As you age, your body's ability to absorb vitamin B12 from food slows—4 out of every 100 women ages 40 to 59 are B12 deficient, and many more are borderline. But celebrating another birthday isn't the only cause: Avoiding meat, taking certain drugs—like Metformin (commonly prescribed to people with type 2 diabetes or polycystic ovary syndrome) or some common heartburn medications—and even having weight loss surgery all up your odds. (Here are 7 essential vitamins you need as you age.) The result of coming up short on the vitamin can be anything from intense fatigue to wonky vision. If the symptoms here sound familiar, ask your doctor to run a blood test to check your levels. If they're low, a supplement or injections will have you back to your old self in a couple of weeks. MORE: 30 Stay-Well Secrets From People Who Never Get Sick (Prevention Premium) You can barely stay awake in the afternoon—even if you slept 8 hours. "Fatigue is one of the first signs of B12 deficiency," says Lisa Cimperman, RD, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
That's because your body relies on the vitamin to make red blood cells, which carry oxygen to your organs. And without enough oxygen in your cells, you'll feel tired no matter how long you sleep. Fatigue can mean a number of things, though, so you can't assume you're B12 deficient if feeling sleepy is your only complaint—doctors usually are tipped off if you've got fatigue plus other symptoms. That grocery bag feels like a million pounds. If they're not getting enough oxygen from red blood cells, your muscles will feel like mush. "My job is very demanding, so I kept thinking that maybe my body is just tired; maybe I'm not eating right," says Chantal Mossess, 31. "But 6 months ago I learned that my weakness and sluggishness was caused by not having enough B12." You experience strange sensations. "It felt like electricity was running from my head to my feet," says Melanie Karmazin, 44, who was eventually diagnosed with a B12 deficiency. Other sufferers report numbness and a "pins and needles" sensation.
(Here are the top 10 most painful conditions.) These weird pains are all a result of nerve damage, which is triggered by low oxygen levels in cells. You put your keys in the fridge. Or have to think hard to remember your niece's name. You may be worried that it's early dementia, but sometimes low B12 is to blame. "At one point I couldn't remember how to write a check," says Pauline Smith,* 56, who was diagnosed with low levels. "I've seen this deficiency mistaken for Alzheimer's in elderly patients," notes Cimperman. (Cut your Alzheimer's risk by eating these nutrient-rich foods.) "But once they have a blood test and it reveals a B12 deficiency, they start taking a supplement and their symptoms start to fade." You feel wobbly or dizzy. Being off-kilter is another common symptom. "I would get dizzy just walking up the stairs," says Mossess. One Turkish study compared the vitamin B12 levels of patients who sought treatment in the ER for dizziness with those of 100 healthy volunteers.
The result: Those dizzy patients had 40% less B12 than the volunteers. Your skin looks pale. If your rosy complexion now has a yellow cast, low B12 may be the culprit. With a deficiency, the red blood cells that you do have are very fragile and easily broken, causing a release of bilirubin pigment that gives skin a yellow hue. Your tongue is smooth and red. About half of people with a severe B12 deficiency lose the papillae—those little bumps—on their tongues, especially around the edges. Patients also complain of burning and soreness, particularly on the back of the tongue. And since most of those papillae contain taste buds, if you lose a lot of them even your favorite foods are going to taste blah. In fact, "women with a B12 deficiency may actually lose weight because food doesn't taste as good to them anymore," says Angela Grassi, RD, a dietitian at the PCOS Nutrition Center in Bryn Mawr, PA. Every little thing makes you cry or worried. Do you feel more down or anxious than ever?
"A lack of B12 wreaks havoc on your mood, possibly leading to depression or anxiety," says Grassi. Doctors aren't sure exactly why it increases your risk for depression, but it may have something to do with the fact that B12 is involved in the synthesis of brain chemicals, such as serotonin and dopamine, that help regulate mood. Something's up with your eyes. In extreme cases, lack of B12 can damage the optic nerve or plug up the blood vessels in the retina, causing blurry vision, double vision, sensitivity to light, and even vision loss. Says Smith: "The first symptom of retinal damage I noticed was a shadow in my right eye that affected my field of vision. I saw even more shadows until I got my B12 levels up."Vitamin B12 is part of the Vitamin B family and one of the essential vitamins for health and well-being. The good news is that you don’t have to worry too much about being deficient in it as long as you are eating a standard diet. It is present in many foods and it’s a bit rare for someone to run chronically low on it.
