Vitamin B12 Deficiency
Vitamin B12 is an important nutrient that helps your body keep your nerve cells and blood cells healthy. It also helps your body make DNA, the genetic material in all of your cells.Your body does not make vitamin B12 on its own, so you have to consume food and drinks that have vitamin B12 in order to get it.
Options for consuming vitamin B12 include:
Animal food products and
Fortified foods: Fortified foods are foods that have certain vitamins and nutrients added to them that they don’t naturally have. Fortified foods include certain breakfast cereals, nutritional yeast, plant milk and certain bread. Be sure to check the food label (nutritional facts) to see if the food has been fortified with vitamin B12.
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.
General physical symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency can include:
Feeling very tired or weak.
Experiencing nausea, vomiting or diarrhoea.
Not feeling as hungry as usual.
Weight loss.
Having a sore mouth or tongue.
Having yellowish skin.
Neurological symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency can include:
Numbness or tingling in your hands and feet.
Vision problems.
Having a hard time remembering things or getting confused easily.
Having a difficult time walking or speaking like you usually do.
If neurological problems develop from vitamin B12 deficiency, they may not be reversible.
Psychological symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency can include:
Feeling depressed.
Feeling irritable.
Experiencing a change in the way you feel and behave.
Pernicious anemia, one of the causes of vitamin B12 deficiency, is an autoimmune condition that prevents your body from absorbing vitamin B12. Left untreated, pernicious anemia can cause serious medical issues, including irreversible damage to your nervous system.
If you are experiencing symptoms, be sure to contact your doctor to get a blood test to check your levels.