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Last Updated: Apr 02, 2020
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Vitamin B12 - How Important Is It For Your Health?

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Dt. Ms. Archana DesaiDietitian/Nutritionist • 24 Years Exp.BSc - Dietitics / Nutrition, P.G.In Dietitics
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If you are feeling lethargic or lazy, it’s time that you get a sufficient amount of vitamin B12 in your regular diet. Vitamins are wonderful gifts of nature to keep your organs and body healthy and active. Your brain stops functioning properly in case of vitamin B12 deficiency. Not just that, it has a wide range of health benefits. It keeps you moving and energetic in life. In fact, for a healthy life, you must make it an indispensable part of your existence. Most of us often forget to take a vitamin-rich diet and depend on junk food a lot. This dependency on fast food leads to vitamin deficiency. According to a report, about 40% of Americans are tested with low vitamin B12 levels.

This is not good for a healthy life. Thus, it is advisable that you take care of your diet. But prior to that, you must know why vitamin B12 is so essential. Well, here’s all that you get from vitamin B12:

  1. Provides energy - Vitamin B12 is needed for energy supply. It generates energy in your body and takes away laziness from you. Your cells stay happy and healthy with the intake of vitamin B12. It balances your life by providing you with the right amount of energy.
     
  2. Saves your heart - The cardiovascular system requires vitamin B12 for proper functioning. It removes harmful protein homocysteine from the bloodstream. This compound can damage arteries and cause inflammatory and heart diseases.
     
  3. Strengthens your bones - Researchers have found that patients with osteoporosis have greater amounts of homocysteine in the blood. They have lower amounts of vitamin B12 in their bodies. Thus, sufficient intake of vitamin B12 protects bones. They help in calcium absorption and keep bones healthy.
     
  4. Prevents nerve damage - Vitamin B12 safeguards your nerves by keeping them away from toxins and free and harmful radicals in the bloodstream. They form a covering on the nerves called myelin sheaths. Nerves get damaged completely or partially without these covering.
     
  5. Keeps you away from depression - It regulates your mood by the production of a chemical called serotonin. Deficiency of vitamin b12 makes you feel lonely, irritated or frustrated always.
     
  6. Protects health of brain - Researchers believe that Alzheimer’s patients have poor B12 levels in the blood. This vitamin helps in protection of nerve cells and their coverings. They also protect the myelin sheaths of brain cells. An adequate amount of vitamin B12 in the body keeps you away from dementia.
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