The Health Benefits of Using Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 is one of the basic building blocks for you to have good health. It is vital for you to have proper digestion and absorption of nutrients. Plus it is instrumental in the healthy formation of DNA, nerves and red blood cells in your body. While it is rare for you to a vitamin B12 deficiency, it is most often seen in the elderly or in pregnant women. Vitamin B12 is available in supplement form, by pill or injection, and is well tolerated by your body. When taken in combination with folic acid and a vitamin B complex, the chemicals work together to provide maximum absorption of all three by your body, you are thereby reaping the highest benefit possible.
Clinical studies have shown that absorption of vitamin B12 decreases with age. It is generally recommended that you begin taking a daily B12 supplement after the age of fifty to maintain good health.
Specific benefits of vitamin B12 in your body range from improvements in cognitive function to fighting kidney disease. Luckily, vitamin B12 is commonly found in protein based animal sources such as fish, shellfish, meats and dairy products. Also, your body is able to store several years’ worth of the vitamin. Therefore, vitamin B12 deficiency is rare and overdose of supplements is highly unlikely under normal circumstance. You should be aware that the groups of people who are likely to have a B12 vitamin deficiency include the elderly and vegetarians (especially vegans). Your body is unable to properly store excess B12 vitamin as you age, and vegetarians have no source of animal-based protein in their diet to derive the B12 from naturally.
Clinical studies have indicated that vitamin B12 is able to actually improve or reverse the onset of Alzheimer’s disease in the elderly. Although the symptoms of Alzheimer’s closely mimic those of a B12 deficiency, researchers are still optimistic about the use of B12 in treatment of those diagnosed with or with a family history of Alzheimer’s.
Similarly, vitamin B12 may also help treat depression by facilitating your body’s ability to produce serotonin, as well as maintaining a healthy neurological system, which also contributes to overall mental health. In addition, B12 also contributes to combating depression by aiding in your body’s production of melatonin, which is essential to falling into deep restful sleep. Vital to maintaining your mental are consistent sleep patterns.
Vitamin B12 is not only beneficial to your psychological well being. There is also evidence indicating that vitamin B12, when taken in combination with fish oil, increases the ability to reduce cholesterol and triglyceride levels, thereby reducing the incidence of heart disease. Fish oil supplementation itself is a recommendation to lower cholesterol, but studies are showing that the conjunctive use with B12 improves the reduction rate over fish oil alone.
You might be surprised to know that some of the most promising findings regarding the use of vitamin B12 have been in the field of AIDS research. AIDS patients typically have low levels of vitamin B12, and supplementation increases the body’s ability to fight off infection. Laboratory findings, that are accelerating additional research in the medical community, are that vitamin B12 actually reduces replication of HIV under laboratory conditions. This finding is very exciting to researchers who hope to use vitamin B12 to prevent the onset of AIDS in HIV infected patients.
June 30th, 2009 at 10:28 am
My sister was having a lot of health issues until she started getting vitamin B shots and taking supplements. Total transformation of mood and energy.