As we’ve written about before, vitamin B12 deficiency is no joke.
All vitamin and mineral deficiencies can cause health issues if left untreated, but B12 deficiency is particularly dangerous for a number of reasons.
For starters, the problems connected with B12 deficiency can take years to manifest fully, so they’re often misdiagnosed (and thus dealt with in the wrong manner). And even when they do manifest, many of these symptoms—like fatigue, poor circulation, depression, and anxiety—are never traced back to their underlying B12 deficiency.
There’s also a number of factors that make vitamin B12 deficiency even more likely. Some are lifestyle-related. Vegetarians and vegans are at much higher risk (since most of the richest food sources of vitamin B12 are animal products, like fish, shellfish, red meat, liver, and dairy products). In fact, some studies show that up to 50% of vegetarians[1] and up to 80% of vegans are deficient.[2]
Your chances of being deficient in this essential vitamin are also higher if you drink alcohol, if you take antacids, heartburn medications, or diabetes medications, or if you have Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), ulcerative colitis, celiac, parasites, or other issues that make it difficult for your body to absorb nutrients.[3]
Research has even demonstrated that a high-stress, fast-paced lifestyle can deplete the body’s B12 stores (a risk factor that all of us certainly have to deal with to a certain extent).[4]
And then there’s risk factors that are unavoidable, like growing older. As we age, our bodies become less and less able to absorb vitamin B12, and thus research has discovered that B12 deficiency tends to increase precipitously (1 out of 10 people under the age of sixty are seriously B12-deficient, while 4 out of 10 people over the age of sixty fall into this category.
Don’t let this statistic lull you into a false sense of security if you’re younger than sixty, though. Research has shown that young people are just as prone to the the wide range of lifestyle-related and genetic factors that increase the risk of B12 deficiency.
And sadly, even a near deficiency in B12 is more than enough to wreak havoc on your body (at least 56% of the U.S. population falls into this category, according to the Tufts University Framingham Offspring Study).[5]
So how do you know if you’re deficient?
Luckily, the solution to vitamin B12 deficiency is fairly simple: pay attention to its tell-tale signs, get your vitamin B12 levels tested, and begin a daily supplementation regimen if you’re deficient. Many pioneering physicians, such as Dr. Joseph Chandy, have found that B12 supplementation can almost immediately resolve seemingly complex and hopeless health conditions, like depression and multiple sclerosis.
So here’s the symptoms to look out for…
Fatigue. This is the most common sign, and usually the one that rears its head first. Note that fatigue is perfectly natural if you have a very busy life, aren’t sleeping enough, or tend to stay up very late—but you should be concerned about your B12 levels if you feel exhausted in the middle of the day even after getting plenty of rest the night before. If your fatigue is accompanied by muscle weakness, dizziness, and sluggishness, there’s an even greater chance that vitamin B12 deficiency is at the root of the problem.
Strange nerve sensations. If you ever experience weird feelings of “pins and needles” or electricity in your body (especially in your hands and feet), it may be time to start supplementing with vitamin B12. While these sensations are often mistaken for poor circulation, they can actually be a sign of B12-deficiency-induced nerve damage from a lack of oxygen in the blood.
Depression and anxiety. We tend to think of these emotional disorders as rooted in complicated, personal factors, but sometimes these debilitating conditions are simply a matter of vitamin deficiency. Research has shown that B12 is involved in the synthesis of many important brain chemicals, and thus returning your B12 levels to normal can be all it takes to fix the imbalances that are knocking you out of emotional balance.
Memory problems. Cognitive decline is seen as just another part of growing old, but research is revealing that, in many cases, it may be B12 deficiency that’s to blame. Researchers have discovered that low-level B12 deficiency can be mistaken for early onset Alzheimer’s—and that it can progress into actual Alzheimer’s if not treated.[6]
Eye problems. As B12 deficiency worsens, it can lead to serious eye problems stemming from blocked blood vessels and damage to the retina and optic nerve. If you begin to experience blurry vision, double vision, or sensitivity to light, get your B12 levels tested immediately, before the problem progresses into vision loss.
Don’t wait to reclaim your life
If you have any of the symptoms discussed above, get your B12 levels tested and begin supplementing as soon as possible. Supplements and vitamins have been given a bad name, but as long as you seek out the right kind of B12 product, you can expect a bevy of benefits.
The skeptics are right—most B12 products are a complete waste of money, because they’re very poorly absorbed by the body.
This Liposomal B12, on the other hand, is up to twenty times more absorbable; be sure to try it out if you want to experience real and lasting results.
Vitamin B12 deficiency is a dangerous condition, but it’s also easy to remedy…so don’t put off taking care of it.
You deserve freedom from all the deleterious symptoms discussed above, and daily supplementation with this high-quality, liposomal B12 will help you achieve it.
References
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12011576
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12816765
[3] http://umm.edu/health/medical/ency/articles/anemia-b12-deficiency
[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4290459/
[5] https://www.ars.usda.gov/news-events/news/research-news/2000/b12-deficiency-may-be-more-widespread-than-thought/
