Vitamin B-12 is a water-soluble vitamin belonging to the B-complex family of vitamins. Several important biological functions in your body required vitamin B-12; health supplements containing vitamin can be used in cases in which normal dietary intake is not sufficient to prevent a deficiency. Vitamin B-12 is generally safe and well-tolerated, although large doses may increase the risk of mild side effects. As with any health supplement, you should consult your doctor before taking vitamin B-12.
Maximum Dose
As a water-soluble vitamin, excess vitamin B12 that is not needed by your body is flushed out in urine. As a result, serious toxicity rarely occurs after taking large doses of vitamin B-12. Reflecting this low toxicity, the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine has not set a tolerable upper intake level for vitamin B12. Daily doses of up to 1000 micrograms per day have been used to treat anemia without increasing the risk of serious side effects, reports the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University.
Recommended Dose
Although large doses of vitamin B-12 are unlikely to cause serious side effects, the risk of minor side effects may increase with larger doses. Unless directed to take large doses by your doctor, you may want to avoid taking doses that are larger than necessary. The Food and Nutrition Board sets a recommended dietary intake to indicate the minimal amount of vitamins you should consume each day to stay healthy. Because vitamin B-12 is found in a variety of food, most people who eat a varied diet obtain enough vitamin B-12 from food to meet their needs.
Children
For infants in the first 6 months of life, the recommended intake for vitamin B-12 is 0.4 micrograms per day. From 6 to 12 months, the recommended intake for infants increases to 0.5 micrograms per day. For older children, ages 1 to 3 years, the Food and Nutrition Board recommends at least 0.9 micrograms per day. The recommended intake increases to 1.2 micrograms per day for children between the ages of 4 to 8 years, and increases further to 1.8 micrograms per day for children 9 to 13 years old.
Adolescents and Adults
The Food and Nutrition Board recommends a slightly higher intake of 2.4 micrograms per day for adolescents in the age range of 14 to 18 years. The recommended intake remains the same at 2.4 micrograms per day for all adults over the age of 18. However, elderly adults over the age of 50 should try to consume most of their daily intakes of vitamin B-12 in the form of supplements instead of food, because absorption of vitamin B-12 from food decreases with age. During pregnancy, women should increase their minimum intake of vitamin B-12 to 2.6 micrograms per day, and increase intake even more to 2.8 micrograms per day while breast feeding.
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