A Prolonged Deficiency in Vitamin B12 Can Cause Permanent Damage To Your Brain.
Can a lack of vitamin B12 be the reason you’re so tired and stressed? Can such an easily-obtainable nutrient really prevent memory loss, alzheimer, heart disease and even infertility? And what if you were told that a deficiency can literally shrink your brain, cause irreversible damage and even stunt the development of your lovely child?
Those are no longer theories, but hard facts backed by solid scientific research. B12 deficiency is one of the most underrated and destructive illnesses in the western world. With great help from scientists and specialists, Dr. Aqsa Ghazanfar separates the junk from science and gives you the best ways to prevent or treat this deficiency as early as possible, saving you a lot of money and time. The B12 Deficiency Survival Handbook will help
Good source for information, however, it is not written in a comprehensive way!
The author will scare you because all symptoms someone can have is related to vitamin B12. If everyone would follow the author's advice, then everybody would get tested even if they are not vegetarian or vegan. A lot of diseases are listed in this book.
What I found good about it is the treatment section. What is the difference between injections and pills (Cyanocobalamin, methylcobalamin, hydroxocobalamin and adenosylcobalamin) and the other preparations of vitamin B12.
A Vitamin Deficiency Nearly Killed Me, but This Book Couldn't Have Saved Me
After a period of severe malnutrition, I developed several vitamin deficiencies--among them B12--that resulted in significant complications that nearly killed me. I was hospitalized for five weeks and received intravenous vitamin therapy, but by that time, the damage was done. I am now legally blind and cannot walk without a mobility device due to a vitamin B12 deficiency.
When I presented to the emergency room six months earlier, I already had vision loss, cardiac abnormalities, chest pain, shortness of breath, neuropathy, and cognitive decline. Blood tests indicated low levels of B12, among other deficiencies, but I was told to just take a multivitamin and was sent on my way.
Please take it from me, as someone who lost her job after becoming partially blind due to a B12 deficiency: you do not want to be in your 30s and need to learn how to use the bathroom, read a book, and walk again.
I am very lucky. I survived. The consequences of my vitamin deficiency are thought to be permanent, but I've learned how to function a bit better, even if it means wearing diapers, using adaptive reading technologies, and walking with a cane. I may never be able to drive a car or hold down a jib again, but at least I have the cognitive faculties to follow the plotline of "Kindergarten Cop."
So why am I writing a negative review for a book that aims to raise the alarm about this issue? Simply put: it does vitamin deficiency a grave disservice by presenting essential information alongside wild speculation.
Perhaps the doctors could have saved my vision if they had known oral B12 supplements were inadequate for severe levels of deficiency, but would they have trusted medical advice that came from a book that so blatantly and flagrantly misrepresents data that it's downright dangerous?
In places, the author, Aqsa Ghazanfar, is contradictory. She cites authorities as saying one thing (such as the American Heart Association's reluctance to link a B12-related amino acid with heart disease) and, in the very next paragraph, claims the opposite (in this case, that B12 "prevents" heart disease). As another example, the book cites a study on the elderly that found a tentative link between symptoms of B12 deficiency and cognitive decline. The author even quotes the head doctor saying that further research is necessary, but in the very next paragraph, Ghazanfar jumps to the bold yet unproven assertion that B12 prevents Alzheimer's. In places, Ghazanfar sensibly states that B12 cannot boost energy or metabolism in people without a deficiency, but earlier in the book, she advises healthy people to take B12 for precisely that effect.
Beyond blatantly contradicting her own cited research, Ghazanfar makes flagrantly bold claims (like that B12 can "prevent/cure cancer") based on shockingly paltry evidence (in this case, a single experiment on mice). Research linking B12 to autism, schizophrenia, depression, PMS, and a myriad of other conditions is far too tentative to make the unsubstantiated claims Ghazanfar does.
By having the author--herself a doctor--prescribe B12 as a panacea for all that ails a patient goes beyond unethical. It's downright harmful if a person takes B12, thinking it could cure them and thereby avoid seeking a proper medical evaluation. As Ghazanfar herself rightly points out, the symptoms of B12 deficiency are similar to other serious medical conditions, and only a physician can determine a course of treatment, not a book.
Doctors are not trained sufficiently in malnutrition-related maladies, and while severe cases of vitamin deficiency are thankfully rare in the developed world, we must do more to educate medical practitioners and patients alike. Unfortunately, this is not the book to do so.
Having recently been diagnosed with vitamin B12 deficiency, I found this book an amazing source of information. It has also suggested ways in which sufferers can recognise their symptoms and take steps to improve their outcome. Thank you again doctor.I strongly recommend to the newly diagnosed - know what you're dealing with
This is one of the best books I have found that describes b12 in depth from beginning to end. Lots of useful information in layman terms to help suffers like me to helping doctors also understand the symptoms. By far the best written book on this silent under diagnosed vitamin . Thank you.
I have a b12 deficiency and this book gave great information I hadn’t found elsewhere. I have had a swallowing issue for 6 years which the book says is connected to my deficiency.
Really helpful book, short and to the point. Like a lot of medical books it uses unpronounceable medical terms, but never less it gives a clear picture of b12 deficiency. It took me a couple of hours to read,but I now understand the problem much more
Thorough. Readable. Shocking. Extremely helpful. Everyone needs to know this!! The lack of B12 is a national health crisis. Please read and pass it on.
Um excelente livro prático e esclarecedor,eu como vengano restrito tirei muitas dúvidas
Sou vegetariano restrito e queria aprofundar os conhecimentos deste micro nutriente e saber mais ao respeito da importância da vitamina b12, este livro me proporcionou muitos esclarecimentos. Recomendo
I think they're on to something important for everyone to consider. I will certainly look into this further. The book is written so that it is easily understood.