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 DCI Home: Blood Diseases: Pernicious Anemia: Prevention

      Pernicious Anemia
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How Can Pernicious Anemia Be Prevented?

Doctors do not know how to prevent pernicious anemia that occurs from the immune system destroying parietal cells in the stomach. The most common cause of pernicious anemia is the loss of stomach cells that make intrinsic factor.

Pernicious anemia due to a diet low in vitamin B12 is not common. But some people who are strict vegetarians or who have a poor diet for a long time can develop this condition. Eating foods high in vitamin B12 and folic acid can help prevent low vitamin B12 levels. Some of these foods are:

  • Eggs, meat, poultry, or shellfish
  • Milk, orange juice, or oranges
  • Fortified cereals, wheat germ, rice, or barley
  • Romaine lettuce, spinach, and other green leafy vegetables
  • Sprouts, broccoli, asparagus
  • Peas, peanuts, beans, lentils, soy beans, and chickpeas

You can get a “Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Vitamin B12” from the Office of Dietary Supplements, National Institutes of Health.

Vitamin B12 also can be found in multivitamins and in B-complex vitamin supplements.

Doctors may recommend supplements for people at risk of developing vitamin B12 deficiency, such as infants and children of strict vegetarians.


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