From helping to produce red blood cells to taking care of the function of the central nervous system, this nutrient has several functions in your body.
Lack of vitamin B12 can present as a «strange» feeling in your body; here’s how to spot it.
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Vitamin B12 deficiency affects around 6 percent of people under the age of 60.
What’s worse, this statistic increases even more with age, reaching 20 percent. Lack of this nutrient can trigger different health problems, including folate deficiency anemia.
As with most vitamins, the body cannot produce B12 organically.
However, your body needs the vitamin soluble in water to make red blood cells, nerves, DNA, and help with other tasks.
According to Harvard Medical Schoolvitamin B12 deficiency can be «sneaky» and «harmful»so it’s important to be able to spot the warning signs.
The deficiency can develop slowly, causing symptoms to appear more gradually.
But in some cases, you may also experience a relatively quick startup.
A warning sign of this deficiency is the strange sensations in the hands, legs or feet, reports the health portal.
This can also present as numbness or tingling in these areas.
When it comes to sensations in parts of your body, the NHS also mentions pins and needles sensation as a possible symptom of vitamin B12 deficiency.
It happens when the blood supply to the nerves is interrupted.
Symptoms like these may occur due to to the vitamin’s role in your nervous system.
The lack of it can even lead to nerve damage.
However, these sensations are not the only symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency.
Other warning signs include:
- pale yellow tint to your skin
- sore and red tongue
- mouth ulcers
- Changes in the way you walk and move
- disturbed vision
- Irritability
- Depression
- Changes in the way you think, feel, and behave
- Decreased mental abilities (memory, comprehension, and judgment).
The NHS recommends seeing your doctor if you experience symptoms like these.
The good news is that the condition can be detected just based on your symptoms or after a simple blood test.
What to do when I have vitamin B12 deficiency?
Based on the cause of this condition, your doctor will choose the best course of action.
Most people can get help with injections or tablets replace the missing nutrient.
There are also «good» food sources of vitamin B12, including:
- Meat
- salmon and cod
- Milk and other dairy products
- Eggs.