Diet. Some people can develop a vitamin B12 deficiency as a result of not getting enough vitamin B12 from their diet. A diet that includes meat, fish and dairy products usually provides enough vitamin B12, but people who do not regularly eat these foods can become deficient.
Common causes of vitamin B12 deficiency include inadequate dietary amounts (eg, in vegans), impaired absorption, age-related decreased acid secretion, and autoimmune metaplastic atrophic gastritis (which causes pernicious anemia).
Although it's uncommon, vitamin B12 or folate deficiency (with or without anaemia) can lead to complications, particularly if you've been deficient in vitamin B12 or folate for some time. Potential complications can include: problems with the nervous system. temporary infertility.
A serum B12 above 300 pg/mL is interpreted as normal. Patients with B12 levels between 200 and 300 pg/mL are considered borderline, and further enzymatic testing may be helpful in diagnosis. Patients with B12 levels below 200 pg/mL are considered deficient.
How to raise your B12 levels fast. The most common way to treat B12 deficiencies is by adjusting your diet. If this is unsuccessful, vitamin supplements may be recommended. If you're looking to boost the amount of vitamin B12 in your diet, you should eat more animal products, like meat, seafood, dairy and eggs.
Fish and red meat are excellent sources of vitamin B12. Poultry and eggs also contain vitamin B12.
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. Bananas also contain fibre and potassium. It helps manage blood pressure, reduce stress, and relieve constipation and ulcer problems.
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.
Vitamin B12 deficiency is a treatable condition that happens if you are not consuming enough vitamin B12 in your diet or if your body is not absorbing it properly. Vitamin B12 deficiency can cause physical, neurological and psychological symptoms. It can be treated with vitamin B12 medications.
Vitamin B12 deficiency can indeed lead to weight gain. But the weight gain is not a direct result of the deficiency. Instead, vitamin B12 deficiency causes lethargy or lack of energy, and in turn, inactivity causes weight gain.
It's harder to get your B12 from food if you're on a strict plant-based diet. That means you don't eat any animal products, including eggs or dairy. Your doctor will likely suggest taking a daily or weekly dietary supplement to keep your levels up.
A serum vitamin B12 level between 200 pg/mL and 900 pg/mL is considered normal, but a threshold of 300 to 350 pg/mL is recognized as a marker for a desirable status in the elderly. The laboratory diagnosis is usually based on low serum vitamin B12 levels or elevated serum methylmalonic acid and homocysteine levels.
And given B12 is required for the production of red blood cells, a deficiency in Vitamin B12 can lead to a deficiency in Iron. This is why the onset of anemia is often the result of a B12 deficiency rather than an Iron deficiency on its own.
Recovery from vitamin B12 deficiency takes time. You may not have any improvement during the first few months of treatment. Improvement may be gradual and may continue for up to six to 12 months.
People should chew the tablets or allow them to dissolve in the mouth to maximize the absorption. If a person has a severe vitamin B12 deficiency, a doctor may advise them to have injections to increase their levels of this nutrient.
Vegetables– Usually, most vegetables contain some amount of Vitamin B12, but there are some Vitamin B12 foods for vegetarians that contain a very high amount of Vitamin B12 namely- Spinach, Beetroot, Potatoes, Mushrooms, alfalfa, and others.
Milk. One of the best drinks with B12 is milk.
Methylcobalamin is the most active form of vitamin B12 and, for best results, should be combined with adenosylcobalamin.
B12 also plays a role in the production of melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate our circadian rhythms. It is possible that a deficiency of B12 could lead to disrupted sleep patterns.
Fatigue. Megaloblastic anemia due to vitamin B-12 deficiency may lead to a person feeling fatigued. Without enough red blood cells to carry oxygen around their body, a person can feel extremely tired.
As a result, when vitamin B12 levels are low, your hair follicles may not be able to grow new hair efficiently. This will result in hair loss. B12 deficiency can also lead to symptoms of anemia, which is linked with low iron levels, hair thinning, and hair loss.