The intrinsic factor? No, it’s not a talent competition for accountants!

ALL of us require vitamin B12, as it is crucial for our nervous system and blood.

It’s a key ingredient when it comes to producing vital red blood cells and deficiency will result in anaemia.

We need it in our diet but it is not found in plants or vegetables so we get it from meat, fish, eggs and dairy products.

Vegans have to take supplements or rely on fortified foodstuffs, such as soy milk and cereals.

Even then, when we eat vitamin B12 it’s not simply absorbed by the body, but has to team up with a protein called intrinsic factor.

The intrinsic factor sounds like a talent competition for accountants but it is made by the cells lining our stomach, and it combines with vitamin B12 there.

Some people, most commonly women over the age of 50, can develop an auto-immune condition called pernicious anaemia.

The body’s immune system makes antibodies which attack the body’s own tissues instead of germs.

In pernicious anaemia, the antibodies attack intrinsic factor or the stomach cells which make it.

Some other conditions may also cause difficulties absorbing vitamin B12 – gut problems like Crohn’s Disease, for instance, or taking certain medicines like metformin.

A vitamin B12 deficiency can cause symptoms of anaemia, such as fatigue and breathlessness, or give you a sore mouth and tongue. And if left untreated it could result in memory problems, numbness and unsteadiness.

A course of intensive vitamin B12 injections can help sufferers.

After that they come in every three months for another top-up injection. It might be a bit of a hassle but it successfully solves the problem.