Vitamin B12 is amazing and hands down one of our favorite vitamins on our menu. It not only helps you feel better, but it helps fight fatigue as well. Beyond that, vitamin B12 can help combat numerous diseases and helps support your bone health!
Also called cobalamin, it plays an essential role in red blood cell formation, cell metabolism, nerve function and the production of DNA, the molecules inside cells that carry genetic information. So, before you find out where to get vitamin B12 shots near you, what exactly does it do?
What Does Vitamin B12 Do?
Research on the use of vitamin B-12 for specific activities and conditions shows that it can help with/prevent:
Dementia
Vitamin B-12 deficiency is associated with dementia and low cognitive function, but it’s not clear whether vitamin B-12 supplements (without a deficiency) might help prevent or treat dementia. However, a deficiency in vitamin B12 isn’t uncommon, especially in Americans over the age of 50, vegans, and vegetarians.
Bone Health
Maintaining adequate vitamin B12 levels may support your bone health. One study in more than 2,500 adults showed that people with a vitamin B12 deficiency also had lower than normal bone mineral density.
Other studies have also shown a link between low vitamin B12 levels and poor bone health and osteoporosis, especially in women.
Depression
Vitamin B12 may improve your mood and help fight depression. The effect of vitamin B12 on mood is not yet fully understood, however it is very promising because this vitamin plays a vital role in synthesizing and metabolizing serotonin, a chemical responsible for regulating mood!
What’s more, vitamin B12 deficiency can cause depression. Studies support the use of vitamin B12 supplements for improving symptoms of depression in people deficient in this vitamin. One study in people with depression and low vitamin B12 levels found that those who received both antidepressants and vitamin B12 were more likely to show improved depressive symptoms, compared to those treated with antidepressants alone.
Another study discovered that vitamin B12 deficiency was associated with twice the risk of severe depression. Though vitamin B12 supplements may help improve mood and depression in people with a deficiency, it isn’t currently known if it has the same effect in those with normal B12 levels.
How to Get More Vitamin B12 in Your Diet
Most people are able to maintain the adequate B12 levels needed by the body through a healthy and balanced diet. Food sources of vitamin B-12 include poultry, meat, fish and dairy products. Vitamin B-12 is also added to some foods, such as fortified breakfast cereal and is available as an oral supplement.
The recommended daily amount of vitamin B-12 for adults is 2.4 micrograms.
How to Vitamin B12 Outside of Your Diet
If you’re a vegetarian or vegan, we recommend trying B12 shooters or IV therapy. IVs are injected straight into your bloodstream and shooters are intramuscular injections. The main difference is that a shooter is a shot of B12 that takes under 5 minutes to complete, while an IV can take up to an hour.
A B12 Shooter
As stated above, this is a quick B12 vitamin shot. It can be injected into your upper arm or buttocks by one of our nurses at IV Revival. The needle is tiny too, so you’ll hardly feel a thing.
The treatment is quick and one of our more popular options. Because it is injected, you’ll start feeling more energized or you’ll be in a better mood within minutes.
IV Therapy
You’ll get all the same benefits of just a B12 shot with an IV, mixed with other wellness optimizing nutrients. You can choose from choices like magnesium, glutathione, vitamin C, zinc, and more. All of it is mixed in a saline (water and salt) solution to help rehydrate you.
In IV, your body absorbs it faster, so you feel the results of it more quickly, but it doesn’t last as long in your system as a shooter.
If you’re interested in finding vitamin B12 shots near you, give us a call or go online to request an appointment. We promise you’ll be feeling better in no time.