Vitamin B12 helps in the production of healthy red blood cells that carry oxygen around the body.
Not having enough Vitamin B12 is called Vitamin B12 deficiency anaemia . When Vitamin B12 is deficient or impaired cell division is slowed. When this slow division occurs, red blood cells are enlarged and are more likely to be destroyed by the immune system.
Vitamin B12 is important for the way the body works and people who don’t have enough of it may feel tired or have a lack of energy.
Cosmetologists, hairstylists and orthopaedics claim 80% of their clients suffer from a B12 deficiency.
Symptoms of Vitamin B12 deficiency
- Extreme tiredness or fatigue
- A lack of energy or lethargy
- Being out of breath
- Feeling faint
- Headache
- Ringing in the ears(tinnitus)
- Lack of appetite
More specific symptoms linked to a lack of Vitamin B12 include:
- Yellowing of the skin
- Sore, red tongue
- Mouth ulcers
- Changes or loss of some sense of touch
- Feeling less pain
- Walking problems
- Vision problems
- Mood changes, irritability, depression or psychosis
Foods containing Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 is found naturally in a wide variety of animal foods and is added to some fortified foods. Plant foods have no Vitamin B12 unless they are fortified. You can get recommended amounts of vitamin B12 by eating a variety of foods including the following:
- Beef liver and clams, which are the best sources of Vitamin B12.
- Fish, meat, poultry, eggs, milk, and other dairy products, which also contain Vitamin B12.
- Some breakfast cereals, nutritional yeasts and other food products that are fortified with Vitamin B12. To find out if Vitamin B12 has been added to a food product, check the product labels.
Once diagnosed, Vitamin B12 deficiency can usually be treated successfully with B12 injections and sometimes with B12 tablets. Also, B12 is usually in multivitamins.
