Vitamin B12 is a very important nutrient , because it participates in the formation of red blood cells and its deficiency often leads to anemia and poor production of red blood cells in the blood.
Therefore, when we talk about anemia we must not only think of a lack of iron, but for example also of vitamin B12 or copper.
A severe deficiency of vitamin B12 can in fact cause a very serious type of anemia, called pernicious.

We find this vitamin, also called cyanocobalamin (or cobalamin), only in foods of animal origin , which is why its deficiency is often linked to vegan diets.

However, the thing you may not know is that in small amounts, vitamin B12 can also be produced by the body , at the microbial level, by fermentation. In particular from prokaryotes, both in the presence and in the absence of oxygen.

To facilitate this process, the following substances could be taken: alpha lipoic acid, barley or rice malt instead of normal sugar, green leafy vegetables from the diet or algae-based supplements, a supplement of glycine and a substance, DMB, contained in Greek extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

In general, however, it is from food that we can most easily get vitamin B12 . Our requirement is about 2.4 micrograms, which rises to 2.6 in pregnant women.

Vitamin B12 and folic acid are both B vitamins that are very important for the pregnant woman . This is because they both participate in the synthesis of DNA and RNA. Therefore the risk of deficiency can lead to serious malformations in the fetus.
Our liver can only hold small amounts of it.

You don’t necessarily have to eat meat (in particular the liver is rich in it) to have vitamin B12 , let’s dispel this other myth: it can in fact be obtained from clams, which are very rich in it, in general from molluscs and crustaceans, from blue fish, from eggs and to a lesser extent from cheeses. Today, many breakfast cereals contain (synthetic) vitamin B12, but there can be problems with its bioavailability.

So even in a vegan or vegetarian peach diet (ie lacto-ovo-vegan) we can manage to avoid vitamin B12 deficiency.

Other deficiency risks can occur in diabetics on metformin, in people who abuse alcohol or smoke, in people who use PPI drugs extensively for gastrointestinal problems, in people with intestinal mucosal injury following celiac disease or disease of Chron or ulcers.

How to tell if we have a vitamin B12 deficiency?
It would be best to do a blood test to find out if we suffer from the following six symptoms.

1. Itching or discomfort in the tongue, especially the tip
2. Painful, tingling hands and difficulty in bending the fingers well
3. Frequent migraines
4. Pain around the meninges or jaw
5. Appearance of white spots on the skin
6. Appearance of sores in the corners of the mouth: these come and go
7. To these symptoms are added: tiredness and nausea or loss of appetite.