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Vitamin B12 is considered a generally safe and effective supplement. After all, vitamin B12 is an essential nutrient for the body’s normal cellular processes. Still, it’s important to consult a healthcare provider for the proper instructions to take vitamin B12. This is because the recommended dose is often personalized to an individual and the desired outcomes. 

The answer to how often you should take vitamin B12 depends on several factors like your age, medical condition, and whether you are suffering from a deficiency. Here are some general guidelines to follow when evaluating how often you should take vitamin B12. 

Factors for Determining How Often You Should Take Vitamin B12

Age 

The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for Vitamin B12 depends on the age group being treated. For kids aged 4 to 8 years old, a daily dose of 1.2 micrograms of B12 is recommended. For children aged 9 to 13 years old, the recommended daily dose increases to up to 1.8 micrograms. While vitamin B12 can easily be obtained from different food sources, many children may be deficient in this vitamin. Thus, supplementation is important along with other essential vitamins and minerals. You can talk to your child’s pediatrician on the recommended supplements to boost your child’s health. 

Apart from children, adults are also prone to vitamin B12 deficiency. In fact, around 3-16% of Americans suffer from B12 deficiency. Vitamin B12 deficiency may be especially prevalent among strict vegans and vegetarians who are unable to obtain B12 from their diet. The RDA of vitamin B12 for both adult male and female is 2.4 micrograms. 

Physical Condition

The body’s need for vitamin B12 may increase depending on a person’s physical condition. For example, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers need an extra 0.2 to 0.4 micrograms of the B12 to meet their and their baby’s requirements. B12 vitamins play an important role in the development of the fetus and the healthy growth of babies. 

Medical Condition

Your current medical condition can also dictate how often you should take vitamin B12. Stress, smoking tobacco, alcohol consumption, and gastrointestinal problems may warrant a personalized dosage to prevent further problems from a lack of vitamin B!2. The exact dosage is determined by your doctor depending on your medical condition. Generally, a daily dosage of 1000 micrograms is used to treat a deficiency without any side effects. 

Purpose

Vitamin B12 supplements are often purchased to treat deficiency and boost the body’s functions. However, newer studies link the vitamin to weight loss. For this purpose, you may need to talk to a health professional to determine your daily needs. B12 injections for weight loss can provide you with energy while giving your metabolism a kickstart. It is often given along with other lipotropic substances like choline, inositol, and methionine. 

If you are not comfortable with B12 injections for weight loss, you may consider pills, tablets, or other orally administered drugs. 

Vitamin B12 Absorption vs. Intake

If you are concerned about how often you should take vitamin B12, you should understand that intake does not equal absorption. Ideally, 100% of what you ingest would reach your cells and be used appropriately. Unfortunately, this does not happen. Intake and absorption are two different things that you might want to consider. 

Oral supplements in the form of pills and tablets pass through the gastrointestinal tract. While inside the stomach, vitamin B12 is adequately absorbed through the help of stomach acid. However, some of the vitamin B12 you ingest may be processed and excreted through your urine and stool. 

Because of the variables involved with absorption, vitamin B12  injections may be recommended in some cases. Absorption rates with injections may be better than those for oral tablets in some people. Still, not everyone can tolerate an injection. B12 injections may also be more expensive and require medical supervision during administration. 

Look Into Your Diet

Before opting for vitamin B12 supplementation, you may want to look into food sources of vitamin B12. You may be lacking the proper diet packed with vitamin B12 to boost your energy, enhance your mental functioning, and strengthen your immune system. 

Foods like beef, clams, tuna, salmon, milk, eggs, bananas, beans, and spinach can help provide adequate amounts of vitamin B12. A serving of these foods each day can help promote vitamin B12’s benefits such as healthy red blood cell formation and DNA synthesis in the body. 

Overdosage

Even at higher dosage, there is no known toxicity risk for B12 vitamin and there is no upper limit set. But one must keep in mind that the human body is set to a sensitive equilibrium. You may not want your body to experience unnecessary burden from anything in excess. Therefore, it’s important to emphasize the need to consult a medical practitioner to ensure you’re getting the right dosage of vitamin B12. 

Take Away

Vitamin B12 helps support many bodily functions: energy production, cellular metabolism, red cell formation, and nervous system activity. But in order to take advantage of its benefits, you should ensure that you take an adequate amount of vitamin B12. 

How often should you take vitamin B12? Take it daily as prescribed by your healthcare provider. 

If you have further questions about vitamin B12 and how often you should take it, you can contact the experts at Medical Weight Loss Centers of America. At MWLCOA, practitioners are available to help guide you on the best way to take vitamin B12 for your needs.