To keep providing energy, strength, and mental focus when fibromyalgia relapses occur, you need to nourish your body with many essential nutrients, including vitamin B12. Taking vitamin B12 supplements is a crucial part of any fibromyalgia management regimen, but it’s important to also get plenty of vitamins from the foods you eat.
Listed below are food sources of vitamin B12 that are helpful for people who suffer from fibromyalgia symptoms, such as brain fog, vitamin B12 deficiency, muscle aches, and chronic fatigue.
What is vitamin B12 good for?
Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) is essential for a healthy nervous system, in addition to normal red blood cell production and DNA synthesis.
Vitamin B12 protects your nerve cells from damage, ensures that your brain gets enough oxygen, and helps to convert carbohydrates from the foods you eat into much-needed energy.
Most importantly, maintaining healthy stores of vitamin B12 protects you from developing pernicious anemia, a once-fatal form of vitamin B12 deficiency that is often comorbid with fibromyalgia.
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Food sources of vitamin B12
The richest sources of vitamin B12 occur naturally in animal-based foods such as beef, poultry, and fish. Among these, cooked clams provide the most vitamin B12, approximately 84mcg in one 3-ounce serving.
Other excellent food sources of vitamin B12 include beef or chicken organ meats such as liver, heart, and kidneys.
Crabmeat, halibut, and lean cuts of beef and chicken are also rich in this important nutrient for your brain, muscles, and circulatory system.
How much B12 do you need?
Most people get enough vitamin B12 from a steady diet of beef, fish, poultry, and dairy products, but a significant number of people, including fibromyalgia patients, do not end up digesting the vitamin B12 from foods.
Many risk factors such as digestive problems, autoimmune disorders, and history for pernicious anemia may cause your vitamin B12 levels to drop dramatically, despite your diet.
In the next installment, we will discuss how much vitamin B12 is needed in order to prevent symptoms of deficiency that exacerbate fibromyalgia.
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