Here we will outline some of the common reasons for low B12 levels, and how to spot if you might be short on them.Some of the big name vitamins seem to get all of the media and mainstream attention. Vitamins like C, D, and A are always making headlines for their antioxidant properties and feel good effects on the body. But the B vitamins are finally getting their moment in the sun, and more and more people are realizing the health benefits of making sure they’re getting enough of them.If you’re not getting enough Vitamin B-12 you’ll be setting yourself up for complications that can arise if this goes on for too long. You could be leaving yourself open to decreased brain size and function due to brain shrinkage with age, and you’ll be at greater risk of various diseases of the heart. You’ll also be more susceptible to different cancers, as B12 has been directly related to prevention and treatment of these conditions. It’s a key vitamin that you don’t want to go without, and is as important as the other B vitamins and other well-known vitamins like Vitamin A, C and D.
The interesting thing is that you might not notice the effects of not having enough of it until it has manifested into something bigger. That’s why it’s a good idea to check for signs of a deficiency so that you can take steps to correct it before it escalates.To understand more about why Vitamin B12 is important, see our list of 14 Surprising Benefits of Vitamin B12.Symptoms of Vitamin B12 DeficiencyYou might notice that you’re lacking in the energy department, or perhaps you’re feeling especially weak. You may even feel lightheaded for no apparent reason. Many think that this is just part of being human, and for some this might just be written off as par for the course, but it’s reason enough to explore further to see if lower B12 levels are to blame.Perhaps you’ve noticed that your heartbeat is more rapid than it usually is, or that your breathing is accelerated. You may have noticed that your skin is more pale than it usually is, or that you’ve got a pain in your tongue that you can’t explain.
Another sign that you might be running low on Vitamin B-12 is that you may start bruising more easily than you normally do, and you may also notice that you bleed more easily, or notice crimson in the sink after you spit out your toothpaste. This could be any number of things, but it also could mean you need more Vitamin B-12.If your stomach has been hurting when it usually doesn’t, this could also be a clue that your B12 levels are off. Unexplained weight loss might seem like a blessing, but you always have to wonder if something more dire is at play, and it’s good to get that checked out if you haven’t changed anything in your lifestyle that would lead to weight loss.Things can get more severe if you stay in a state of low B-12 for an extended period of time. You might start to feel your fingers and toes go numb. You might also find it more difficult to walk and experience mood swings or feelings of depression. When things get dire you might notice that you’re having trouble remembering things, or that you’re having feelings of disorientation or even dementia.
Testing Your Vitamin B-12 LevelsThe only sure way to test to see where your Vitamin B-12 levels are at is to have your doctor check them. It’s best to have them run tests on all of your vitamin levels to see if your short on any of them, because many of the symptoms of Vitamin B12 deficiency are the same as lowered levels of other vitamins, like Vitamin D.It’s one thing to assume that you’re low on a certain vitamin because some of the symptoms apply to you, but it’s best to just get tested so that you can know for sure where to apply your efforts. If you are unnecessarily raising your intake of certain vitamins under the assumption that you’re low on them, it will be a waste of time and now your body will have to figure out what to do with the excess. Knowing where you stand across all vitamins is a big help so that you can apply the most effective strategy for overall wellness.Causes of Low Vitamin B-12There are certain diets that might cause a person to become low in Vitamin B-12.
Vegetarians and vegans are at risk because many of the foods that contain B12 are not allowed on these types of diets.Aside from these dietary considerations, there are other causes of low B12 that you should be aware of. The most common cause is from drinking too much alcohol. This can deplete the body of B12 pretty quickly, and special care should be taken to avoid excessive alcohol consumption, and to restore these vitamins in the case of a big night of drinking.There are also several conditions which can lead to lowered amounts of B12 in the body. These include Crohn’s disease, Graves’ disease, celiac disease, and others that act to affect how the body absorbs the B-12 that you do take in through food. Often it is not that you’re eating the wrong foods, or not enough of the right foods, but that your body isn’t able to absorb the vitamins and nutrients from them properly due to a certain condition or disease. In these cases it won’t matter if you eat more foods that contain the right vitamins, they still won’t be absorbed properly.