Just How Important Is Vitamin B12 In Maintaining A Healthy Body

Vitamin B12 is one of the B vitamins that are essential for maintaining a healthy body. Also known as Cobalamin, vitamin b12 is needed for the conversion of carbohydrates, fats and proteins from food into energy.

Vitamin b12, more importantly, helps maintain healthy red blood cells and therefore help prevent heart disease, as well as maintaining the immune system functioning at its maximum level. In addition, vitamin b12 is used to create a protective shell of all the nerve cells in the body.

The most important function of vitamin b12 is to form healthy red blood cells. However, all cells need vitamin b 12 to keep them healthy. These are white blood cells, among other things, the need vitamin b12 to ensure that the immune system is functioning properly.

All the nerve cells of the body also need vitamin b12 to form a protective fat. This is important for all nerves, but it is especially important for those in the brain. If you do not have enough vitamin b12 to create a protective barrier, the brain is not functioning properly.

Interestingly, the amount of 12b, the body needs is relatively small, but is needed to keep up. However, vitamin b12 in itself is not enough, because the body can not absorb it very easily.

To facilitate acquisition of vitamin b12 stomach produces intrinsic factor which enables more than vitamin b 12to absorb. vitamin b12 is located only in food of animal origin such as liver, eggs, fish and meat, but most people consume far more than the recommended daily amount of 12 b.

This is not a problem, because the body can absorb about half vitamin b12 that is consumed. Note also that the body can recycle b12 , which reduces the effect b12 deficiency.

However, strict vegetarians or vegans may require vitamin b 12 supplements if they do not eat any products of animal origin that contain 12b.

If the body does not have enough vitamin b 12 to anemia is the most obvious symptom. Of course, this is because that there are not enough vitamin b12 to a healthy red blood cells. Anemia can also be caused by the body does not create enough internal factor to absorb b12, which is available in the food we eat.

The body tends to makes less intrinsic factor, when a person reaches 50 and this will lead to less vitamin b 12 supplements consumed and vitamin b 12 may be necessary. Children are also at risk of anemia, because they can not eat food that contain 12b. Pregnant women need more 12 b, because a child absorbs vitamin b12 during the pregnancy grows properly.