With the improvement of living standards, people are no longer satisfied with eating, but more and more concerned about whether they eat healthily; Many advertisers or health supplement companies take advantage of this psychology and come up with a series of reasons to supplement vitamins.
For a time, vitamins have become the focus of attention of many people, whether children, the elderly or healthy adults have found a reason to supplement. However, is it true that all people need vitamin supplementation?
As we all know, vitamins are very important for the human body and can help regulate the body's metabolism. For example, some people have anemia due to long-term iron deficiency, and some people have decreased immunity due to long-term lack of vitamin E. However, this is not to say that all people need vitamin supplementation.
Usually, people can change their diet to get enough vitamins to meet the body's needs. However, due to various reasons such as living habits, it is easy to lead to insufficient vitamin intake in the human body.
Therefore, in this case, vitamin supplementation can be carried out by oral administration. So, what are the miraculous effects of vitamins? Take vitamin B12 as an example, let's learn together!
First, what are the functions of vitamin B12? BJN: Vitamin B12 deficiency may increase the risk of depression
Vitamin B12 is a water-soluble vitamin that is essential for the normal physiological functions of the human body. The body lacks vitamin B12 and then develops a series of abnormal reactions. So, what exactly are these effects and abnormal manifestations?
First of all, vitamin B12 exists in the form of coenzymes, which can improve the utilization rate of folic acid, thereby accelerating the metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins and fats, and promoting metabolism. Therefore, when the human body lacks vitamin B12 for a long time, it will lead to folic acid deficiency, which in turn will cause diarrhea and temper in patients.
Secondly, vitamin B12 can activate amino acids, promote nucleic acid biology and protein synthesis, and promote the growth and development of infants and young children. If vitamin B12 is lacking in the process of growth and development, it is easy to lead to growth retardation, and even slow response.
In addition, vitamin B12 will promote the development and maturation of red blood cells, so that the body's hematopoietic function can function normally, thereby preventing the occurrence of pernicious anemia and nervous system diseases. If vitamin B12 is deficient for a long time, it will lead to a decrease in the number of red blood cells in the body, and the body will have anemia symptoms such as dizziness. At the same time, the function of the nervous system can also be abnormal, causing neurological diseases (such as neuritis).
In short, vitamin B12 is very important for human health, if deficient will trigger a series of abnormal physical manifestations. In addition, studies have shown that vitamin B12 deficiency may increase the risk of depression.
A previous study published in the British Journal of Nutrition titled Low vitamin B12 but not folate is associated with incident depressive symptoms in community-dwelling older adults: a 4 year longitudinal study, The relationship between folic acid and vitamin B12 and depression was analyzed.
The researchers in the study used data from the TILDA program to analyze participants aged 50 and older who participated in the first assessment. The analysis included measured levels of folic acid and vitamin B12 in plasma provided by participants, screening results for depression.
The results found that under the premise of excluding physical exercise, antidepressant use and other influencing factors, the content of vitamin B12 in plasma was less, which may lead to a significant increase in the probability of depression symptoms in the body within 4 years, but the content of folic acid was not significantly correlated.
Moreover, people with less vitamin B12 in their plasma had a 51% higher probability of developing symptoms of depression within 4 years.
From the results of this study, it can be seen that prolonged vitamin B12 deficiency increases the risk of depression. This may be because vitamin B12 has a certain role in promoting nervous system health.
In addition, the correlation between vitamin B12 and depression provides methods for the prevention of depression; That is, in life, you can try to prevent the occurrence of senile depression by supplementing foods such as breakfast cereals rich in vitamin B12 (such as fortified breakfast cereals).
Since vitamin B12 has such diverse effects, who needs to supplement after aging?
Second, after aging, these groups of people should pay attention to supplementation, or can prevent Alzheimer's disease!
A UK study showed that increasing vitamin B12, as well as folic acid, could help avoid the most common forms of early-onset dementia. In this study, the researchers analyzed blood samples from hundreds of participants.
The results showed that participants with blood levels of vitamin B12 below 1/3 of the normal range had a more than 3-fold increased risk of Alzheimer's disease; Participants with the same level of folate in their blood had a 2-fold increased risk of Alzheimer's disease.
To further understand the mechanism, the researchers conducted further analysis of the blood samples. The results found that the concentration of cysteine was highest in the blood samples of people with relatively deficient vitamin B12 and folic acid, and the probability of Alzheimer's disease in participants with content in more than 1/3 of the normal range was 35 times higher than that of normal people.
In response to this result, researchers cannot determine whether blood levels of vitamin B12, folic acid and cysteine are the cause or effect of Alzheimer's disease, but researchers believe that dietary modification can increase the body's vitamin B12 and folic acid content, thereby preventing Alzheimer's disease.
So, after aging, which people can prevent Alzheimer's disease by supplementing with vitamin B12?
After aging, many people will significantly reduce social activities due to physical and other reasons, which is easy to appear depressed and other manifestations, which in turn increases the risk of Alzheimer's.
As mentioned earlier, studies have confirmed that vitamin B12 supplementation can reduce the likelihood of Alzheimer's disease. The following groups of people will significantly reduce the content of vitamin B12 in the body due to diseases and other reasons, so pay special attention to vitamin B12 supplementation.
