Your body needs sufficient amounts of Vitamin B12 for it to carry out certain functions and stay healthy. However, the body does not naturally produce it, so you primarily get it from your diet.
Even though it can be stored in your liver for a long time, you may still not have enough levels of it in your body. The thing is deficiency of the vitamin poses a serious threat to your health.
Since it is needed in the formation of myelin sheaths, this deficiency may lead to permanent nerve damage. Myelin provides insulation for the nerve fiber, and it boosts the conduction rate of nerve impulses.
In addition, it is associated with pernicious anemia. Thus, making sure that you have enough of the vitamin in your body cannot be overemphasized.
So how can you avoid Vitamin B12 deficiency? One way of doing this is by making sure that you get the vitamin from your diet.
You can find it in animal products, such as meat, shellfish, eggs, and milk. Unfortunately, you cannot get it from plant foods, and this is the main reason why vegans are at risk of having insufficient levels of the vitamin.
So if you are vegan, you can get your supply of it from B12-fortified foods.
Another way of avoiding deficiency of the vitamin is through supplementation. This is especially important for the elderly and those taking drugs that control stomach acid, such as PPIs (proton pump inhibitors) and metformin.
The elderly may greatly benefit from it because they may not have enough stomach acid to help them absorb the vitamin.
The same is true for those taking PPIs and metformin as the drugs reduce the levels of stomach acid.
A Vitamin B12 supplement may be available as liquid drops or injections. However, the liquid drops form is more practical to use than the injection form.
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sherry_R_Bray
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