Vitamin B12 is essential for red blood cell formation, nerve function, and DNA production. Take a look at the resources below for more information on what B12 is, how it benefits health, the dangers of a deficiency, and how to incorporate it into your diet.
Overview
- Health Benefits of Vitamin B12, Based on Science (Healthline – January 30, 2024)
- Vitamin B12: Overview, Benefits, and Food Sources (GoodRx – January 26, 2024)
- Health Benefits of Vitamin B12 (Health – January 16, 2024)
- Vitamin B12: Benefits, Foods And Supplements (Forbes Health – January 4, 2024)
- Vitamin B12 Fact Sheet for Consumers (National Institutes of Health – December 15, 2023)
- Vitamin B12 Fact Sheet for Health Professionals (National Institutes of Health – December 15, 2023)
- Vitamin B12 benefits, food sources, deficiency symptoms, and more (MedicalNewsToday – December 8, 2023)
- Vitamin B12 (Oregon State University Linus Pauling Institute – November 2023)
- Vitamin B-12 (Mayo Clinic – August 10, 2023)
- What is vitamin B12 good for and how often should you take it? (USA Today – March 28, 2023)
- Vitamin B12 (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health – The Nutrition Source – March 2023)
- Vitamin B12 (MedlinePlus – January 19, 2023)
- Vitamin B12: What to Know (WebMD – January 14, 2023)
- What Is Vitamin B12? (Verywell Health – October 18, 2022)
- Vitamin B12 Benefits and Best Sources (Cleveland Clinic – June 7, 2022)
- Why You Might Need More B12 and D3 Vitamins (AARP – June 7, 2021)
- Vitamin B12 status in health and disease: a critical review. Diagnosis of deficiency and insufficiency – clinical and laboratory pitfalls (Critical Reviews in Clinical Laboratory Sciences – April 21, 2021)
- A review of vitamin B12 (Molecular Nutrition – 2020)
- Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin) (Mount Sinai)
- Vitamin B12 – Uses, Side Effects, and More (WebMD)
- Vitamin B-12 (University of Rochester Medical Center)
- Vitamin B12 (NutritionFacts)
Deficiency
- Intake of vitamin B12 in relation to vitamin B12 status in groups susceptible to deficiency: a systematic review (Food and Nutrition Research – June 30, 2023)
- Vitamin B12 deficiency can be sneaky and harmful (Harvard Health Publishing – March 23, 2022)
- Vitamin B12 or folate deficiency anaemia (National Health Service – February 20, 2023)
- Vitamin B12 Deficiency (StatPearls – October 22, 2022)
- Chapter Fifteen – Vitamin B12 deficiency (Vitamins and Hormones – 2022)
- A Brief Review on Vitamin B12 Deficiency Looking at Some Case Study Reports in Adults (International Journal of Molecular Sciences – September 7, 2021)
- The Many Faces of Cobalamin (Vitamin B12) Deficiency (Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Innovations, Quality & Outcomes – June 2019)
- Investigating vitamin B12 deficiency (BMJ – 2019)
- The Efficacy of Oral Vitamin B12 Replacement for Nutritional Vitamin B12 Deficiency (March 2018)
- Vitamin B12 Deficiency: Recognition and Management (American Family Physician – September 15, 2017)
- Vitamin B12 deficiency (Nature Reviews Disease Primer – June 29, 2017)
- Vitamin B12 deficiency from the perspective of a practicing hematologist (Blood – May 11, 2017)
- The Role of Vitamin B12 in the Critically Ill—a Review (July 1, 2016 – Anaesthesia and Intensive Care)
- The difficulties with vitamin B12 (Practical Neurology – March 23, 2016)
- Vitamin B12 deficiency – A 21st century perspective (Clinical Medicine – April 2015)
- Vitamin B12 deficiency in the elderly: is it worth screening? (Hong Kong Medial Journal – March 10, 2015)
- Vitamin B12 Deficiency Anemia (Johns Hopkins Medicine)
Prenatal and Infants
- Efficacy of maternal vitamin B12 supplementation for improving infant outcomes in settings with high deficiency (The Lancet – May 6, 2023)
- Vitamin B12 – Breastfeeding (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – April 4, 2023)
- Maternal Vitamin B12 Deficiency Detected by Newborn Screening—Evaluation of Causes and Characteristics (Nutrients – September 2022)
- Association of Maternal Vitamin B12 Status With Infant Findings and Neurodevelopment in Vitamin B12-Deficient Breast-fed Babies (Journal of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology – January 3, 2022)
- Maternal Vitamin B12 Status During Pregnancy and Its Association With Outcomes of Pregnancy and Health of the Offspring: A Systematic Review and Implications for Policy in India (Frontiers in Endocrinology – April 11, 2021)
- The frequency of vitamin B12, iron, and folic acid deficiency in the neonatal period and infancy, and the relationship with maternal levels (Turkish Archives of Pediatrics – June 19, 2020)
- Vitamin B12 deficiency as a cause of severe neurological symptoms in breast fed infant – a case report (Italian Journal of Pediatrics – March 30, 2020)
- Study of serum vitamin B12 levels in pregnant mothers and their newborns and its relation to growth of the infants (Indian Journal of Child Health – April-June 2017)
- The levels of vitamın B12, folate and homocysteine in mothers and their babies with neural tube defects (The Journal of Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Medicine – November 23, 2015)
- Vitamin B-12 and Perinatal Health (Advances in Nutrition – September 2015)
Skin Health
- Relationships of Serum Homocysteine, Vitamin B12, and Folic Acid Levels with Papulopustular Rosacea Severity: A Case-Control Study (Biomed Research International – July 4, 2022)
