QualPharma December 2020

MEDICAL
A Macro Insight to a Micronutrient
METHYLCOBALAMIN
India's life expectancy has more than doubled
and infant mortality, halved in the
last fifty years. The extent of progress on
economic fronts has also been enormous.
India is knocking the door for a permanent
position in the United Nations and is one
of the few atomic power countries in the
world. However, paradoxically, we have
the highest number of malnourished people
in India. With one sixth of the global
population residing in India, one third of
about two billion people suffering from
vitamin and micronutrient deficit are in
India.
Vitamin B12 Deficiency: A forgotten
Illness
Currently, vitamin B-12 deficiency has
become an almost forgotten illness or is
treated as a less serious diagnosis. We
need to expand our horizons in our understanding
of vitamin B12, but one thing is
certain that vitamin B12 deficiency is extremely
common in the Indian subcontinent.
The insight into vitamin B12 metabolism
came from the western literature, and
since then India has adopted their guidelines
on diagnosis and management. But,
we can’t be farther away than this from the
truth. We need to understand more about
vitamin B12 with respect to Indian context
especially now that there is evidence
that vitamin B12 deficiency is more
common than was previously believed.
Why Vitamin B12 Deficiency in India?
While vitamin B12 deficiency in the West
is seen more commonly in the elderly and
is due to malabsorption, in India it affects
all age groups due to following factors:
Diet: As compared to a western diet, there
is much lesser vitamin B12 in the average
Indian diet, which is mostly vegetarian.
Even the non-vegetarians do not consume
meat regularly as the westerners do. The
usual habit is that they take meat only
once a week at the most. Most nonvegetarians
are non-vegetarians only because
they might occasionally consume
some fish or egg. Thus, there is a lack of
regular consumption of meat and if at all
Sushmita Chatterjee Kuswa
Mrs. Sushmita Chatterjee Kuswa is currently
working as a Senior Manager in one
of India’s leading pharmaceutical company.
She has an expertise of 14 years in
Scientific as well as Regulatory Affairs.
She has excelled in MSc Biophysics with
Distinction from Mumbai University as
well is Distinction holder in Business Management
Studies which she has completed
from Welingkar Institute of Management,
Mumbai. She has graduated with double
major subjects in Microbiology and Biochemistry
from the prestigious St. Xavier’s
College, Mumbai.
Along with excelling in academic and extra
-curricular activities during her education
years, she has always been an ardent
reader and also has a flair for writing.
QualPharma *Dec 2020* , Vol.3 ISSUE 12