It's Wendy On Wednesday!
Who is most susceptible? Vegans and vegetarians. B-12 is found exclusively in animal products, including animal meat, liver, eggs, and mollusks such as clams and oysters. While everyone should get a blood test and check their levels (I'm not a vegan or a vegetarian and I’ve had it for about 8 years), it is especially important for these groups to be aware of the symptoms and to eat fortified soy products, enriched yeast, and fortified breakfast cereals.
Symptoms? Dizziness, paleness, shortness of breath without chest pain, migraine-like headaches (often accompanied by loss of vision, nausea, vomiting, and fainting), itchy or tingling tongue, nerve pain in hands, feet, face, hips, and ribs (feels like an electric shock, often travels from its place of origin), eye twitching, mouth sores, extreme fatigue, disorientation, memory loss, and listlessness. If left untreated a B-12 deficiency can result in dementia, loss of vision, depression, muscle and nervous system decay, etc.
Where to go from here? Even if you aren’t having these symptoms, you should demand that your doctor check your B-12 levels and tell you the exact number. Anything below 400 is considered a borderline deficiency, and suggests that either you aren’t eating enough B-12 foods or that you are having a problem absorbing it. In my experience, many doctors tend to dismiss symptoms such as nausea, nerve pain, shortness of breath, and fainting if a neurologist or a cardiologist clears them, and it’s important to take the initiative if something doesn’t feel right to you. So go check those levels!
images via Peta.org, Panix.com & thedailygreen.com
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