Vitamin B12 deficiency symptoms

You need Cobalamin, or Vitamin B12 to process the carbohydrates, proteins, and fats in your food into energy. It also forms the protective covering of your nerve cells and keeps your red blood cells healthy, and helps prevent heart disease.

Vegetables, fruits, and all other foods of non-animal origin are free from B12 unless contaminated by bacteria. B12 in food is generally resistant to destruction by cooking.
B12 deficiency is a significant public health problem, particularly but not exclusively among the elderly. During the past decade, many investigators have reported a high prevalence of B12 deficiency in the elderly.
By far the most common cause of clinically evident B12 deficiency is malabsorption, although other causes, notably inadequate dietary intake, cause or contribute to B12 deficiency
Dietary B12 deficiency arises in adult vegans who shun all meat, fish, eggs, cheese, and other animal products from their diet.
Vitamin B12 deficiency may arise in non-vegetarian subjects who exist on grossly inadequate diets primarily because of poverty.
Vitamin B12 deficiency symptoms are anemia, appetite loss, constipation, numbness and tingling in the extremities, and confusion. Pregnant women with deficiency have increased risk of giving birth to a child with neural tube defects.
Among the many and varied symptoms of B12 deficiency that have been reported are tinnitus and auditory hallucinations, suggesting a role for B12 in hearing.
Supplements included vitamin B12 are recommended for those over age 50, vegetarians, women planning to become pregnant, those with poor diets, and those at risk of heart disease.