Nutritional Neuropathy

Neuropathy occurs when the nerves don't function properly. They cease to properly carry information from the body to the brain. There are several different reasons for neuropathy to occur, and poor nutrition is one of them. Luckily, if you improve your nutrition it also helps this type of neuropathy. Other conditions that cause neuropathy include repetitive stress, injury, toxins, tumors, viral and bacterial infections, lime disease, diphtheria and genetic anomalies.

• Fish is a good source of Vitamin B12.

Types

• When nutritional neuropathy occurs, the symptoms vary by the nerves that are affected. It can affect the motor nerves, sensory nerves or autonomic nerves. When it affects the sensory nerves, you may experience significant pain from something as simple as a sheet touching your leg, or tingling, burning, numbness and shock. When nutritional neuropathy affects the motor nerves, lack of muscle control, cramps and spasms occur, along with lack of balance. Involvement in the autonomic nerves causes abnormal blood pressure, inability to perspire, incontinence, constipation and sexual dysfunction.

Causes

• Vitamin B12 deficiency is a common reason for nutritional neuropathy. Strict vegetarianism occasionally leads to this deficiency since foods that originate from animals such as eggs, dairy, meat and fish are high in Vitamin B12. Certain diseases, conditions and drugs also cause nutritional neuropathy, such as some forms of anemia, diseases of the pancreas, autoimmune disease, gastritis, Crohn's disease, malabsorption, multiple sclerosis and some drugs.

Significance

• Besides serious anemia, lack of Vitamin B12 also causes nerve damage. If you have a deficiency of B12, it causes damage to the myelin sheath. The myelin sheath surrounds the nerve and protects it. Losing the myelin sheath is similar to removing the outer rubber cord on an electrical appliance. The loss of myelin destroys pathways for nerves or mixes the messages to the body and brain.

Identification

• Doctors check for a Vitamin B12 deficiency with a blood test when neuropathy occurs, but they also must test for underlying conditions such as pernicious anemia that might create the deficiency. To find the reason, doctors use more tests on the blood to find if the problem originates with thyroid disease, improper kidney or liver function, low folate levels, glucose intolerance, or if the patient has the presence of toxic material, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis or other disease.

Treatment

• If the vitamin deficiency causes neuropathy, it's necessary to find what causes the vitamin deficiency and treat it. If it's simply from diet, vitamin supplements to treat the malnutrition and a good diet are standard treatment. Foods rich in Vitamin B are organ meats such as liver or kidney, fish, clams, dairy, eggs, steak, ham, beef and wild game. If the deficiency comes from other causes, like malabsorption, doctors treat the underlying cause and use injections of Vitamin B12.

Warning

• A strict vegetarian diet does not contain enough Vitamin B12 without supplementing with fortified cereals and vitamins that contain the active form of Vitamin B12, cyanocobalamin or hydroxocobalamin.

  While many health food stores sell miso and tempeh (fermented soy products), spirulina and nori (algae) and shiitake mushrooms as a source of Vitamin B12, they contain very little of the active vitamin. Instead, these foods contain analogs, forms of the vitamin not usable by the body. Studies by Carmel, Karnaze and Weiner published in the January 1998 issue of Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine, show that the analogs may actually block the absorption of usable Vitamin B12.