Every vitamin is important for the growth and nourishment of our body. Each vitamin is very important as each of them has a different role to play. When talking about vitamin B 12, it has its own importance as well.
To maintain a healthy and nourishing body vitamin B12 is very important. In other words, Vitamin B12 is also widely known as Cobalamin. Vitamin B12 is very much needed for our body for the process of converting carbohydrates, proteins and fats from food into energy. Vitamin B12 also helps in keeping the red blood cells in our body strong and this doing helps in preventing heart disease. It also keeps your immunity system healthy and fit and thereby it functions at its maximum level at a good rate. We should also know that B12 is used in shielding all nerve cells in the body.
Another most important function of B12 is to form healthy red blood cells. But all the cells that function in our body require b12 to be healthy. Other blood cells including white cells require B12 to keep our immune system strong and to ensure that it functions properly. In fact, not only white and red blood cells, all other cells require B12 to form a protective fatty layer.
B12 helps in forming this fatty layer which is essential for all the cells but particularly for brains. Your brain will not function properly if there is not adequate amount of B12 to form a protective layer to it. Vitamin B12 is needed for your body in small quantities but needed on a regular basis. B12 on its own is not enough because our body cannot absorb it easily. For this particular reason, our body produces intrinsic factors which help it to absorb B12. B12 is only found in animal fat, liver, meat, fish etc. Most of the people consume B12 than recommended.
Considering these fatty food items, our body has the power to absorb only half of what is consumed. Doctors recommend that people who thrive on vegetarian food items and strictly prefer vegetarian foodstuff should eat animal products as even their body requires certain amount of B12. This is because B12 is not sufficiently available in the diet of vegans which is essential in every individual’s diet as it is needed to make healthy red blood cells. One can get anemia which is caused by stomach for not creating enough intrinsic factors which help the body to absorb B12. Children are at a greater risk of anemia if they do not eat healthy foodstuffs, meat, live or those food items which contain B12. Pregnant women who carry a baby and are responsible for their as well as their baby’s nourishment require more of B12 as it is important for their baby to grow and develop appropriately and a woman during pregnancy needs more of Vitamin B12 as the body absorbs more B12 during the pregnancy. So the intake of B12 is very important for every individual and needs to be consumed in proper quantities.