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**Debunking Vitamin B12**

This article is based on a video by Andreas Moritz, called Debunking Vitamin B12, which I found interesting and reasonably informative, so I thought, I want to know more. I was particularly interested in **vitamin B-12** for my own health reasons, since finding my energy better after cutting back on meat, fish and high-fat dairy in my diet.

**Vitamin B12**, also known as cyanocobalamin, is required for every function in the body, and every single cell needs it to work. A deficiency can cause anaemia, brain and nervous system disorders, and severe gastro-intestinal problems.

The main theme of the video is that we are deficient in B12, not due to not eating enough B12 foods, but due to not absorbing enough B12 from our foods.

He is in favour of vegetarianism generally, but not as staunch as some, a bit more balanced than most, which I liked.

**What’s his own diet like**, I wondered? So I looked it up and couldn’t find anything. And unfortunately he has died, apparently under mysterious circumstances, as he seemed to be fit, healthy and strong beforehand, but he was researching areas sensitive to Big Pharma/Food industry – that’s the impression I got.

**Anyway, he talks about intrinsic factor in the stomach.** In order to digest, absorb, assimilate B12, we need intrinsic factor in larger quantity than we generally have it.

**What is intrinsic factor**, I wondered? So I looked it up.

**Intrinsic factor**
Intrinsic factor is produced by the cells lining the stomach and combines with vitamin B12, and so it is necessary for absorption of vitamin B12 later on in the small intestine. It is a glycoprotein. (The “glyco” just means there is a carbohydrate group attached to the protein part.)

The stomach acids release vitamin B12 from food during the digestion process, but vitamin B12 is sensitive to acids and so it needs to be protected. Therefore the process starts much earlier in the mouth with the salivary glands, where vitamin B12 is combined with another glycoprotein called haptocorrin, which safely transports it through the stomach, protecting it from the acids, and on in to the intestines, where there is a more alkaline environment, and it can be safely released and absorbed.

The same cells in the stomach that produce the gastric hydrochloric acid also produce the intrinsic factor (IF), which rebinds the B12 after its release from haptocorrin by digestion. So in the duodenum, a vitamin B12-IF complex is created, which then travels on through the small intestines. Interesting stuff – amazing body, eh?

**Where we find it and why we need it**
It is now well-known, especially among the vegan/vegetarian community, that we need to make sure we get adequate vitamin B12 in our diets. As it’s mostly found in fresh animal products, like liver, fish, meat, poultry, eggs, milk and cheese, you can’t just eat a healthy plant-based diet and hope you get enough. It an essential vitamin, and can cause irreversible and quite severe problems if there is a deficiency.

It used to be thought, however, that people could get it from non-animal sources, like spirulina, and fermented and cultured foods like tempeh, or not cleaning the soil completely off food taken from the ground. But the Vegan Society now states that fortified foods and supplementation are the only reliable sources of B12, and that eating only a raw (rather than cooked) plant-based diet offers no special protection.

**What it’s good for**
We need it for the brain and nervous system (so think stability of mood, memory, eyesight), energy metabolism (production of ATP, fatty acid and amino acid metabolism) and growth (blood formation, protein and tissue synthesis) – pretty important then I’d say!

The main symptoms of a deficiency, as stated, are anaemia and neurological problems, so the elderly need it to protect against brain atrophy and things like Alzheimer’s disease, and a lack of B12 can break down the myelin sheath protecting the nerves, causing multiple sclerosis and fibromyalgia.

A deficiency can also cause thickening of the arteries, due increased circulating homocysteine, a digestion byproduct that can cause damage throughout the entire body, which B12 normally acts to break down.

So a deficiency can start with unclear symptoms, like loss of energy, a sore tongue, tingling in the hands, mild confusion, but if left untreated can lead to serious problems: nerve damage (even the spinal cord can breakdown), low bone mineral density, and eyesight deterioration, plus mental health problems, depression.

So being found mostly found in animal products and dairy, that’s why vegans need to make sure they get an alternative source in their diet.

**Best sources of B12**
**Vegans**
The only vegan sources are fortified cereals, milks, juices, soy and other products, and yeast-containing products like Marmite (UK name, or Vegemite in the US, and it goes under other names too, basically yeast extract – that black gooey, salty stuff you spread on your toast), but these are relatively minor amounts.

For example, Marmite contains 0.5 mcg per 100 g, but we only tend to use a teaspoon or two on our toast because it’s such strong tasting stuff, so that only contains 0.025 mcg. Whereas a cup of fortified soy milk will contain 3 mcg, which is 50% of the DV (daily value – see below).

And there is another issue here if you’re going to add fortified products to your diet, in the UK at least, the soy, almond and rice milks that contain added vitamins also contain gums (gelan gum and/or carrageenan usually), which are known to cause digestive issues – more below.

**Vegetarians**
Obviously the situation is better if you are vegetarian because you can have eggs, milk, cheese and yogurt. Also whey powder, as 100 g of that is said to contain 42% DV.

And with milk and yogurt, you’re more likely to consume a whole cup of that, which contains 0.9 mcg (15% DV) for non-fat yogurt, and 1.14 mcg (19% DV) for reduced fat milk. So a bit more but still not brilliant though.

Even with eggs, unfortunately, 1 large boiled egg only contains 0.6 mcg, just 10% of the DV, although other types of eggs contain more, e.g. duck eggs contain 3.8 mcg (raw, not sure about cooked), which is 63% DV, and goose eggs, which are rather large, contain 7.3 mcg, which is 122% DV. But then I personally find duck eggs too fatty – you just can’t win, can you?

**Daily allowance**
The recommended amount you need varies between countries (according to sources on the Internet): the UK RDA (recommended daily amount) is 1.5 mcg/day (from the National Health Service website, so should be accurate and up-to-date).

Google (no source given, but which turned out to be the US RDA – recommended dietary amount) says: 2.4 mcg daily for ages 14 years and older, 2.6 mcg daily for pregnant females, and 2.8 mcg daily for breastfeeding females. For the over 50s, they should eat foods fortified with B12 or take a vitamin B12 supplement.

So those over 50, and pregnant and breast-feeding women, need more due to reduced absorption in older people of naturally occurring B12, and greater demands for B12 whilst pregnant and for nursing mothers.

Note that the DVs quoted above are based on 6 mcg daily (rather confusingly), rather than the US RDA of 2.4. (It’s to do with the value in the food apparently, rather than the daily amount you need). So that applies to reading the nutrition labels for fortified foods, which is why for egg, quoted above, it’s 0.6 mcg, which is 10% DV, not 25% (which would be the relative amount for the RDA of 2.4 mcg).

**Supplementation**
A Dutch study (from 2005) looked at how much oral B12 should be prescribed for patients with a confirmed deficiency of this vitamin – NB the population studied were elderly (people with what was termed a mild B12 deficiency), with an average age of 80. This was usefully pointed out by Hyla Cass M.D., in “Vitamin B12 – How much is enough?” (1)

They were given B12 (cyanocobalamin form) in a range of doses: 2.5, 100, 250, 500 and 1000 mcg daily (administered for 16 weeks).

No adverse events were reported with any dosage, but the principal result was that the 500-mcg dose was the lowest dose required for an oral dose, for patients with a confirmed deficiency of this vitamin (measured by an estimated 80% to 90% reduction in plasma methylmalonic acid).

So this study was for supplements, and the value found is quite high compared…
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Ihab Salloum