Adopting a vegetarian lifestyle (vegan) is a wise choice for healthy body. Being vegan if it runs properly could help to prevent degenerative diseases.

As a vegan, you definitely will avoid consuming too many animal products. Because, in principle, it carry vegetarian diet by limiting the source of animal food. However, the diet that you do may actually eliminate the proteins and fats which your body needs. No wonder most of the body becomes limp.

In order to make your body condition stays in balance, you have to selectively choose the nutrients you consume as a substitute for meat. In addition, you can also add multivitamins to keep your body stamina.

If you are pure vegetarians who avoid all foods of animal products, including milk and eggs, you can still meet the balanced nutrition by eating a variety of fruits, vegetables, and grains. As said as news of Health24, Tuesday (16/2/2010).

But there are some nutrients that can not be obtained from food, and they are vitamin B12 in eggs, meat, fish, poultry meat and milk derived products. To avoid anemia, meet the body’s need for vitamin B12 from multivitamins and specific supplements. This food additive is generally recommended for vegans.

Vegans often lacks of vitamin B12, calcium, vitamin D, zinc, and iron. So, if you do not eat animal products, make sure you get the nutrients that the body needs from a multivitamin. Make sure you are also taking supplements containing folic acid, at least not as much as 400 micrograms. However, supplements should be consumed with eating right.

Vitamin B12 has a long history and a solid reputation as an energy booster, and it is among the most important of all the B-complex vitamins. Vitamin B12 deficiency may result negative in hematological, neurological, and gastrointestinal conditions. Gastrointestinal effects of B12 deficiency may include diarrhea, constipation, abdominal pain, excessive flatulence, and a burning sensation on the tongue. Vitamin B12, a member of the B-vitamin family, is a term used collectively to represent a group of cobalt-containing compounds known as corrinoids. The principal cobalamins are cyanocobalamin, hydroxocobalamin, and the two coenzyme forms of vitamin B12, methylcobalamin, and 5-deoxyadenosylcobalamin (adenosylcobalamin). However, the term vitamin B12 is usually used to refer to only one of these forms, cyanocobalamin, which is used to fortify foods and nutritional supplements. Vitamin B12 is a water-soluble vitamin required for normal cell activity, DNA replication, and the synthesis of the mood-influencing substance SAMe. Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin, works with folic acid to produce healthy red blood cells. Vitamin B12 also keeps your central nervous system healthy.

Vitamin B12 helps maintain the myelin sheath that insulates nerve fibres from each other. B12 deficiency can cause a type of anemia marked by fewer but larger red blood cells that’s called pernicious anemia. It can also cause walking and balance problems, sore tongue, weakness, confusion and, in advanced cases, dementia. Vegetarians who eliminate all animal sources from their diet (also known as vegans) may benefit from taking a vitamin B12 supplement. Vitamin B12 is bound to the protein in food. Hydrochloric acid in the stomach releases B12 from proteins in foods during digestion. Hydroxocobalamin is a man-made form of vitamin B12. Vitamin B12’s main functions are in the formation of red blood cells and the maintenence of a healthy nervous system. Prolonged B12 deficiency can lead to nerve degeneration and irreversible neurological damage. People with vitamin B12 deficiency show irregular destruction of the myelin sheaths, which eventually causes paralysis and death.Vitamin B12 levels decrease with age and various measures of cognitive impairment are associated with reduced B12 status. Vitamin B12 deficiencies occur when the body is unable to properly use the vitamin.

Benefits of Vitamin B12

1. Vitamin B12 are critical to the health of the nervous system and to a process that clears homocysteine from the blood.

2. Vitamin B12 is found naturally in food sources (principally animal products) in protein-bound forms.

3. Vitamin B12 deficiency can be a factor in a variety of different health conditions and disorders.

4. Vitamin B12 may help restrain pre-cancerous lung conditions in smokers.

5. Patients with Alzheimer’s show low levels of Vitamin B12.

6.3 Vitamin B 12 and folate are required for the synthesis of S-adenosylmethionine, a methyl group donor essential for the metabolism of neurotransmitters.

7. Vitamin B12 deficiency can be a factor in a variety of different health conditions and disorders.

8. Vitamin B12 has been suggested to help defend against hypersensitivity to sulfites.

Diet is a very important factor when it comes to diabetes but here we are normally talking principally about controlling the level of sugar in the bloodstream and so we are looking at changes to our dietary habits which control our intake of sugar. So can avegetarian diet help in this respect?

Vegetarians fall into three categories – vegans, lacto-vegetarians and lacto-ovo vegetarians. Vegans eat no animal products, including products derived from animals such as eggs and milk, and their diet is confined solely to plant-based foods. Lacto-vegetarians add milk and some milk based products to an otherwise plant-based diet, but exclude eggs. Read the rest of this entry »

Pernicious anemia is a type of anemia caused by vitamin B12 deficiency. The deficiency of vitamin B12 is due to the inability of the digestive tract to absorb this vitamin. Vitamin B12 is seen in abundantly in fish, meat and dairy products and is essential for healthy nervous system and the production of red blood cells. Read the rest of this entry »

When one lacks vitamin B12 in the body, this can result in a condition known as pernicious anemia. Pernicious anemia can be detected by a blood test due to the presence of huge immature red blood cells in one’s blood. Such blood cells show inefficiency at carrying oxygen. Read the rest of this entry »