Does anybody know the latest understanding about Vit B12 supplements. My levels are lower than normal, but I have resisted supplements as some say it aggravates Prostate cancer. However I have just started to take them again (today). Is this wise?
Any up to date info welcomed please.
Niall
Niall, since you don't have a response yet, do a search on this Advanced Prostate Cancer site for Vitamin B12. Patrick O'Shea may have posted on it, or Nalakrats. Please post whether or not you find the answer.
Neal
B12 is a good idea at about 2mg a day. The vitamins I have stayed away from based on my ND and my own research are A, B complex, and E.
There are many good posts on supplements on this site. I have taken 15-20 supplements for five years with mCRPC with good results.
Bob
I recommend sub lingual B vits made by a compounding pharmacy.
A meta-analysis from December found increased risk:
"The modest 12% increased risk of PCa associated with a higher vitamin B12 concentration is similar to that reported from a meta-analysis of five studies (fixed-effects pooled estimate per 100-pmol/l increment, OR: 1.10 ...), of which three studies were eligible for inclusion in the present analysis and contributed 45% of the data." [1]
I would monitor PSA when resuming B12 supplements.
{Background: Tumor suppressor genes are silenced in PCa by methylation of the promoter regions. The methyl comes largely from folate, & B12 is essential to the process. Limiting folate &/or B12 intake may help, but high-dose genistein - a demethylation agent - might also be required.}
-Patrick
[1] ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
RE: "Limiting folate ... intake may help"
It PISSES ME OFF that for >20 years I ate huge quantities of whole grain bread and cereals because a) my government said they should be a major part of our food pyramid and b) I love bread w/olive oil and cereal piled high with fruit. After >two decades of this I found out that I had aggressive prostate cancer, that the government mandated folic acid adulteration of grain products, and that I was thus consuming many times the amount of folic acid KNOWN to strongly promote prostate cancer.
I'm making up for lost ground now by eating zero grains. Every month or two lately another erudite book or study or persuasive article says we don't need to eat carbohydrates (besides colorful vegetables) and we should in particular avoid grains, especially wheat. It didn't take me three months off grains to reap many very distinct health benefits, and, no, I'm not celiac.
From chriskresser.com/folate-vs-... ...
Excellent sources of dietary folate include vegetables such as romaine lettuce, spinach, asparagus, turnip greens, mustard greens, parsley, collard greens, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, and lentils. (13) Not surprisingly, some of the best food sources of folate are calf’s liver and chicken liver [not surprisingly, nobody eats liver]. You can supplement with folate if your dietary intake is inadequate. Look for products that contain the Metfolin brand, or list “5-methyltetrahydrofolate” or “5-MTHF” on the label. Avoid products that say “folic acid” on the label. Make sure to check your multivitamin, because most multis contain folic acid and not folate.
B12 is vital. Take it.
Use only the sublingual version.
And use the methylcobalamin form.
I agree that it is vital. Dr Oz cautions that B-12 deficiency can cause irreversible brain deterioration. I take acid reducer meds (omeprazole) for GERD / acid reflux. Acid is needed to break down meat tissue to produce B-12 from your diet, so I would be at risk for B-12 deficiency. I'll choose brain health and take my chances with PCa ... although I haven't seen anything prior to this discussion thread implicating B-12 as a cause for PCa.
Deficiency can lead to to Alzheimer.
Hello, I have had been on Eligard (Lupron) for 5 years. I have had 72 radiations since 2007. After the third year I was feeling low energy levels and my B12 level was 160. Normal levels are 230 to 720. I live in Orlando, Florida. My oncologist would not give me iron to increase my Hemoglobin levels because my ferrin levels were normal. So he requested I go to a health food store and buy Methylcobalamine (not cyanocobalamine) 2000 mcg. (micro-grams) taken daily. They are chewable and partly absorbed through the gums while sleeping. The natural form is methylcobalamine in the body, but cyanocobalamine is a larger molecule and back in the 1940's it was thought that the stomach would not digest it. This was not true, so then doctors would inject the cyano form. So, my level is now 730 and I take it once a week. I noticed greater energy and well being as soon as I started taking it. My hemoglobin level is now 12.6. So I wish you well and by having a better red blood cell count I can increase oxygen to my red blood cells which helps all systems of my body. I also use a CPAP breathing machine to stop snoring, but doing both has increased my feeling of well being and alertness. My PSA has been 0.00 for over 5 years now. I wish you well!
Great results!
If you eat Vegan or strictly whole grain plant based diet (no animal) then B-12 will be missing. From what I have read, the human body does not make B-12. We get it from eating animals. Which answers the question in my mind, "Were our ancestors vegan"? I think they ate whatever the hell they could. They naturally ate more plants because plants didn't run away as fast.
B-12 may indeed be correlated with a higher incidence of prostate cancer. But how certain are we that B-12 is the cause? Where does most B-12 come from? Red meat. And the men who eat more red meat have … as you know ... higher levels of B-12, as well as higher incidence of prostate cancer.
Yes ... but is that because big red meat eaters also eat junk food and grow bellies? I am not the least bit convinced that red meat, not even rational amounts of processed deli meat, ha anything to do with cancer. My integrative oncologist, who consults with paying patients world-wide, fully agrees. Just don't char the meat.
Agreed, the risks of charring meat are well established.
Is red meat just a much-maligned health food? It does contain valuable nutrients. Certainly, different people can look at the same large body of evidence and reach different conclusions.
Personally, I find the studies of Asian men pretty compelling, showing an increased incidence of PCa when those men move to the USA. I’m sure you’ve seen the studies. There’s something in our Western diet that seems to promote cancer, including prostate cancer. That “something” does not necessarily include red meat – but it could. My hunch is that red meat and processed meat are more likely to be the culprits than supplements containing Vitamin B12.
Diet involves such a complex set of variables that reaching definite proof of anything is difficult. Yes, if it’s true that red-meat-eaters are more obese, then their obesity alone could explain their elevated cancer rates, as you point out. And if it’s true that red-meat-eaters have higher blood levels of B12, red meat could be the cause of their elevated rates of PCa, rather than the B12 itself, as I pointed out. Filtering out all the variables is a huge challenge that would require much more funding for research. But as we both know, that’s unlikely. Chris Kesser puts it this way:
"The studies linking red meat and cancer are plagued by “healthy user bias.” This is a fancy way of saying that people who engage in one behavior perceived as healthy are likely to engage in other behaviors they perceive to be healthy. On the flip side, people who engage in one behavior perceived to be unhealthy are likely to engage in other behaviors perceived to be unhealthy."
Meanwhile, we’re all left with partial information, which we each try to piece together as best we can. Websites like this provide a valuable service in that effort. We all calculate our own risks. For me, the risks of eating red meat and processed meat far outweigh the rewards. But that’s not “the truth” -- that’s just my choice.
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