Vitamin B12 deficiency

What is vitamin B12?

Vitamin B12, also called cobalamin, is a type of B vitamin. It's a water-soluble vitamin which means it can dissolve in water. Your body can store vitamin B12 for years in your liver.

What does vitamin B12 do?

Vitamin B12 is essential for:

• red blood cell production
• DNA synthesis
• a healthy nervous system

Vitamin B12 is also important for a healthy heart and is critical during pregnancy for a baby’s developing brain and nervous system.

Vitamin B12 deficiency

If you’re deficient in vitamin B12, it can cause many problems.

Anaemia

A lack of vitamin B12 means your body can’t make enough red blood cells, or each blood cell doesn’t have enough haemoglobin — this is called anaemia. This means you can’t transport enough oxygen around your body.

Nerve damage

Long-term vitamin B12 deficiency can cause nerve damage. This is because vitamin B12 is needed to make myelin — a protective sheet that covers your nerves. If this isn’t caught early enough, it can cause irreversible nerve damage. It’s rare, but sometimes your optic nerve might become damaged and cause blurred vision.

Balance issues

Long-term vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause problems with your balance.

Psychological issues

Vitamin B12 deficiency might cause you to feel confused or depressed. It’s also linked to poor memory and dementia.

You can treat a deficiency with our premium vitamin B12 supplements.

Symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency

The signs and symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency include:

• extreme tiredness
• weakness
• pins and needles (especially in your hands and feet)
• mouth ulcers
• a swollen and sore tongue (glossitis)
• blurred vision
• poor memory
• depression

In rare cases, it can cause heart and fertility problems.

If you have any of these symptoms, it’s really important to check your vitamin B12 levels as part of a vitamins blood test. Some of these symptoms, like nerve damage, can be irreversible.

Causes of vitamin B12 deficiency

Several things can cause vitamin B12 deficiency, including:

• pernicious anaemia — your immune system mistakenly attacks cells in your stomach that produce intrinsic factor (a protein you need to absorb vitamin B12)
• diet — plant-based diets, like vegan, vegetarian, and dairy-free diets are sometimes lacking in vitamin B12
• medication — some medications, like proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), can inhibit the absorption of vitamin B12

You’re also more at risk of vitamin B12 deficiency if you:

• are pregnant or breastfeeding
• are over 50 years old — because you might stop producing enough hydrochloric acid in your stomach, which is needed for absorption of vitamin B12
• suffer from a gastrointestinal disorder — like coeliac disease or Crohn’s disease

You should also remember that folic acid supplements can mask vitamin B12 deficiency. This is because it can improve your symptoms so much that they’re not noticeable.

How to test your vitamin B12 levels

You can check your vitamin B12 levels with a simple finger-prick blood test. A vitamins blood test is the best way to measure your active vitamin B12 levels — this is the amount of vitamin B12 your body can actually use.

How to treat vitamin B12 deficiency

There are lots of things you can do to increase your vitamin B12 levels.

Diet

Foods rich in vitamin B12 include:

• organ meats — like liver and kidney are the richest sources of vitamin B12
• beef
• seafood and fish — like clams, sardines, salmon, and tuna
• milk and dairy products
• eggs

Vitamin B12 is only naturally available in meat, fish, or dairy. But there are fortified plant-based sources of vitamin B12 like:

• fortified milk alternatives
• fortified cereals
• fortified nutritional yeast

Supplements

You can also try our premium vitamin B12 supplements. They're available as cyanocobalamin — a form your body can easily convert and use.

It's also possible to get a vitamin B12 injection — this is especially useful if absorption issues in your stomach cause your deficiency. The form hydroxocobalamin can be given every three months.