5 Surprising Ways Vitamin B12 Benefits Your Entire Body

Vitamin B12 benefits your entire body from your head down to your toes.

1. Increased Energy And Vitality

One of the most notable vitamin B12 benefits is a boost in energy. So if you’re feeling sluggish and you’re not sure why, a lack of vitamin B12 (cobalamin) may be to blame. This water-soluble vitamin aids in red blood cell formation, which prevents against a type of anemia that can often make people feel weak and tired, explains Joy Bauer, MS, RDN, the host of NBC’s new show Health + Happiness, the nutrition expert for NBC’s TODAY show and author of From Junk Food to Joy Food. Get your mojo back by asking your doctor to check your B12 levels. If they are on the low side, it’s time to up your intake, she says. “Vitamin B12 is found naturally in a wide variety of animal foods like fish, meat, poultry, eggs, milk, and other dairy products, plus fortified foods like breakfast cereals, nutritional yeast, and some plant-based milk (like almond milk and soy milk).”

2. Improved Heart Health

Vitamin B12’s role in promoting heart health may get overlooked, but it’s essential, says Liz Weinandy, RD, a dietician at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio. “Vitamin B12, B6, and folic acid work together help to reduce homocysteine, which is a protein that can build up in blood and damage arterial walls, thus playing a role in heart disease,” she explains. When B12 is low, it can’t do its job effectively, which means your heart is at risk.

3. Healthy Nervous System

Vitamin B12 benefits your nervous system directly and keeps it in tip-top shape; when this nutrient is in short supply, you may develop that annoying “pins and needles” sensation in your extremities and/or numbness or tingling in the hands, legs, or feet, says Boston-based nutritionist Dana Greene, RD. This usually occurs with anemia, but that’s not always the case, she says. “Vitamin B12 helps produce the fatty sheath (myelin) that surrounds and protects your nerves.” When you are deficient in B12, your nerve cells can’t function properly.

4. Your Ability To Walk and Move

Tingling and numbness may be among the first signs of B12-related nerve damage, but if it continues unaddressed, it can alter the way you move. “This can sometimes affect balance and make you more likely to fall,” says Greene. “This is one of the easier things to correct, and by doing so we can prevent any declines in quality of life that occur with mobility issues and falls.”

5. Improved Gut Health

Tingling and numbness may be among the first signs of B12-related nerve We all know that eating enough fiber and drinking enough water are keys to healthy bowel movements, but a vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause constipation, diarrhea, loss of appetite and weight loss, says Will Bulsiewicz, MD, a gastroenterologist in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. A vitamin B12 benefit can be a healthy gut. Sometimes these GI symptoms are a result of B12 deficiency, but other times B12 is a marker of an underlying digestive disease. “Vitamin B12 relies on the production of intrinsic factor by the stomach and is absorbed in the last part of the small intestine,” he says. “Therefore, stomach or small bowel disturbances can create a B12 deficiency.” Crohn’s disease is a classic condition that can present with B12 deficiency, weight loss, and diarrhea. “In this case, it is inflammation of the small bowel from the Crohn’s disease that causes the symptoms, not the B12 deficiency itself,” he says. The exact mechanism by which B12 deficiency causes GI symptoms is still unknown.

Read The Full Blog by Denise, Mann, RD.Com here https://www.besthealthmag.ca/best-eats/nutrition/vitamin-b12-benefits/