{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,11]],"date-time":"2026-03-11T00:57:15Z","timestamp":1773190635752,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,17]],"date-time":"2024-04-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1713312000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n<jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Vitamin B<jats:sub>12<\/jats:sub> deficiency is responsible for a variety of complications, particularly neurological\/neuropsychiatric complications, including depression, irritability, paresthesia and insomnia. Since vitamin B<jats:sub>12<\/jats:sub> is found in animal-derived products, vegans\/vegetarians are at a greater risk for developing vitamin B<jats:sub>12<\/jats:sub> deficiency.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n<jats:title>Aims<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>This study aims to investigate the occurrence of vitamin B12 deficiency among a sample of adult Lebanese population, with a particular emphasis on assessing the severity of its neurological\/neuropsychiatric signs and symptoms, especially among vegans\/vegetarians.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n<jats:title>Methodology<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>A cross-sectional study was conducted among a sample of 483 Lebanese adults. Data was collected through a standardized questionnaire that included socio-demographic characteristics, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Generalized anxiety disorders-7 (GAD-7), and the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) scales.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n<jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Among the participants, 11.4% were in the vegan\/vegetarian group, and about 43.1% had vitamin B<jats:sub>12<\/jats:sub> deficiency. After analyzing the PHQ-9, GAD-7 and ISI total scores, higher scores were reported in participants with vitamin B12 deficiency, compared to individuals with normal vitamin B<jats:sub>12<\/jats:sub> serum levels (p &lt; 0.001). Regarding the diet type, vegans\/vegetarians were more susceptible to developing depression compared to omnivores (mean scores of 11.92 vs 8.02 on the PHQ-9 scale, respectively, with p &lt; 0.001). Of the patients with vitamin B<jats:sub>12<\/jats:sub> deficiency, 81.1% reported having paresthesia compared to 43.7% of individuals with no vitamin B<jats:sub>12<\/jats:sub> deficiency (p &lt; 0.001).<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec005\">\n<jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Vitamin B12 deficiency in Lebanon is notably high and is linked to an increased risk of developing depression, generalized anxiety disorder, insomnia, and paresthesia. Vegans\/vegetarians exhibit a higher susceptibility to developing depression compared to omnivores, whereas the risk of developing insomnia, generalized anxiety disorder and paresthesia was statistically insignificant when comparing vegans\/vegetarians to omnivores.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0297976","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,17]],"date-time":"2024-04-17T17:41:21Z","timestamp":1713375681000},"page":"e0297976","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Vitamin B12 deficiency and neuropsychiatric symptoms in Lebanon: A cross-sectional study of vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"19","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-4691-846X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Omar","family":"Al Jassem","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Karim","family":"Kheir","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5602-3883","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Ali","family":"Ismail","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Linda","family":"Abou-Abbas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Alaa","family":"Masri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Celine","family":"Haddad","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jad El","family":"Masry","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Khalil","family":"Nasrallah","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,17]]},"reference":[{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0297976.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"17040","DOI":"10.1038\/nrdp.2017.40","article-title":"Vitamin B12 deficiency","volume":"3","author":"R. 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