All Articles Fitness Nutrition When to Take a Vitamin B12 Supplement When it comes to vitamins, vitamin B12 is one of the most important. Additionally, vitamin B12 is relatively inexpensive and offers numerous health benefits. The problem is that, because it's so cheap and because so many people use it, you may not know when to take a vitamin B12 supplement. The truth is that if you get enough vitamin B12 in your daily diet, you don't need to take any additional vitamin B12 supplements. But, you may need to take vitamin B12 if you are not getting enough of it. Here are some signs that you may need to take a vitamin B12 supplement: 1. Your Body Is Having Trouble Producing Red Blood Cells If your red blood cell count is low, there are a number of things that could be causing it. One of these things is called pernicious anemia. It affects your body by preventing it from producing red blood cells. Vitamin B12, however, can help your body produce red blood cells by preventing you from getting pernicious anemia.
2. Your Body Is Not Growing and Developing as It Should One of vitamin B12's biggest jobs is to help your body to grow and develop naturally over time. If you're experiencing any trouble with either of these things, you may need to add a vitamin B12 supplement to your diet to help you. 3. You Are Running Low on Energy Vitamin B12 helps to provide your body with enough energy during the course of a day. So if you are constantly feeling sluggish and tired, you may not have enough vitamin B12 in your system. In fact, vitamin B12 works so well at giving people energy that doctors often give patients suffering from chronic fatigue a vitamin B12 shot to help them get more energy. 4. You Suffer from Mental or Emotional Problems Of course, this could be any number of things--not just a vitamin B12 deficiency. However, if you don't feel as sharp as you used to when it comes to your thought process, you may need more vitamin B12 in your life. Vitamin B12 can also help you to maintain emotional stability.
5. You Are At-Risk for Heart Disease If you feel that you may be at risk for heart disease or your doctor has told you that you are, vitamin B12 can help you. Vitamin B12 can help your body to reduce your homocysteine levels. And because homocysteine is one thing that can cause heart disease, vitamin B12 will be helping you to reduce your chance of getting it. Taking a Vitamin B12 Supplement If you feel as though vitamin B12 can help you and your body. But before you rush out and buy a vitamin B12 supplements, keep this in mind: your body will not digest vitamin B12 in pill form as well as it will digest it if you buy a supplement that you can put right under your tongue to dissolve. This allows the vitamin B12 to reach your blood more quickly. Additionally, if you are in dire need of a vitamin B12 supplement, speak to your doctor about getting a vitamin B12 injection for immediate results.Vitamin B12 shots are prescribed to prevent B12 deficiency. Vitamin B12 is an essential nutrient that is present naturally in meat, seafood and dairy foods and is added to products such as cereal and nutritional yeast.
Older adults and people with certain conditions, however, may be unable to absorb dietary B12. Such individuals may be prescribed a vitamin B12 shot in order to prevent deficiency. Additionally, vitamin B12 injections are sometimes prescribed as energy boosters. The Role of B12 Vitamin B12 is an essential nutrient for brain and heart function and overall health. It aids red blood cell formation and DNA synthesis. It also helps lower levels of the amino acid homocysteine; elevated homocysteine levels have been linked to conditions such as heart disease, osteoporosis, depression and dementia. In the short term, a vitamin B12 deficiency can cause fatigue, low blood pressure, muscle weakness and mental fogginess. In the long term, it could lead to mood disturbances, hallucinations, high homocysteine levels and symptoms that mimic Alzheimer's, such as memory loss and difficulty concentrating. Causes of Deficiency Vitamin B12 is water-soluble, which means the body can't store it and it must be ingested regularly.
Because the main dietary sources of vitamin B12 are meat, seafood and dairy, vegetarians, vegans and people with food allergies may have trouble consuming enough B12. Though some people may consume enough B12, they may be unable to absorb it properly. Between 10 and 30 percent of older adults have a condition called atrophic gastritis, which decreases their ability to absorb B12 because of a lack of gastric acid. Autoimmune conditions such as Crohn's disease and celiac disease, alcoholism and pernicious anemia also interfere with vitamin B12 absorption. Benefits of B12 Shots Vitamin B12 injections are most commonly prescribed to prevent a deficiency or to treat a B12 deficiency in people with impaired ability to absorb nutrients. Injecting vitamin B12 or taking it sublingually, which means dissolving it under the tongue, allows the vitamin to be delivered directly to the bloodstream. Vitamin B12 shots are also prescribed for fatigue, depression and to boost cognitive functioning in the elderly.
Experimentally, they have been used to treat conditions such as autism, Bell's palsy, bipolar disorder and shaky leg syndrome. Getting B12 Injected Vitamin B12 shots should only be administered by a doctor or other medical professional. As with most shots, a B12 shot is injected directly into a patient's muscle, usually in the thigh or upper arm. For individuals with a vitamin B12 deficiency, the usual shot dosage is 1,000 micrograms, according to the Mayo Clinic. This may be given daily for 10 days, and then once per week for four weeks. After that, it is given once per month for life (it may also be given at regular intervals over a 90-day treatment period). To boost cognitive function, a patient may receive a 1,000 microgram injection daily for five days, and then once monthly for five months. For depression, the dose is one 1,000-microgram shot per week for four weeks. References U.S. Office of Dietary Supplements: Vitamin B12 Dietary Supplement Fact SheetClinical Pharmacology Made Incredibly Easy, 3rd ed.;