Vitamin B12 and MS

By: Elna Botes van Schalkwyk

Make sure you take your Vitamin B12!

Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 deficiencies and MS share features of soreness and weakness of the legs and arms, difficulty in walking, diminished sensory perception, difficulty in speaking, memory loss, jerking of limbs, fatigue and paralysis. Perhaps not coincidentally, vitamin B12 anomalies have been linked to people with MS in quite a few studies. Some researchers think B12 deficits are a prime factor in MS.

Similar symptoms of B12 Deficiency and MS include the following:
Soreness and weakness of the legs and arms difficulty in walking, diminished sensory perception, difficulty in speaking, memory loss, jerking of limbs, fatigue, paralysis and low uric acid levels.

One study found around 40% of the people tested with MS to be suffering from malabsorption problems, which would, of course, lead to nutritional deficiencies. Interestingly, in the study linked to previously, malabsorption of vitamin B12 was specifically noted. Malabsorption may occur from a wide variety of causes. One known cause of malabsorption is a lack of beneficial intestinal bacteria needed to digest food. What is very interesting is that one of my nutrition books notes that vitamin B12 raises uric acid levels. As noted above, uric acid is low in people with MS, as are vitamin B12 levels. Uric acid therapy has successfully treated mice with MS symptoms.