Scurvy fever, convulsions, and eventual death are frequently seen. Scurvy, including subclinical scurvy, is caused by a deficiency of dietary vitamin C since humans are unable to metabolically make this chemical. Provided diet contains sufficient vitamin C, the lack of working GULO enzyme has no significance, and in modern Western societies, scurvy is rarely present in adults, although infants and elderly people are affected. Virtually all commercially available baby formulas contain added vitamin C, preventing infantile scurvy. Human breast milk contains sufficient vitamin C, if the mother has an adequate intake. Commercial milk is pasteurized, a heating process that destroys the
Vitamin B12 deficiency years worth of vitamin B under normal conditions and functioning. However, the rate at which B levels may change when dietary intake is low depends on the balance between several variables. Vitamin B deficiency causes particular changes to the metabolism of two clinically relevant substances in humans: Methionine is activated to "S"-adenosyl methionine, which aids in purine and thymidine synthesis, myelin production, protein/neurotransmitters/fatty acid/phospholipid production and DNA methylation. 5-Methyl tetrahydrofolate provides a methyl group, which is released to the reaction with homocysteine, resulting in methionine. This reaction requires cobalamin as a cofactor. The creation of 5-methyl tetrahydrofolate is an irreversible