What Are Vitamins?
Vitamins are essential micronutrients that an organism needs in small quantity for proper functioning of body . Most vitamins need to come from food because the body either does not produce them or produces very little.
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 is water soluble vitamin . vit. B12 is a nutrient that helps keep your body’s blood and nerve cells healthy and helps make DNA.
Vit.B12 also helps prevent megaloblastic anaemia a blood condition that makes people tired and weak. The human body stores several years
worth of vitamin B12 .but nutritional deficiency of this vitamin nowadays is increasing due to poor diet, lifestyle changes,stress so yougsters are the most at risk . However , deficiency can result from
being unable to use vitamin B12 . Inability to absorb vitamin B12 from the intestinal tract can be caused by a disease known as pernicious anaemia..
How Much Vit B12 do you need?
The Amount of VITAMIN B 12 you need each day is Adults – 2.4mcg while Pregnant woman will need 2.6 mcg , In lactating mother 2.8 mcg.
Vitamins IN Ayurveda
Modern science classification of food article is as Carbohydrates , Fats, Proteins , Vitamins, Minerals etc.While in Ayurveda there is no such classification as vitamins but classification of food
is done on tastes such as sweet, sour, salt, bitter, astringent and pungent i. e Shadrasas. Ayurveda consider food substances as whole.
Ayurveda is a holistic and talks about totality. Ayurvedic diet is based on the principle of six tastes . Shadrasas’ rather than looking at nutritional labels .
The six Tastes naturally guide us towards proper nutrition and whole meal. If our meal is composed of six tasts we will automatically get all the desired vitamins
In Ayurveda vitamin supplementation follows the rule KSHAY[ क्षय], VRUDDHI { वृद्धी } , SAMANYA{ सामान्य }, VISHESH{ विशेष } this theory cured deficiency of vitamins.
How Ayurveda Tackles Deficiency of Vitamins?
Vitamin deficiency is not only caused due to lack of vitamins in diet . problems in absorption of vitamins is the main cause of vitamin deficiency. It is not that body is
not getting any VITAMIN it is that body is not absorbing it because of poor digestion. It is the reason that well nourished persons are also often diagnosed with deficient
vitamins. It is proven that people with irritable bowel syndrome suffer with vitamin deficiency. Ayurveda calls digestion process AGNI {JARANSHAKTI}
AGNI– digestion and metabolism in our body
JARANSHAKTI- Capacity to digest food. In Ayurvedic treatment for vitamin deficiency , initial focus is to improve the digestion process with respect to
Liver, pancreas, stomach and intestines leads to proper agni and good absorption of consumed food leading to good absorption of vitamins.
Deficiency of vitamin B12 Symptoms
- Pale skin
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Muscle Fatigue
- Loss of balance
- Poor Memory
- Depression
- Digestive issues
- Numbness , tingling in fingers and toes
- Shortness of breath
FOOD containing vit B12 {VEG}
- Low fat milk
- curd
- buttermik
- fermented millets
- unsweetened soymilk
FOOD containing vit. B12 ANIMAL FOOD
- MEATS
- Fish
- Poultry
- Eggs
Tests For Vit.B 12 deficiency Diagnosis
- Vit. B12 level test
- Schilling test
- CBC
- Intrinsic factor antibodies
- MMA( Methylmalonic acid test)