Vitamins play a large role in our health and well-being and are often used to treat common health concerns such as fatigue, immune system functioning, and even bone health. One vitamin deficiency that is often overlooked by those wanting to improve their health is vitamin B12.  This vitamin is certainly not one that you will want to miss out on from your health routine, and we will tell you why.

What Is Vitamin B12?

Vitamin B12 sometimes referred to as ‘folate’, is part of the B complex vitamins which help to keep your body’s nerves and blood cells healthy. A vitamin B12 deficiency could lead to your body producing abnormally large red blood cells that cannot function properly and eventually result in the development of anaemia.

The majority of the required vitamin B12 is taken from a healthy and balanced diet including meat, fish, milk, cheese, and eggs; they are particularly rich in this nutrient. If your diet does not provide you with enough vitamin B12, you may experience a deficiency. In that case, you should try to supplement the nutrient until you reach normal levels.

What Are the Benefits of Vitamin B12?

The main benefits of maintaining adequate vitamin B12 levels in the body are healthy nerve and blood cell functioning, which will prevent you from developing anaemia. Anaemia comes with a range of health problems including:

• Fatigue
• Weakness
• Irregular heartbeats
• Dizziness/lightheadedness
• Chest pain
• Headaches

Preventing the development of anaemia will keep you feeling healthy and happy.

Benefits of Vitamin B12 for hair

The benefits of Vitamin B12 aren’t limited to the prevention of anaemia only. Vitamin B12 also promotes healthy hair growth by encouraging your body to produce oxygen-rich blood cells, which feed the hair follicle with nutrients necessary for hair growth.

If you have a Vitamin B12 deficiency, these hair follicles will not get the nutrients that they need to stay alive, and eventually, they may die. This could result in unhealthy hair and the worst-case scenario is hair loss. Restoring your B12 levels back to normal will eventually help the hair follicles regrow and could help reduce hair loss.

Benefits of Vitamin B12 for Skin

Just like hair follicles, skin cells need their share of nutrients to stay healthy. Vitamin B12 helps with the growth of new cells which is vital for healthy glowing skin. Skin cells are constantly shedding and replacing themselves with newly formed cells. If due to a B12 deficiency your body cannot produce enough skin cells, your skin will suffer the consequences of becoming dry, tired, and prone to acne. Increasing your vitamin B12 intake could help ease skin conditions and ensure that your body is producing enough cells to keep up with skin-cell shedding.

Vitamin B12 for heart health

If you are deficient in B12, your body will produce increased levels of an amino acid called homocysteine. This amino acid has been linked to heart disease which can be fatal. Keeping your B12 levels normal may help to prevent the development of heart disease.

Vitamin B12 for energy

Maintaining normal B12 levels could help to combat feelings of fatigue and tiredness and help to protect your energy levels. All types of Vitamin B play a role in providing the body with energy and improving blood cell functioning which leads to oxygen flowing through your body more efficiently.

Vitamin B12 for the brain

Multiple studies have linked vitamin B12 to memory performance, and brain atrophy (the loss of neurons). It is even suggested that a deficiency of the vitamin could contribute to dementia. Maintaining good levels of vitamin B12 could prevent your brain neurons from decaying and improve your memory along with your cognitive functioning.

Vitamin B12 for bone health

Vitamin B12 has been linked to bone density and could be used to prevent osteoporosis—decreased mineral density in the bones. Low bone density can lead to fragile, delicate bones that are prone to breaking. Good levels of Vitamin B12 may help prevent this from occurring and will keep your bones healthy.

How to Increase Your Vitamin B12 Levels?

There are three ways through which you can increase vitamin B12 levels in your body:

Balanced diet

Our main source of Vitamin B12 is a healthy balanced diet. Meat, fish, eggs, and cheese are all rich in this vitamin, so, consuming sufficient amounts of them should help to keep your vitamin B12 levels steady.

Supplement pills

If your diet doesn’t provide you with enough Vitamin B12, you may have to find other ways to supplement it. You could do this through simple pills, which are usually taken once a day along with your regular diet.

IV therapy

Another option for increasing your vitamin B12 levels is IV therapy. This is a treatment in which vitamins are inserted directly into your bloodstream to instantly boost your levels and improve your health. IV therapy can be given in both drip and injection form and be completely tailored to your needs. If you are interested in IV vitamin therapy, why not contact our team who can tell you more about how we can help you to feel your best?

Ensuring that your body contains enough vitamin B12 is essential for the maintenance of healthy bones, hair, skin, heart, and even brain. While it is possible to receive enough of the nutrient through a balanced diet, it is easy to become deficient in the vitamin which could lead to a whole host of health problems down the line. Our Intravenous Therapy service could help to restore your body’s vitamin B12 levels back to normal and prevent the development of, potentially serious, health conditions. If you would like to know more about what this service involves, speak to a member of our team today!

About the Author

Dr Suhail Alam

Dr Alam is devoted to providing high quality, holistic, patient centred care designed to make patients look and feel their best. He has a specialist interest in Hair Restoration Surgery and Regenerative Medicine.

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