While vitamin B12 is an extremely important nutrient, your body does not make it on its own
While vitamin B12 is an extremely important nutrient, your body does not make it on its own. According to doctors, you need to get it from your diet—especially animal-based foods like red meat, poultry, eggs, dairy, and fish. Since B12 is crucial for making DNA and red blood cells, or RBCs, and supporting the nervous system, its deficiency can be dangerous in the long run.
Experts say many symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency arise because it causes a lack of healthy blood cells. Your body needs a lot of these cells to get oxygen around your body and keep the organs in good health. A few symptoms of B12 deficiency include:
Tingling in hands and feet
The deficiency of vitamin B12 can lead to feelings of pins and needles in your hands and feet. It happens because vitamins play an important role in your nervous system, and its absence can cause people to develop nerve conduction problems or nerve damage.
In the nervous system, vitamin B12 helps produce a substance called myelin that shields the nerves and helps them transmit sensations. Without sufficient myelin, nerves are more prone to damage.
Fast heart rate
One of the biggest symptoms of B12 deficiency is a fast heart rate. The heart may start to beat faster to make up for the reduced number of red blood cells in your body. This response is your body’s way of trying to ensure that enough oxygen circulates through all of the body’s systems and reaches all the organs.
Pain in the mouth
The deficiency of vitamin B12 affects oral health and can lead to issues like glossitis, which causes swelling and a red tongue, a bad taste in your mouth, and a burning sensation. According to doctors, all of these symptoms occur due to a reduction in red blood cell production, resulting in less oxygen reaching your tongue.
Cognitive issues
A deficiency of vitamin B12 also leads to issues related to thinking—which doctors call cognitive impairment. These issues include difficulty thinking or reasoning and memory loss. In the long run, it can also lead to a higher risk of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s. The reduced amount of oxygen reaching the brain might be to blame for the thinking and reasoning problems.
Breathlessness
One of the major symptoms of B12 deficiency is anemia, which leads to breathlessness due to a lack of red blood cells and an extremely fast heartbeat. If you have been experiencing real difficulty breathing, you should see a doctor right away.
Pale skin
Lack of B12 in your body also causes paleness and yellowing of the skin—known as jaundice. These changes in skin colour can develop when a person’s body is unable to produce enough RBCs, without which it begins to look pale. This type of anemia can also weaken RBCs, which the body then breaks down more quickly.
Ways to treat B12 deficiency
Doctors say most people get enough vitamin B12 from dietary sources, and for those who cannot, a doctor may prescribe or recommend supplements in the form of oral tablets, sublingual tablets that dissolve under the tongue, or injections. A doctor can provide advice on the correct dosage of this vitamin.
People who have trouble absorbing vitamin B12 may need shots of the vitamin to treat their deficiency. A doctor can advise people on the best way to prevent vitamin B12 deficiency, depending on their dietary choices and health.
