Exercise with Vitamin B12
A good workout depletes energy, water and minerals. You begin to replenish these within 15 minutes by eating simple carbohydrates such as fruit or juice. But vitamins work over a longer time. If you take vitamin B12 before or after your workout, you will not notice the benefits immediately. According to the Linus Pauling Institute, two enzymes use B12 for function. One of them—methionine synthase—is important in keeping DNA and RNA from promoting cancer. The other enzyme plays a critical role in exercise by producing energy from fats and proteins. This enzyme also assists in the synthesis of hemoglobin, which carries oxygen in red blood cells. These processes take several hours to days to transpire. So over the long term adequate B12 is important to your workout. That is the function of vitamin B12?
Forming red blood cells
Perhaps the most well-known function of B12 involves its role in the development of red blood cells. As red blood cells mature, they require information provided by molecules of DNA. (DNA, or deoxyribose nucleic acid, is the substance in the nucleus of our cells which contains genetic information.) Without B12, synthesis of DNA becomes defective, and so does the information needed for red blood cell formation. The cells become oversized and poorly shaped, and begin to function ineffectively, a condition called pernicious anemia. More often than not, pernicious anemia isn't caused by a lack of B12 itself, but by a lack of intrinsic factor -- the stomach-made protein required for the absorption of B12.
Developing nerve cells
A second major function of B12, less clearly understood than the first, involves its participation in the development of nerve cells. A coating which encloses the nerves -- called the myelin sheath -- forms less successfully whenever B12 is deficient. Although the vitamin plays an indirect role in this process, supplementation of B12 has been shown to be effective in relieving pain and other symptoms in a variety of nervous system disorders.
Other roles for vitamin B12
Protein -- the component of food required for growth and repair of cells -- depends upon B12 for proper cycling through the body. Many of protein's key components, called amino acids, become unavailable for use in the absence of B12. Since one of the steps in carbohydrate and fat processing requires B12 for its completion, insufficiency of the vitamin can also affect the movement of carbohydrates and fats through the body.
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