Infertility and Vitamin B12 Deficiency
There have been quite a number of studies that correlate infertility with a vitamin B12 deficiency. Although a vitamin B12 deficiency is relatively easy to detect and treat, it often goes undetected until after expensive fertility treatments have been tried. Worse, many multivitamins include folic acid, which can mask the B12 deficiency, but have only minute quantities of vitamin B12.
Vitamin B12 is naturally found in food products derived from animals. However, many health-conscious women are choosing to eliminate these foods from their diets in order to live longer. Vegetarian women who do not consume vitamin B12 supplements – even if they take multivitamins – have no way of obtaining this essential vitamin. As time goes on, their excess vitamin B12 stores get depleted.
Dr. Bennett has written about his patients in the medical literature. He told stories of women who have had numerous miscarriages due to a vitamin B12 deficiency. These women went to fertility specialists and high-risk doctors in the hopes of carrying a baby to term, only to be devastated when the pregnancy terminated. These women were given hormonal treatments. Yet, they still had multiple miscarriages.
Fortunately, these women were referred to Dr. Bennett, a hematologist who specializes in blood disorders. He diagnosed these women with a vitamin B12 deficiency, then resolved this problem. These women were finally able to have normal pregnancies and deliver healthy babies.
Women are not the only ones affected by a vitamin B12 deficiency. Additional research has demonstrated that men who have a vitamin B12 deficiency have fertility issues too, specifically with regard to low sperm counts. These same studies have shown that B12 supplementation in addition to Clomid effectively increases sperm counts.
If you are a man or woman who is trying to have a baby, you should have your plasma B12 levels checked to ensure a viable pregnancy and a healthy baby.
Tags: baby and vitamin B12 deficiency, Clomid and vitamin B12 deficiency, low sperm count and vitamin B12 deficiency, miscarriage and vitamin B12 deficiency, multivitamins and vitamin B12 deficiency, pregnancy b12 deficiency
November 11th, 2010 at 6:09 am
Symptoms of B12 deficiency include insufficient equilibrium, forgetfulness, and cognitive decline and, according to a study conducted by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), may be linked to osteoporosis. Symptoms of severe vitamin B12 deficiency (regardless of the cause) may include burning of the tongue, fatigue, weakness, loss of appetite, intermittent constipation and diarrhea, abdominal pain, weight loss, menstrual symptoms, psychological symptoms, and nervous system problems, such as numbness and tingling in the feet and hands.