- Vitamin B12 and Atopic Dermatitis: Any Therapeutic Relevance For Oral Supplementation? (Journal of Dietary Supplements – December 21, 2020)
- Serum homocysteine, folate and vitamin B12 levels in patients with psoriasis: a systematic review and meta‐analysis Get access Arrow (British Journal of Dermatology – February 1, 2019)
- Dermatologic findings of vitamin B12 deficiency in infants (Pediatric Dermatology – October 11, 2018)
- Superiority of a vitamin B12-containing emollient compared to a standard emollient in the maintenance treatment of mild-to-moderate plaque psoriasis (International Journal of Immunopathology and Pharmacology – October 19, 2017)
- Acneiform eruptions caused by vitamin B12: A report of five cases and review of the literature (Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology – June 8, 2017)
- Vitamin B12 modulates the transcriptome of the skin microbiota in acne pathogenesis (Science Translational International – June 24, 2015)
- A Review of Vitamin B12 in Dermatology (American Journal of Clinical Dermatology – January 6, 2015)
Bone Health
- B vitamins and homocysteine as determinants of bone health: A literature review of human studies (Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics – September 2, 2022)
- Vitamin B12 status is a risk factor for bone fractures among vegans (Medical Hypotheses – August 2021)
- Folate and Vitamin B 12 Status Is Associated With Bone Mineral Density and Hip Strength of Postmenopausal Chinese Singaporean Women (JBMR Plus – October 1, 2020)
- Interplay of vitamin D, vitamin B12, homocysteine and bone mineral density in postmenopausal females (Health Care for Women International – March 20, 2018)
- Vitamin B12, bone mineral density and fracture risk in adults: A systematic review (Revista da Associacao Medica Brasileira – September 2017)
- B-Vitamins and Bone Health–A Review of the Current Evidence (Nutrients – May 7, 2015)
Mental Health
- Depression and Vegetarians: Association between Dietary Vitamin B6, B12 and Folate Intake and Global and Subcortical Brain Volumes (Nutrients – May 24, 2021)
- Associations of dietary vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12 with the risk of depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis (Nutrition Reviews – April 29, 2021)
- Effects of Vitamin B12 Supplementation on Cognitive Function, Depressive Symptoms, and Fatigue: A Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis, and Meta-Regression (Nutrients – March 12, 2021)
- Neurological symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency: analysis of pediatric patients (Acta Clinica Croatica – June 2019)
- Neuropsychiatric and neurological problems among Vitamin B12 deficient young vegetarians (Neurosciences Journal – July 2017)
- Vitamin B12, homocysteine and depressive symptoms: a longitudinal study among older adults (European Journal of Clinical Nutrition – February 1, 2017)
- Folate and B12 serum levels in association with depression in the aged: a systematic review and meta-analysis (Aging and Mental Health – June 8, 2015)
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled trials of folate and vitamin B12 for depression (International Psychogeriatrics – May 2015)
Heart Health
- Intakes of folate, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12 and cardiovascular disease risk: a national population-based cross-sectional study (Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine – November 14, 2023)
- Associations of Serum Folate and Vitamin B12 Levels With Cardiovascular Disease Mortality Among Patients With Type 2 Diabetes (Diabetes and Endocrinology – January 31, 2022)
- Role of vitamin B12 deficiency in ischemic stroke risk and outcome (Neural Generation Research – March 2021)
- Intake of vitamin B6, folate, and vitamin B12 and risk of coronary heart disease: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies (Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition – November 15, 2018)\
- Serum high concentrations of homocysteine and low levels of folic acid and vitamin B12 are significantly correlated with the categories of coronary artery diseases (BMC Cardiovascular Disorders – January 21, 2017)
- Vitamin B12 deficiency is associated with cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy in patients with type 2 diabetes (Journal of Diabetes and its Complications – January 2017)
- Is Vitamin B12 Deficiency a Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Disease in Vegetarians? (American Journal of Preventive Medicine – June 2015)
Food Sources
- Vegetarian and vegan sources of B-12 (MedicalNewsToday – January 26, 2024)
- Top 12 Foods That Are High in Vitamin B12 (Healthline – December 8, 2023)
- 16 Top Vitamin B12 Foods (Health – November 2, 2023)
- Foods You Should Eat if You Have a B12 Deficiency (WebMD – January 16, 2023)
- Foods High in B Vitamins (WebMD – December 2, 2022)
- Foods high in vitamin B (Health Direct – May 2022)
- The Best Sources of Vitamin B12 for Any Diet (Verywell Health – February 3, 2022)
- 10 food sources that are high in vitamin B12 (Business Insider – October 8, 2021)
- Best vitamin B12 foods: Supplements and RDA (MedicalNewsToday – July 27, 2020)
- Vitamin B12 Foods for Vegetarians (Healthline – July 1, 2020)
- 22 Vitamin B12 Foods That Will Keep Your Mind Sharp (Good Housekeeping – July 18, 2018)
- Vitamin B12 in meat and dairy products (Nutrition Reviews – January 13, 2015)
- The A list of B12 foods (Harvard Health Publishing)