2024-03-14 16:00:00
What is vitamin B12?
Vitamin (or vitamin) B12 is a micronutrient that is an important element necessary to help the body produce red blood cells and maintain the health of nerve cells. Adults need about 2 micrograms of vitamin B12 per day, and vitamin B12 is found in a variety of foods, including meat, liver, fish, eggs, and milk. After decomposition by gastric acid and digestive enzymes, vitamin B12 will be released from food, and then combined with intrinsic factors produced by gastric parietal cells to form a mixture, which will undergo intestinal peristalsis and finally be absorbed into the body at the end of the small intestine. Due to its water-soluble nature, excess vitamin B12 will be excreted from the body through urine.
Who is most likely to be deficient in vitamin B12?
Generally speaking, a balanced diet is enough to provide the body with the vitamin B12 it needs. However, research shows that one in ten elderly people aged 60 or above is deficient in vitamin B12. The common reasons are as follows:
1. Not eating enough
• Diet lacking meat (vegetarians or elderly people with missing teeth)
• Loss of appetite
2. Difficulty in gastrointestinal absorption
• Long-term use of: metformin (a common diabetes drug), stomach acid suppressors, or antibiotics
• Atrophic gastritis
• Helicobacter pylori infection
• Pernicious anemia (body develops antibodies against gastric parietal cells or intrinsic factor)
• Have had a gastrectomy or bariatric gastric reduction surgery
• Chronic inflammation of the pancreas (e.g. alcohol abuse)
• Chronic inflammation of the small intestine (eg, inflammatory bowel disease, bacterial overgrowth, tuberculosis infections)
• Have had distal small bowel resection surgery
What are the effects of vitamin B12 deficiency?
Long-term lack of vitamin B12 can affect bone marrow, nervous system and tongue function, leading to anemia, cranial nerve damage and glossitis respectively. Its symptoms include:
1. Anemia
• Tired easily
• Yellowing of skin
• Heartbeat
• Shortness of breath
2. Damage to cranial nerves
• Peripheral nerve or spinal cord disease (paralysis of hands and feet, weakness in limbs, or frequent stumbling)
• Dementia (slowed thinking or memory loss)
• Depression (feeling low or up and down)
3. Glossitis
• Tongue swelling and pain
• Reduced sense of taste
How to supplement vitamin B12?
A blood test can measure vitamin B12 levels in the blood. Depending on the cause and severity of the deficiency, doctors may prescribe oral or intramuscular vitamin B12 supplements. Supplements can be divided into two categories: active and inactive: the former are extracted from natural ingredients in food, are easily absorbed by the body, and work directly; the latter are artificially produced and require transformation by the body in order to be effective. The overall treatment plan, including the dosage of the drug, the number of medications/injections, and the length of the course of treatment, will depend on the reversibility of the cause, the persistence of the symptoms, and the patient’s response to the drug.
▲ Ma Hanming, a geriatric specialist
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