A Vitamin B12 Booster in our Sevenoaks Clinic
Vitamin B12 is one of the 8 B vitamins which plays a vital role in keeping us healthy. B12 is involved in the metabolism of every cell in the human body. It is essential for DNA synthesis, assisting in the normal functioning of the nervous system as well as involvement in the production of red blood cells. Put simply B12 can assist in giving you more energy, decreased fatigue and lethargy and can also help regulate sleep, mood and appetite cycles. The average adults requires 2.4 micrograms per day. B12 cannot be made by the body, therefore it must be consumed in the diet or from supplementation (Vidal-Alaball et al., 2005). Vitamin B12 is not found in foods of plant origin but is found in abundance in animal based products such as meat and dairy (O’Leary, F. and Samman).
High levels of deficiency are found in strict vegans and vegetarians. Gastrointestinal absorption depends on the presence of intrinsic factor and calcium ions. Individuals who do not produce sufficient intrinsic factor develop pernicious anaemia. B12 injections are essential for those with pernicious anaemia and B12 malabsorption to prevent neurological damage. In addition to this many people simply do not consume enough B12 to meet their needs resulting in a vitamin B12 deficiency. To summarize those populations at greatest risk of deficiency include (O’Leary, F. and Samman):
- Vegetarians
- Vegans
- Older adults (50 years or older)
- Pernicious anaemia
- Athletes
- Those who are on a restrictive diet
- Celiac
Vitamin B12 deficiency symptoms
Vitamin B12 deficiency symptoms may include:
- strange sensations, numbness, or tingling in the hands, legs, or feet
- anaemia
- a swollen, inflamed tongue
- difficulty thinking and reasoning (cognitive difficulties), or memory loss
- weakness
- fatigue/ lethargy
Left untreated can lead to irreversible neurological damage.
Vitamin B12 injections for lasting energy!
For anyone who may be at risk of deficiency or just wanting that extra boost of energy, we offer vitamin B12 injections. Injections are a convenient and effective way to reverse deficiencies and provide you will the energy you need (Shipton and Thachil., 2015). Each injection contains 1.04mg of B12 in the form of Hydroxocobalamin, which is almost half of your recommended daily intake. You may ask, ‘can’t I just take an oral supplement?’ Well the short answer is you can, but quite often these are not as effective, take longer to be absorbed and provide a smaller dose than an injection. In other words, you would need to take multiple supplements to get the same dose as the injection, and who really wants to keep buying supplements every week. Long term, vitamin injections could save you money (Van Walraven et al., 2001), which is surely an incentive to switch from oral supplements to injections.
B12 injections are superior in that they are quantitatively and rapidly absorbed from intramuscular sites of injection with the liver being the main organ for vitamin B12 storage. Vitamin B12 injections avoid any problems that your body may have in absorbing it from food source or oral supplementation (O’Leary, F. and Samman., 2010). So why wait, come in, get a dose of vitamin B12 and leave reenergised. Why not pair it up and treat yourself to a Cryotherapy chamber after the injection for a double boost of your metabolism and energy levels.
Vitamin Injections IV THERAPY
References
O’Leary, F. and Samman, S. (2010). Vitamin B12 in health and disease. nutrients, 2(3), pp.299-316.
Shipton, M.J. and Thachil, J. (2015). Vitamin B12 deficiency–A 21st century perspective. Clinical Medicine, 15(2), pp.145-150.
Van Walraven, C., Austin, P. and Naylor, C.D. (2001). Vitamin B12 injections versus oral supplements. How much money could be saved by switching from injections to pills?. Canadian Family Physician, 47(1), pp.79-86.
Vidal-Alaball, J., Butler, C., Cannings-John, R., Goringe, A., Hood, K., McCaddon, A., McDowell, I. and Papaioannou, A. (2005). Oral vitamin B12 versus intramuscular vitamin B12 for vitamin B12 deficiency. The Cochrane database of systematic reviews, (3), p.CD004655