Vitamin B12
A vitamin important for the normal formation of red blood cells and the health of the nerve tissues. Undetected and untreated vitamin B12 deficiency can lead to anemia and permanent nerve and brain damage.
Pernicious anemia is a blood disorder caused by inadequate vitamin B12 in the blood. Patients who have this disorder do not produce the protein substance in the stomach that allows the body to absorb vitamin B12. This substance is called intrinsic factor (IF).
Patients with Crohn’s disease involving the small intestine (Crohn’s ileitis) or who have undergone small intestine resection may not be able to absorb vitamin B12.
Strict vegetarians who consume no animal products can develop B12 deficiency since there is a lack of B12 in vegetables.
Also called cobalamin.
Read Also:
- Vitamin B12-responsive methylmalonicaciduria
methylmalonicaciduria, long chain ketonuria, and intermittent hyperglycinemia.) Some but not all patients with methylmalonicaciduria respond to vitamin B12. An enzyme called methylmalonyl-CoA mutase is defective in the disease. This enzyme requires the presence of adenosylcobalamin, a form of vitamin B12. The metabolic block in methylmalonic acidemia occurs at methylmalonyl-CoA mutase and can be caused by […]
- Vitamin B15
An old name for dimethylglycine (DMG, pangamic acid), which is no longer considered to be a vitamin by the strict definition of that word.
- Vitamin B2
1.7 mg (Intakes may be adjusted according to a physician’s instructions.) A milligram equals 1/1000 of a gram. A gram equals .0353 of an ounce. Side Effects From Overdose of Vitamin B2 Vitamin B2 is not known to cause overdose side effects because excessive amounts are not retained by the body. Interactions of Vitamin B2 […]
- Vitamin B3
Mental disorientation, confusion, delusions and depression Death, if untreated. Pellagra, once a puzzle, was solved by Joseph Goldberger (1874-1929). Serving in the Public Health Service, Dr. Goldberger proposed that pellagra was due to a nutritional deficiency and in 1915 began experiments with Mississippi prison inmates (who “volunteered” in return for full pardons). Dr. Goldberger fed […]
- Vitamin B5
Vitamin B5 is pantothenic acid, one of the less well known B vitamins, perhaps because it is widely distributed in nature. Pantothenic acid is virtually ubiquitous. It is present in foods as diverse as poultry, soybeans, yogurt, and sweet potatoes. No naturally occurring disease due to a deficiency of pantothenic acid has been identified, due […]