Collin County Living Well Magazine January/February 2018 | Page 32

Cognitive
decline may
be linked to
inadequate
vitamin B12
By Dr. Donna Barsky,
D.Ph., R.Ph.
30
T
here are so many new findings
on how important our nutri-
tional foundation is in relation
to our longevity and quality
of life that it is very difficult to
keep up with the current trends.
If you haven’t noticed by now, when
you go to your physician for a yearly
checkup we are now seeing, for the
first time, routine levels being drawn
for both vitamin D and vitamin B12.
Vitamin B12 has many important func-
tions in the body. It works with the
B vitamin folate to make our body’s
genetic material. It helps keep levels
of the amino acid homocysteine in
check, which may help decrease heart
disease risk, and it is essential to the
production of red blood cells, which
carry oxygen through the blood to the
body’s tissues. However, many people
are deficient in B12.
There are many reasons or causes of
deficiency. Some individuals have di-
gestive systems that do not adequately
COLLIN COUNTY Living Well Magazine | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
absorb the vitamin from the foods they
eat. This problem can increase as
we age as well. Other causes could
be pernicious anemia, which is the
absence of a protein in the stomach
called intrinsic factor, that must be
present for absorption, atrophic gas-
tritis, a thinning of the stomach lining
that affects up to 30% of people aged
50 and older, surgery in which part of
the stomach and/or small intestine is
removed, excessive alcohol consump-
tion or conditions such as Crohn’s dis-
ease, celiac disease, bacterial growth,
Graves’ disease, lupus erythematosus
or even long-term use of acid-reducing
drugs such as Nexium, Prilosec, and
Prevacid.
The best sources of B12 are meat,
eggs and milk, so vegetarians can
also suffer deficiencies.
So what are the symptoms? Weakness,
or light-headedness, rapid heartbeat
and labored breathing, pale skin, sore
tongue, easy bruising including bleed-