The Importance of the B12 Vitamin
Vitamins are organic micronutrients that help the body with important tasks like cellular respiration, cell growth, metabolism, nerve function, memory and much more. The human body can make many of its own vitamins, including vitamins K and D. However, there are some vitamins that the body cannot produce for itself, like the B12 vitamin, or cobalamins. Interestingly, it earned this name because it is the only known organic compound that contains the element cobalt. B12 is a compound vitamin that is essential for red blood cell production, nerve formation, fatty acid formation, and metabolism. Because the body cannot produce B12, it must be obtained through a diet including meat, milk, eggs, fish, and dairy products.
There are two categories of vitamins: fat-soluble and water-soluble. B12 is one of the nine different types of water-soluble vitamins. Because the human body contains a lot of water, these vitamins are able to be absorbed directly into the bloodstream. A key task of water-soluble vitamins is to help free the energy found in food for the body to use. Many B vitamins, like B12, are essential components in coenzymes (compounds that help enzymes) to free that energy. Moreover, the body cannot store these vitamins, which is why it is so important to replenish them daily. This can be done by eating a proper and healthy diet and taking daily vitamin supplements. However, B12 is exempt from this; it is the only water-soluble vitamin able to be stored in the liver for years. If one was to stop getting B12 vitamin intake, the body could replenish its own B12 levels for up to 3-5 years from the storage available in the liver. Because of this storage, B12 deficiency is difficult to catch and could be caught too late. Adults over the age of fifty are more likely to suffer from deficiency, which can be due to poor dieting, or more commonly, decreased stomach acidity. As people grow older, the amount of acid in the stomach decreases. Because stomach acid is needed to extract the B12 vitamin from meat and other products, a decrease in acid means a decreased ability in extracting B12.
When a severe B12 deficiency is left untreated, it can have detrimental effects on the body, such as nerve damage. Nerves are covered in a sheath made of fatty acids called myelin. The myelin sheath coats the nerve and allows for fast impulses to move efficiently from nerve to nerve. With damaged myelin sheaths, these impulses become slow. Because B12 vitamin aids in fatty acid formation, a severe deficiency could cause negative and irreversible effects on the central nervous system, and could lead to a debilitating disease such as dementia. More milder symptoms of low B12 levels include fatigue, tingling sensations in the fingers and toes, shortness of breath, and difficulty in walking and keeping balance.
Vitamins should always be a key component of anyone’s diet: young or old. It is important to get the recommended daily dose of vitamins, but to not go overboard. Too much of any vitamin is not healthy, so one should be cautious when taking multiple supplements. The recommended dosage of the B12 vitamin is 1.8 mcg for adults. Most daily vitamin supplements have a higher dosage than this, which is why they are ideal for vegans and vegetarians. Because veganism is becoming increasingly popular, the importance of B12 is being stressed more and more. As mentioned before, B12 deficiency is less common in young adults, however, it can happen to anyone with a poor diet. It is crucial to take care of the body before symptoms ever reveal themselves. Precautions now can lead to less medical problems in the future.
References:
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-b12-benefits
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/vitamin-b12-deficiency-can-be-sneaky-harmful-201301105780
https://www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/ta3868
https://www.comvita.com/blog-article/10-essential-vitamins-your-body-needs/4100544
https://www.helpguide.org/harvard/vitamins-and-minerals.htm
https://www.mountsinai.org/health-library/supplement/vitamin-b12-cobalamin
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002399.htm
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK218756/
https://www.merckmanuals.com/home/disorders-of-nutrition/vitamins/vitamin-b12-deficiency
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002261.htm
https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-926/vitamin-b12
