Are You Getting Enough Vitamin B?

Losing what seemed to be an endless supply of energy? You could be Vitamin B12 deficient.

09:13 12 August 2016

Samantha White used to work as a community midwife and run at least nine miles per week. However, her world seemed to have turned upside down as her seemingly endless supplies of energy started to wane down. Now, the 42 year old sometimes find herself unable to make a cup of tea. Apart from her inability to lift her feet from the floor, her concentration was also poor.

 

Her GP later found that her symptoms were caused by vitamin B12 deficiency. Vitamin B12 helps the brain and nervous system function and it crucial for the formation of blood cells. It is also needed for the manufacture of myelin, the insulating material that surrounds certain nerve cells.

 

Although the vitamin can be sourced from dairy products, red meat and fish, up to 18per cent of the population are deficient in it, with 80per cent of these women.

 

GP Dr Joseph Chandy, president of the B12 Deficiency Support Group, said: ‘Once levels fall below 500 pg/ml (picograms per millilitre — the normal range being 500 to 1,000), the brain starts to deteriorate at twice the usual rate, making memory loss six times more likely.’

 

If diagnosed early, the deficiency can be easily treated with injections of the vitamin that cost just 60p per dose. Under NICE guidelines, these jabs should be given on alternate days for two weeks. Then typically a maintenance dose is given every three months for life.