B12 Benefits: 7 Reasons to Supplement B12 and How to Get Enough

Believe it or not, between 1.5% and 15% of the general population suffers from vitamin B12 deficiency. So, if you’re asking yourself should it take B12 supplements? The answer is yes.

Feeling sluggish? Check out seven B12 benefits that can make you feel healthier. Also, learn how to get enough B12 to reap those benefits below.

1. May Help to Prevent Anemia

If you’re someone who’s dealing with anemia, we have good news. One of the many health benefits of B12 is to help your body create more red blood cells.

In case you didn’t know, having a lack of vitamin B12 in your system can reduce the numbers of red blood cells in your body. Thus, this can prevent them from growing as well. While small and round blood cells are healthy, oval and large ones are signs of vitamin B12 deficiency.

This irregular and large shape stops red blood cells from moving around in your blood marrow. Therefore, they can’t enter the bloodstream at the right rate. This can cause something called megaloblastic anemia.

If you’ve ever dealt with anemia before, then you may already know that your body has trouble making enough red blood cells to send oxygen to your organs.

As a result, you might suffer from painful side effects such as weakness and fatigue. However, taking your daily dose of vitamin B12 might help you to avoid this disease in the first place.

2. Might Prevent Baby Birth Defects

Having an adequate amount of vitamin B12 in your body is key to having a healthy and happy pregnancy. That’s because studies have shown that a baby’s nervous system and brain need enough vitamin B12 from its mom to grow.

You might be surprised to find out that having a lack of vitamin B12 at the start of your pregnancy can increase your risk of birth defects. You mentioned that your odds of developing around to defense increases well. Also, expectant mothers who don’t have enough vitamin B12 can suffer from miscarriages or premature births as well.

In fact, women with low levels of vitamin B12 are actually three times more likely to have a baby with birth defects. This is especially true when compared to pregnant women with normal levels of vitamin B12 in their systems. Women with much lower levels of vitamin B 12 are even more likely to give birth to a baby with defects.

Why is this so important, you ask? Because having enough vitamin B12 in your system is essential to having a healthy baby. Plus, it can also protect your infant from spinal cords and brain birth defects too.

3. May Prevent Osteoporosis and Improve Bones

Another health benefit of vitamin B12 is it may help to prevent osteoporosis and improve bone health. According to another scientific study, over 2,500 adults with vitamin B12 deficiency had low bone mineral density too.

When bones lose their mineral density, they can become fragile and delicate over time. This can increase your risk of developing osteoporosis. It gets worse: women with low levels of vitamin B12 have even greater odds of developing osteoporosis and poor bone health.

How do you avoid this?

The answer is simple – make sure that you have enough vitamin B12 in your system to support your overall bone health. Otherwise, you might suffer from osteoporosis bone loss, or worse.

4. Might Decrease Odds of Macular Degeneration

If you’re concerned about your eye health, vitamin B12 might decrease your odds of developing macular degeneration. For the uninitiated, macular degeneration is a type of eye disease that impacts your centralized vision.

To prevent your risk of developing macular degeneration, we recommend that you keep an adequate level of B12 in your system. In addition to this, having a proper amount of vitamin B12 in your body can also reduce homocysteine. This is a special kind of amino acid that lives in your blood.

When you have too much homocysteine in your body, you may have much higher odds of developing macular degeneration as you grow older. However, science has shown that women who have enough vitamin B12 in their bodies can reduce this dangerous risk. Of course, this is in addition to having the right amount of vitamin B6 and folic acid in your blood too.

While more research is needed to understand this vitamin’s role in eye health, it doesn’t hurt to maintain an adequate amount of vitamin B12.

5. May Boost Mood and Decrease Depression

Vitamin B12 may boost your mood and decrease depression at the same time. As a matter of fact, vitamin B12 plays an essential part in metabolizing in sympathizing serotonin. Serotonin is a chemical that’s perfect for regulating your mood.

Lacking the proper amount of vitamin B12 can decrease your body’s production of serotonin. Unfortunately, this can increase your level of depression too. So, next time you’re feeling down, make sure that you have an adequate amount of vitamin B12 in your system.

If you suffer from low vitamin B12 and depression, studies have shown that vitamin B12 and antidepressants are the best way to improve your mood. This is particularly true when comparing those prescribed antidepressant medications alone. Even worse, an additional study shows that those with low vitamin B12 levels have twice the odds of suffering from severe depression too.

In addition, having a proper amount of vitamin B12 in your body can also lead to better outcomes in terms of treatments. Plus, it might even increase your chances of recovering from a major depressive disorder.

In a nutshell, the supplement vitamin B12 can boost depression and mood and those with deficiencies. However, science still hasn’t shown that has the exact same impact on people with normal levels of vitamin B12.

6. Might Prevent Your Brain From Losing Neurons

If you’re an older adult, you may already know that having a lack of vitamin B12 can lead to memory loss. Besides this, vitamin B12 can also help you to avoid brain atrophy. This occurs when your brain loses too many neurons, which can cause dementia or memory loss as well.

Here’s the bright side. One scientific study of people with dementia showed that mixing omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin B12 can slow mental decline. Another research shock study proved that people with low levels of vitamin B12 might contribute to poor memory in the long run. Therefore, supplementing your brain with this supplement may boost your memory, even if you already have enough in your body.

7. May Provide an Essential Energy Boost

You might be wondering does vitamin B12 give you energy?

For a long time, supplementing your body with vitamin B12 has been believed to be the number one source of natural energy. Also, every single B vitamin plays a vital role in your system’s production of energy. However, they don’t exactly provide this energy on their own.

At this time, there isn’t scientific proof that supplementing vitamin B12 can improve energy in those who already have enough of it. Those with a significant lack of vitamin B12 should see improvement in energy levels in no time. As we mentioned above, suffering from lack of energy or fatigue might be a sign of vitamin B12 deficiency too.

Luckily enough, taking up vitamin B12 supplements might be able to give you the energy you need!

Boost Your Energy With These Brainy B12 Benefits

Ready to boost your energy with B12 benefits? When it comes to B12 supplements, we are the experts. If you’re still curious about B12 health benefits, then we are here to help you out.

From preventing anemia to providing an energy boost, there are so many reasons why you should add vitamin B12 supplements to your diet. Not only that but taking vitamin B12 can also prevent baby birth defects.

Suffering from bone loss or macular degeneration?

If you are dealing with bone loss, you should ask your doctor to see if you have enough vitamin B12 in your system. If not, you can supplement your diet with vitamin B12 and see results before you know it. On top of that, taking your daily dose of vitamin B12 can give you the midday boost of energy you need too.

So, if you are planning a gym day in your near future, there’s no harm in taking a vitamin B12 supplement to avoid fatigue as well.

For more articles like this one be sure to take a look at the rest of our blog today.