Dr Oz: Vitamin B12 Deficiency Causes Anxiety & Worrying + Low B12 Quiz

How To Tell If You Have Anxiety or Chronic Worrying

• You don’t always know why you are anxious.
• It’s possible to have social anxiety and be an extrovert.
• There’s no “off” switch for worrying.  You can’t just stop.
• You may look fine on the outside, but anxiety is wreaking havoc on your insides.
• No matter how trivial your worries sound – they are real to you.
• You are not overreacting.
• All the logic in the world can’t stop your heart from racing and your palms from sweating.

Do any of these sound familiar?  Dr. Oz said that these are signs that you have anxiety or chronic worrying.  But the real shocker is what is causing you to have this anxiety – it could be that you have low vitamin b12 levels.

Could all your toxic worrying and anxiety be caused by a lack of vitamin B12? Take the quiz to find out! (mesbahuk / Flickr)

Dr. Oz: Vitamin B12 Deficiency Causes Anxiety & Worrying

Nutritionist Maya Feller explained that vitamin B12, the forgotten essential nutrient, may be lacking in the diets of those struggling with anxiety and toxic worrying. According to Maya, B12 is involved in multiple cell signaling processes. It’s already known that B12 is needed for proper red blood formation and neurological function. If you’re deficient in B21, your risk for high levels of anxiety and neurological disorders goes up. But what causes a vitamin B12 deficiency? Let’s take a look…

What Causes Vitamin B12 Deficiency?

Dr. Oz said that your vitamin B12 deficiency is caused by one of the following:

1. Age – As you get older, your body’s natural ability to absorb vitamin B12 decreases. Approximately 30% of people over the age of 50 are vitamin B12 deficient. Some of the proteins involved in helping us absorb B12 decrease naturally as we age.
2. Diet – B12 is only found in animal sources, so if you are vegan or vegetarian you could be deficient. Also, if you drink alcohol on a regular basis, you increase your risk for being low on B12. Women who drink more than one alcoholic beverage a day and men who drink more than two alcoholic beverages a day should be concerned.
3. Medication

Why Is Vitamin B12 Important? What Does It Do?

According to Dr. Oz, if you have enough vitamin B12, your brain is naturally able to “fire on all cylinders.” B12 allows your nerve cells to communicate with each other and protects your nervous system. But when B12 levels decrease, you increase your nervous system’s risk for having difficulty sending and receiving messages. The less vitamin B12 in your system, the slower your system works.

Fortunately, Doctor Oz created a quiz to help people determine if their worrying and anxiety could be caused by low vitamin B12 levels. You can find the quiz on the following page…

Dr. Oz Quiz: Is a Vitamin B12 Deficiency Causing Your Anxiety?

1. Are you feeling more sluggish than normal, even after a full-night’s rest?
2. Do you feel dizzy or wobbly sometimes?
3. Are you more forgetful than usual?
4. Do you get weird sensations like pins and needles or numbness?
5. Do you have digestive issues like constipation?
6. Are your headaches more frequent?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you should ask your doctor to run a blood test on your vitamin B12 levels.  Dr. Oz said that a vitamin B12 deficiency causes anemia too, so have that checked as well!

Do you think that you have a vitamin B12 deficiency? What are your signs and symptoms? Please leave a comment below to let us know!