Vitamin B12 Deficiency Damaging to the Elderly

by Benny Arce

What is Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 is a water-soluble vitamin found naturally in some foods such as meat, liver, fish, shellfish, poultry, eggs, milk, and cheese. They can also be artificially added to soy products and some breakfast cereals. And of course they can also come as vitamin supplements.

Vitamin B12 plays an important role in the proper formation of red blood cells, normal working of the brain and nervous system, and correct synthesis and regulation of DNA.

Symptoms of Vitamin B12 Deficiency

Deficiency in Vitamin B12 is often asymptomatic. If symptoms appear, they are usually non-specific that a patient may remain unaware of the deficiency until serious and perhaps irreversible damage has occurred especially to the brain and nervous system. Seniors are especially at risk because such symptoms are also associated with diseases and syndromes that often afflict them.

Even a slight deficiency in this vitamin can present fatigue, poor memory, or depression. Mania and psychosis can also be a result, as well as other neurologic symptoms such as tingling sensations, weakened limbs, uncoordinated muscular movements, disorientation, loss of a sense of balance, and other psychiatric disorders. These, however, can easily be attributable to other causes such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s diseases.

Causes of Vitamin B12 Deficiency

It has always been thought that since Vitamin B12 is found in plenty of foods except vegetables and fruits, only vegetarians and vegans are at a serious risk of developing a deficiency in this vitamin. However, it appears that there are also other causes –atrophic gastritis and a certain strain of bacteria.

This is especially true for the elderly who, starting at the age of 60, start to develop a condition known as atrophic gastritis. Indeed, data shows that 20% of seniors in their 60s are afflicted with this disease. The percentage doubles when they reach their 80s.

Atrophic Gastritis

Atrophic gastritis is the chronic inflammation of the mucous membrane of the stomach, leading to the replacement of its glandular cells by intestinal fibrous tissues. The result is a decrease or even loss of the production of hydrochloric acid and intrinsic factor, both of which are necessary for proper digestion, prevention of megaloblastic anemia, and absorption of Vitamin B12.

Vitamin B12 in its natural form is attached to protein. Hydrochloric acid in combination with gastric protease separates the vitamin from the protein and allows it to travel to the tissues. The intrinsic factor, on the other hand, combines with the free forms of Vitamin B12 (those from fortified foods and supplements). This combination is absorbed in the small intestines.

Bacteria

Recent research conducted by the Tufts University’s USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging also points to an overgrowth of a certain strain of bacteria that thrives in a stomach lacking sufficient hydrochloric acid. These bacteria feed on any remaining Vitamin B12 cleaved by whatever hydrochloric acid produced by the impaired stomach. This aggravates the deficiency of the vitamin as well as the adverse conditions that it entails.

Remedies of Vitamin B12 Deficiency

For most patients, particularly the elderly, the only way to remedy this deficiency in Vitamin B12 is to take in more of it. This could be in the form of tablets or in food fortified with the vitamin.

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• Health Tip: You Need Vitamin B-12 (nlm.nih.gov)
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