver disease. These particular nutrients, in the form of supplements, may even hold the possibility of reversing fatty liver disease.
According to health experts at Click Pharmacy, as a general rule of thumb, take your B vitamins in the morning or with a meal. Vitamin B12, for example, should definitely be taken in the morning. This is because it is important for energy metabolism, which may interrupt your sleep if taken at night.
Due to its special role, vitamin B12 aids in the prevention of anemia, which mostly leads to fatigue. Even though the research available about the relationship between vitamin B12 and insomnia remains unclear, some studies² show that elevated levels of vitamin B12 do cause sleeplessness.
Stage 1 is decreased levels of vitamin B12 in the blood. Stage 2 is low concentration of vitamin B12 in the cell and metabolic abnormalities. Stage 3 is increased levels of homocysteine and MMA and decreased DNA synthesis resulting in neuropsychiatric symptoms. Stage 4 is macrocytic anemia.
Several commercially available test kits allow you to collect a sample for vitamin B12 testing at home. Some kits test only your vitamin B12 level. Others test B12 in combination with other vitamins, and there are at-home micronutrient test kits that include B12 in the panel.
Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea
Vitamin B-12 deficiency can affect the digestive tract. A lack of red blood cells means that not enough oxygen reaches the gut. Insufficient oxygen here may lead to a person both feeling and being sick. It may also cause diarrhea.
“Take water-soluble vitamins on an empty stomach with a glass of water,” recommends Dr. Perez-Gallardo. And since it can be energizing, Dr. Perez-Gallardo says that the best time to take vitamin B12 is in the morning, so it won't affect your sleep.
If you are feeling fatigued, eating foods rich in vitamin B12 or taking a supplement might just boost your energy levels.
However, what is interesting is how B12 is beneficial in so many patients with fatigue, including those suffering with CFS, and this suggests that there is a common mechanism of chronic fatigue which B12 is effective at alleviating, regardless of the cause of the fatigue.