Vitamin B12 or also known as cobalamin, is a water-soluble vitamin. Vitamin B12 is one of the 8 vitamins that make up B complex vitamins. Today, vitamin B12 deficiency is quite common, especially in the elderly. Why is vitamin B12 so important for health? This is because vitamin B12 is needed to form red blood cells, which function to carry oxygen in the body.
Vitamin B12 is also needed by nerve tissue in order to stay healthy and function properly. vitamin B12 plays a role in the process of myelin formation, which functions as a nerve sheath and nerve signal delivery.
Vitamin B12 will also work with folic acid in the process of cell metabolism, especially in the process of forming DNA and metabolizing fatty acids and amino acids. Vitamin B12 will also help your body absorb fatty acids, which are needed by the body to release energy.
Fatigue and Sense of Power
Vitamin B12 has an important role in energy metabolism, so vitamin B12 deficiency will directly affect your energy and stamina. Vitamin B12 also increases your body's ability to form DNA for new cells to form energy. Vitamin B12 is also needed to form healthy red blood cells that function to carry oxygen throughout the body. If your body lacks oxygen, then you will feel tired and lethargic.
In addition, vitamin B12 is also needed to convert the food you consume into energy as a fuel for your body's metabolism.
Numbness and Tingling
Vitamin B12 plays an important role in maintaining the health of your nervous system. Therefore, vitamin B12 deficiency usually causes neurological symptoms such as numbness or tingling in the hands and feet.
Vitamin B12 helps the process of nerve formation and plays an important role in the delivery of oxygen throughout the body. Oxygen deprivation is a major cause of numbness and tingling. Vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause balance disorders.
Low blood pressure
Lack of vitamin B12 and folic acid can cause anemia, which will cause blood pressure to be low (hypotension). Vitamin B12 helps your body produce red blood cells so that oxygen can reach all parts of the body, including the heart.
So, if you suffer from low blood pressure, try checking the levels of vitamin B12 in your body. Even mild low blood pressure can cause shortness of breath, dizziness, weakness, fainting, and increase the risk of injury due to falls.
Skin disorders
Low levels of vitamin B12 can also cause skin disorders and hair changes. If you have a wound that has no known cause for the skin and does not improve, this can be a symptom of a deficiency of vitamin B12, so, immediately consult a doctor.
Besides causing injury (skin lesions), vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause hyperpigmentation of the skin, which will make the skin color uneven.
Depression
This vitamin B is also important for mental health. This is because vitamin B12 plays an important role in the process of making red blood cells, which serves to maintain the health of the nervous system.
In addition, vitamin B12 also functions to help reduce levels of homocysteine, a by-product of protein metabolism. High homocysteine levels in the body can cause depression.
Thinking Disorders
Low levels of vitamin B12 can also be a cause of poor memory and decreased thinking ability. This is because vitamin B12 helps brain cells form a new connection, which is a process of memory formation.
In addition, vitamin B12 is also an important component of myelin, a nerve sheath which serves to protect brain cells. This is the reason why a deficiency of vitamin B12 can cause severe nerve damage and decreased brain function.
Hypothyroidism
Vitamin B12 deficiency has been known to be associated with less active thyroid gland or also known as hypothyroidism. This is because the thyroid gland requires vitamin B12 to produce thyroid hormones.
Fertility disorders
Vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause fertility problems, both in men and women. Increased levels of homocysteine due to deficiency of vitamin B12 can cause blood coagulation that will result in fetal death or miscarriage.
Long-lasting vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause changes in the ovulation process or egg cell development or attachment to an incomplete fetus and ultimately can lead to fertility disorders. So, vitamin B12 deficiency will not only make you difficult to get pregnant.