1. Vegan
Animals contain more vitamin B12 and very little in plants; Therefore, it is difficult for vegetarians who adhere to a vegetarian diet for a long time to provide the body with enough vitamin B12.
The "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2022)" pointed out that it is recommended that middle-aged and elderly people adhere to a balanced diet, not only to consume appropriate staple foods, fruits and vegetables, but also to take into account meat, eggs and milk, and it is best to consume more than 25 kinds of foods per week.
In order to supplement vitamin B12, you can choose animal liver, milk, eggs and other foods rich in this vitamin. If it is really because of living habits or religious beliefs, people who need to be vegetarian for a long time, it is recommended to regularly take oral vitamin B12 supplementation to avoid anemia or neurological diseases.
2. Patients with chronic gastrointestinal diseases
Relevant studies have shown that the main pathological cause of vitamin B12 deficiency is the lack of endogenous factors in the digestive tract, which in turn leads to the body's absorption of vitamin B12. This means that if you have chronic gastrointestinal diseases (such as chronic gastritis, chronic enteritis, etc.), it will affect the body's absorption of vitamin B12.
Over time, it can easily lead to malnutrition and a massive deficiency of vitamin B12. Therefore, such patients need to treat gastrointestinal diseases first, followed by vitamin B12 supplementation under the guidance of a doctor.
3. Patients with chronic pancreatitis
The pancreas is a very important organ for the human body, it is another major digestive gland of the human body, and plays an endocrine role in the human body. Pancreatic enzymes in the pancreas can promote digestion by the body, and when the amount of secretion is too small, it may cause chronic pancreatitis.
Vitamin B12 has a relatively complex protein complex, which needs to be released under the action of pancreatic enzymes. After that, vitamin B12 binds to intrinsic factors and is absorbed by the body.
Because the content of pancreatic enzymes in patients with chronic pancreatitis is significantly reduced, it is easy to lead to insufficient vitamin B12, in which case it is necessary to supplement by oral administration.
4. Diabetics
People with diabetes often need blood sugar control by taking metformin. However, in recent years, a large number of studies have shown that prolonged use of metformin can lead to lower levels of vitamin B12 in the body.
Although there is still some controversy about the mechanism, animal experimental models have shown that metformin and vitamin B12 compete for internal factors and bind to it, which in turn affects the body's absorption of vitamin B12.
Therefore, for diabetic patients who need to take metformin for a long time, serum vitamin B12 levels need to be assessed every year, and if there is a deficiency, supplementation should be carried out as soon as possible under the guidance of a doctor.
Long-term lack of vitamin B12 can lead to anemia, cognitive dysfunction and other diseases; Therefore, after finding vitamin B12 deficiency, it is necessary to supplement it in time. So, in what way should it be supplemented?
Third, vitamin B12 deficiency, how to supplement?
Once the human body is deficient in vitamin B12, blood diseases (such as anemia) and various neurological diseases (such as peripheral nervous system diseases) may occur. Therefore, it is very important to prevent vitamin B12 deficiency.
In addition, both normal people and patients should properly supplement vitamin B12, but in the process of supplementation, we should pay attention to the method to prevent overkill.
First of all, normal people only need to supplement through food. Under normal circumstances, the human body is usually not deficient in vitamin B12. However, some people choose to stick to a vegetarian diet because of their eating habits or religious beliefs.
As mentioned earlier, vitamin B12 is mainly found in animals, so in life, it is necessary to properly consume some animal offal and other foods to supplement the vitamin B12 needed by the human body. If it is true that animal food intake cannot be met for other reasons, oral vitamin B12 supplementation can be chosen.
In addition, if vitamin B12 deficiency is due to a medical condition (e.g., prolonged perioperative fasting) or due to medications (e.g., metformin), supplementation with oral vitamin B12 is required.
However, it should be noted that patients with vitamin B12 absorption disorders or who need to fast need to supplement by parenteral nutrition; If vitamin B12 deficiency is caused by taking a certain drug, you can choose to replace it with another drug or supplement as directed by your doctor.
Summary:
Vitamin B12 is very important for human health, and long-term deficiency can easily lead to pernicious anemia and neurological diseases. Moreover, animal offal is rich in vitamin B12. Therefore, in life, vitamin B12 deficiency can be prevented by ingesting such foods.
In addition, if vitamin B12 deficiency is caused by a disease or drug, it is necessary to go to the hospital in time for disease treatment or adjustment of medication, and supplement under the guidance of a doctor.
Bibliography:
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[2] XU Yuanfeng,CHEN Wenya,HUANG Tingting,YANG Hongtao,WANG Jiajia. Observation on serum homocysteine, folic acid and vitamin B12 expression in patients with ischemic stroke cognitive dysfunction[J].Prevention and Treatment of Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Diseases,2023,23(04):54-56+59.)
[3] ZHANG Kun, QI Ran. Correlation between serum bilirubin, vitamin B12, blood uric acid and serum albumin and Alzheimer's disease[J].Liaoning Medical Journal,2022,36(06):28-30.)