Vitamin B12 (Methylcobalamin)
Category: Antioxidant, Metabolism
Vitamin B12 is an essential nutrient that your body needs for processes, like DNA synthesis, energy production, and central nervous system function. All B vitamins play an important role in your body’s energy production. Vitamin B12 can decrease blood homocysteine, a type of amino acid that is associated with an increased risk of heart disease.
Benefits
- Vitamin B12 is an essential nutrient that your body needs for processes, like DNA synthesis, energy production, and central nervous system function.
- Specifically, a deficiency in B12 or folate can cause megaloblastic anemia. This condition leads to the formation of large, abnormal, and immature red blood cells and impaired DNA synthesis.
- When your body doesn’t have enough healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen to tissues, you’ll likely feel weak and tired.
- A rare inherited condition marked by vitamin B12 deficiency (Imerslund-Grasbeck disease). Injecting vitamin B12 as a shot for 10 days followed by monthly injections is effective for treating this condition. Vitamin B12 shots can only be given by a healthcare provider.
- Vitamin B12 deficiency. Taking vitamin B12 by mouth, as a shot, or inhaling through the nose can treat and prevent the vitamin B12 deficiency. Vitamin B12 shots can only be given by a healthcare provider.
