A new study has found that a nightly dose of vitamin B12 may be an effective and low-risk therapy to prevent recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS), which is better known as canker sores.

Researchers from the Ben-Gurion University of Negev published the findings in the January/February issue of The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine after positive results from a six-month study.

A total of 58 randomly selected RAS patients received either a dose of 1,000 mcg of B12 by mouth at bedtime or a placebo. After being tested each month for the duration of the study, it was found that approximately 74 percent of the patients who received the vitamin were successfully treated for canker sores compared to 32 percent of the control group.

Though the researchers found the average outbreak duration and number of ulcers per month decreased in both groups with the first four months, a stark change occurred at month five.

"[T]he duration of outbreaks, the number of ulcers, and the level of pain were reduced significantly at five and six months of treatment with vitamin B12, regardless of initial vitamin B12 levels in the blood," according to the study.