Vitamin B12 supplements only helps tiredness if you're genuinely B12 deficient AND if your tiredness is due to that deficiency, as opposed to other reasons. If your levels are already normal, taking extra B12, whether as tablets or injections, hasn't been shown to boost energy, despite how it's often marketed to consumers. Persistent tiredness has [...]

Mild deficiency may cause no obvious problems, but if it's left untreated and worsens, it can lead to anaemia and, over time, nerve damage causing tingling, numbness or weakness. Some nerve-related effects can become long-lasting if deficiency is severe and prolonged, which is why it's worth getting persistent symptoms like ongoing tiredness checked rather than [...]

Vitamin B12 is found almost entirely in animal products: meat, fish, eggs, milk and cheese, along with some fortified foods like certain breakfast cereals and yeast extracts. It's the only vitamin not found naturally in plant foods, which is why people following a vegan or strict vegetarian diet are more likely to need a supplement [...]

It depends. Oral vitamin B12, in the form of tablets and sublingual drops, is freely available at pharmacies and supermarkets, and is enough for many people whose deficiency is dietary. Injectable B12 (hydroxocobalamin) is a different matter: in Australia it's technically a prescription-strength medicine, but in practice some pharmacies will sell the ampoules over the [...]

Some people are told they should have an MTHFR gene test, often after seeing a naturopath or reading about "methylation." The idea is that it explains fatigue, high homocysteine, or how your body processes B12 and folate. It's worth knowing the mainstream medical position. Australia's pathology and GP colleges (the RCPA and RACGP) don't recommend [...]