B Vitamin Deficiency and Neuropathy

B vitamins are the most important vitamins for nerve health. Once the nerve is damaged by the high blood sugars of diabetes, chemotheraphy, toxins, trauma, etc. etc. getting enough B vitamins is vital to building healthy nerves again.

But can a deficiency cause the condition?

Neuropathy can be a result of malnutrition caused by an unbalanced diet and by alcoholism. Alcohol does not allow the normal nutrients of the food you eat to be used. It does not allow it to be absorbed and metabolized. Thus, the person using alcohol winds up with malnutrition and the symptoms one normally observes as the result of heavy alcohol consumption. See Alcohol for more information.

Poor diet, vegan diet plans, gastric disorders, severely compromised immunity, etc. are just a few of the risk factors for vitamin B deficiency.

The main reason can be due to the lack of B12 in the diet. B12 deficiency can lead to a number of serious conditions and peripheral neuropathy is one of them. Usually this is more than just B12. These B vitamins work together.

Vitamin D There is some thought that when a person has diabetes, his D levels go down and that might be a reason for the neuropathy. But that isn’t something that would on its own create the damage. It is the high blood sugars that lead to the nerve damage.

Many doctors after diagnosing someone with neuropathy will take blood tests to see if they have vitamin deficiencies. Because it is believed that neuropathy can be due to B12 deficiency, it is sort of reversed and the deficiency is then looked for.

Very often they can’t find a deficiency, however, the tests used are venous blood which is blood that is leaving the body. It doesn’t seem like a good test to determine what is in the cells. That is where it counts and where the deficiency would matter.

Healthy nerves can be determined as they do not burn, hurt or create coldness, etc. etc. If these symptoms are present the nerves are not healthy.

If the body had all the ingredients to build healthy nerves, they would by using up all the B vitamins and none would appear in the blood test.

However, often the B12 (and other vitamins) found in the blood can be due to laboratory created vitamins that the body cannot use. In fact, there are often a lot of deficiencies created by artificial vitamins found in “supplements” and processed foods. Have you ever seen “vitamin fortified” on a box? These are artificial vitamins made in the laboratory that the body does not recognize and will not use – and, in fact, it can “gum up the works”. See Natural vs Synthetic Supplements

Getting the right nutrients however will give the body what it needs to build healthy nerves again. Once the nerve is damaged it needs certain vitamins to build healthy nerves. An isolated B vitamin will not do that. It needs the various B vitamins to create health in the nerves. It is the nutritional support needed for neuropathy.

To find out what the body needs for healthy nerves read Nerve Health

B Vitamins for Neuropathy

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