Vitamin B12 Deficiency: Causes, Symptoms, and Solutions

Why Vitamin B12 Matters

When it comes to vitamins, C and D often take center stage, but vitamin B also deserves your attention. Vitamin B-12 is considered especially important to your health, and it’s essential for the creation of red blood cells and many other critical body processes. It’s important to avoid a vitamin B12 deficiency; luckily, you don’t need much. Just 2.4 milligrams a day for most adults is enough, yet you may be coming up short.

The Serious Side of B12 Deficiency

A case report from Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital was published in The New England Journal of Medicine outlining just how bad it can get if your body doesn’t have enough B12. In this case, over the course of two months, a 62-year-old man experienced all of the following issues: numbness and a ‘pins and needles’ sensation in his hands, trouble walking, and severe joint pain. He also started turning yellow and became progressively short of breath. The cause was a lack of vitamin B12 in his bloodstream. Additionally, the report explained that it could’ve been worse. A more severe case of B12 deficiency could even lead to deep depression, paranoia and delusions, memory loss, incontinence, loss of taste and smell, and more.

Who’s at Risk?

People on vegetarian diets are most at risk of a vitamin B12 deficiency, along with those with weight-loss surgery. You can’t get B12 from plants, so vegans and vegetarians have to be especially cautious. It comes from meat, eggs, poultry, dairy products, and other foods from animals. To make sure they get enough, vegans and vegetarians need to eat grains that have been fortified with the vitamin or take a vitamin supplement.

People who’ve undergone weight-loss surgery also need to be cautious because the surgery interferes with the body’s ability to get B12 from food. People with certain conditions, like celiac or Crohn’s disease, also face issues because those conditions interfere with nutrient absorption. Also, people taking commonly prescribed heartburn drugs need to be careful since the drugs reduce acid production in the stomach, and the acid is essential for B12 absorption. People over 50 are also at risk since acid production in the stomach slows with aging.

How to Spot a B12 Deficiency

Potential warning signs of a vitamin B12 deficiency include emotional or cognitive struggles, fatigue, weakness, and numbness or tingling in the hands and feet. You may also have balance problems or issues walking. However, those could be issues you see in several other conditions, so you’ll need a blood test to diagnose a deficiency. It’s important to detect and treat it quickly, or you risk severe neurological problems and blood diseases.

Preventing B12 Deficiency

If you aren’t getting enough with your normal diet, or you have conditions preventing absorption, you can increase your levels with fortified soy foods or grain products, including cereal. Vitamin supplements can also help. In most mild cases, a simple multivitamin will be ample. Serious issues can be corrected with weekly B12 shots or daily high-dose pills.

In many people, a vitamin B12 deficiency can be prevented. If you are a strict vegetarian or vegan, it’s important to eat bread, cereals, or other grains that have been fortified with vitamin B12 or take a daily supplement. A standard multivitamin delivers 6 micrograms, more than enough to cover the average body’s daily needs.