Vitamin B12: Critical for a Healthy Body

Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) is Critical for Your Diet

Vitamin B12 is one of the critical components in a healthy diet. By the time you realize you have a B12 dietary deficiency, serious side effects involving the nervous system, muscles and blood are probably already manifesting themselves. Are you getting enough B12 vitamins in your diet?

What Is B12?

Vitamin B12 (also called cobalamin because it contains the element cobalt) is a water soluble vitamin. In a crystalline state, it is red in color. B12 has the chemical formula C61-64H84-90N14O13-14PCo. Structurally, it looks like a latticework ball surrounding a single atom of cobalt, and is thought to be the sole compound used in our biology that contains such a bond between carbon and a metal.

Who Needs B12?

Humans are incapable of producing B12, the necessary metabolic biochemical pathways do not exist in our species to build B12 from scratch, so the only way to get vitamin B12 is through our diet.

The requirements for an adequate amount of B12 in a healthy person's diet vary by age, body weight, and the dietary requirements for a pregnant or lactating woman are even higher because she is supplying the B12 necessary for the growing child.

A healthy adult needs about 6 micrograms of vitamin B12 every day.

Where Do I Get B12?

Vitamin B12 is found in most meats and animal products such as milk and eggs. Commercial cereal products are also sometimes fortified with Vitamin B12. Dietary supplements are also available in pill and liquid form.

How Does My Body Absorb Vitamin B12?

Vitamin B12 is found bound to the peptides in proteins typically found in the muscle, liver, and kidneys of large animals, and is highly concentrated in mollusks such as clams and oysters.

In your stomach, these proteins are exposed to hydrochloric acid and pepsin (an enzyme that breaks down peptide bonds), breaking the B12 molecules free from those proteins. At the same time, your stomach lining releases a protein called the intrinsic factor, which binds to the B12 and carries it into the small intestine.

An absence or decline in the amount of intrinsic factor or pepsin can lead to a condition called pernicious anemia, which is fatal if not treated.