According to research, older women with lower levels of vitamin B-12 are more likely to experience rapid bone loss. This study reinforced the importance of B-12 in protecting bone loss of women as they grow older.
Vitamin B-12 can be found naturally in animal products such as meat, shellfish, milk, cheese and eggs. It is required to produce red blood cells and maintain a healthy nervous system. However, little information is known about how B-12 affects bone loss in aging women.
Participants of the study included 83 women over the age of 64, who were not taking estrogen replacement therapy at baseline. Researchers took baseline serum samples and measured hipbone material density during two and six year follow-up examinations.
The results showed that women with the lowest levels of B-12 experienced dramatic and rapid hip bone loss compared with women with higher levels of B-12. Deficiencies of B-12 among many older women put them in a higher risk bracket for fractures.
Conclusions from the study showed that low serum vitamin B-12 levels are linked to increased rates of hip, not calcaneal, bone loss in older women.
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism March 2004;89(3):1217-21
This study demonstrated that after making an adjustment for age, weight and clinic site, women with lowest levels of B-12 (below 280 pg/ml) experienced a significant increase in hip bone loss than women with higher levels of B-12. Although the results of this study found that levels below 280 posed a problem, it is far likely that levels below 800 present a problem. Vitamin B-12 deficiency is linked to a wide range of problems in addition to anemia and nerve problems. Depression is also another big problem that can result from vitamin B-12 deficiency.
Vitamin B-12 is very critical for those who avoid eating animal protein. I don’t advocate avoiding all meat, but it is, nevertheless, a relatively common approach among my patients. The human body is quite forgiving and can tolerate the abuse associated with highly insufficient B-12 intake for about seven years.
However, after those seven years the B-12 deficiency often causes irreversible brain damage. Vegans who don’t take vitamin B-12 to support their diet are putting themselves at risk of developing anemia as well as serious nervous and digestive system damage.
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