What is Anemia of Vitamin B12 Deficiency?

what is anemia of b12 deficiencyAnemia occurs when red blood cells of our body are weak or poorly manufactured, and are thus defective to perform its function of transporting oxygen to all tissues. Anemia can arise due to many causes, but most of all anemia is caused by the lack of an essential element for the formation of red blood cells, such as iron or certain vitamins such as vitamin B12 and folic acid.

Vitamins in general are indispensable to take place in the body many basic metabolic processes that result in energy production or protein synthesis and/or nucleic acids (DNA and RNA from the cells).Vitamin B12 plays a vital role precisely in DNA synthesis (material of the cell nucleus that contains genes). When there is a serious lack of this vitamin impairs the ability of DNA synthesis in the cells of our body, a capacity that in principle there is essential for cell division. So the lack of vitamin B12 leads to a slowdown in the production of cells the more pronounced the more there is cellular proliferation in the tissue in question. Proliferation fabrics are bone marrow where they are continuously red blood cells, white cells and platelets, and others such as skin and mucous membranes.

The deficiency of vitamin B12 leads therefore anemia (low red blood cells), leukopenia (low white blood cells) and thrombocytopenia (low platelets). There may also be lesions on the tongue and mucous membranes of the mouth. Vitamin B12 is also essential for maintaining the sheath covering the nerves, which are basically formed by cells loaded with a substance called myelin. So when there is a severe deficiency of B12, a serious illness can occur in the nerves with consequent degeneration of the spinal cord, and even dementia.

Short, sharp and prolonged deficiency of vitamin B12 results in a worse overall production of blood cells and damages the nervous system.

credit to: Dr. Alfonso José Santiago Marí, Dr. Flemming Andersen, Dr. Patrick Davey, Dra. Rachel Green

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