Vitamin C C deficiency. Beyond that, a role for vitamin C as prevention or treatment for various diseases is disputed, with reviews reporting conflicting results. A 2012 Cochrane review reported no effect of vitamin C supplementation on overall mortality. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines as one of the most effective and safe medicines needed in a health system. The disease scurvy is caused by vitamin C deficiency and can be prevented and treated with vitamin C-containing foods or dietary supplements. It takes at least a month of little to no vitamin C before symptoms occur. Early
Vitamin B12 deficiency complex, defined as "myelosis funicularis", consists of the following symptoms: Vitamin B deficiency can cause severe and irreversible damage, especially to the brain and nervous system. These symptoms of neuronal damage may not reverse after correction of hematological abnormalities, and the chance of complete reversal decreases with the length of time the neurological symptoms have been present. Elderly people are at a even higher risk of this type of damage. In infants a number of neurological symptoms can be evident due to maternal malnutrition or pernicious anemia. These include poor growth, apathy, having no desire for food, and developmental regression.