What is B-12?
Are you getting enough vitamin B12? The human body needs B-12 in order to stay healthy.
Among a host of other things, Vitamin B-12 helps make your DNA and your red blood cells.
Your body can’t make vitamin B-12, so you have to get it from animal-based foods or from supplements.
As a result of today’s common American diet, you should take B-12 supplements on a regular basis. While B-12 is stored in the liver for up to five years, you can eventually become deficient if your diet doesn’t help maintain the levels.
According to WEBMD:
With age, it can become harder to absorb this vitamin. It can also happen if you have had weight loss surgery or another operation that removed part of your stomach, or if you drink heavily.
You may also be more likely to develop vitamin B12 deficiency if you have:
- Atrophic gastritis, in which your stomach lining has thinned
- Pernicious anemia, which makes it hard for your body to absorb vitamin B-12
- Conditions that affect your small intestine, such as Crohn’s disease, celiac disease, bacterial growth, or a parasite
- Alcohol misuse or heavy drinking can make it harder for your body to absorb nutrients or prevent you from eating enough calories. One sign that you lack enough B-12 may be glossitis, or a swollen, inflamed tongue.
- Immune system disorders, such as Graves’ disease or lupus
- Been taking certain medications that interfere with the absorption of B-12. This includes some heartburn medicines including proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) such as esomeprazole (Nexium), lansoprazole (Prevacid), omeprazole (Prilosec OTC), pantoprazole (Protonix), and rabeprazole (Aciphex), H2 Blockers such as cimetidine (Tagamet) and famotidine (Pepcid AC); and certain diabetes medicines such as metformin (Glucophage).
You can also get vitamin B12 deficiency if you follow a vegan diet (meaning you don’t eat any animal products, including meat, milk, cheese, and eggs) or you are a vegetarian who doesn’t eat enough eggs or dairy products to meet your vitamin B12 needs. In both of those cases, you can add fortified foods to your diet or take supplements to meet this need.
How to Get More Vitamin B-12 in Your Diet
For Horry County residents, getting your body’s required amount of B-12 is as easy as going to the mall.
Coastal Grand Mall in Myrtle Beach features the B-12 Store.
You can reach the B-12 Store by phone at (843) 808-9499
B-12 The Wonder Vitamin For Fatty Liver
This August medical journals across the globe announced these peer review findings:
B vitamins can potentially treat advanced non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, according to a new study. Researchers at Duke-NUS Medical School uncovered a mechanism that leads to an advanced form of fatty liver disease—and it turns out that vitamin B12 and folic acid supplements could reverse this process.