Vitamins and minerals are essential to our health. For example, vitamin B12 is one of the most complex vitamins, playing an important role in most bodily processes. Unfortunately, the body doesn’t manufacture it, so it’s essential to get it from food. Moreover, a deficiency can lead to numerous health problems and complications. Here are the symptoms to recognize before it’s too late.
Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin, is a water-soluble vitamin essential for red blood cell production, brain and nerve health, and DNA synthesis. Vitamin B12 deficiency is widespread in developing countries, particularly in Africa, India, and Central and South America. This is primarily due to low intakes of animal products, particularly among the poor. People most often affected by vitamin B12 deficiency are the elderly, pregnant and breastfeeding women, those suffering from atrophic gastritis, and people with weak immunity.
Important health benefits of vitamin B12:
Vitamin B12 is the only B vitamin that the body stores in large quantities, primarily in the liver. Due to the extreme importance of this vitamin, the liver can store the equivalent of three to five years’ worth of vitamin B12 under normal, functional conditions. This is for several reasons:
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