Page 55 - Seniorstoday January 2024 Issue
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from developing properly Vitamin B12 is involved in energy
• Helping create and regulate dna - vitamin production in your body. Taking a
b12 is important for dna synthesis and supplement may improve your energy
ensures structural stability of important level, but only if you’re deficient in this
regions of the chromosomes. vitamin.
• Possibly preventing congenital All B vitamins play an important role in
abnormalities - adequate vitamin b12 levels your body’s energy production, though
are crucial to a healthy pregnancy. they don’t necessarily provide energy
Studies show that a fetus’s brain and themselves
nervous system require sufficient B12 • Supports healthy hair, skin, and nails
levels from the mother to develop properly. Given vitamin B12’s role in cell production,
Females with vitamin B12 levels lower than adequate levels of this vitamin are needed
250 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) are to promote healthy hair, skin, and nails
three times more likely to give birth to a • May support bone health and prevent
child with birth defects, such as neural tube osteoporosis
defects. Furthermore, maternal vitamin Maintaining adequate vitamin B12 levels
B12 deficiency may contribute to premature may support your bone health. studies
birth or miscarriage. have shown a link between low vitamin
• Helping protect the eyes from macular B12 levels and poor bone health and
degeneration - Maintaining adequate levels osteoporosis or fracture risk.
of vitamin B12 decreases homocysteine
levels in your blood. This may help prevent
the development of age-related macular
degeneration.
• May improve mood and symptoms of
depression
Vitamin B12 may improve your mood.
The effect of vitamin B12 on mood is
not yet fully understood. However, this
vitamin plays a vital role in synthesizing
and metabolizing serotonin, a chemical
responsible for regulating mood
• May improve heart health by decreasing
homocysteine
High blood levels of the amino acid
homocysteine have been linked to an One study in 110 people with celiac disease
increased risk of heart disease found that low levels of vitamin B12 were
Studies have shown that vitamin B12 helps linked to decreased bone mineral density in
decrease homocysteine levels, which may the femur and hips in males.
reduce your risk of heart disease
• Necessary for energy production - Vitamin Normal Requirement:
B12 supplements have long been thought of The National Institutes of Health (NIH)
as the go-to product for a surge of energy. recommend that teens and adults over the
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #55 | JANUARY 2024 55
