Cigarettes and serum b12

[Nathan12345]

I've read an interesting post about how smoking cigarettes can deplete serum b12 levels, as a smoker myself i am curious to know if anyone has heard this too? Apparently it has something to do cigarettes containing cyanide and that stops b12 being absorbed properly?

[Gambit62 Administrator]

was the article on line and do you have the link?

what might be going on is the very strong affinity that hydroxocobalamin has for assimulating the cyanide molecule which converts it to cyanocobalamin - the reason why it is usedto treat cyanide poisoning. However, this doesn't mean that the B12 isn't absorbed and certainly doesn't make it unusable.

I do remember a year or two ago one member of the forum commented that cyanocobalamin worked better for her than hydroxocobalamin and she suspected that the reason was that, because she was a smoker the hydroxo was actually spending time being converted to cyanocobalamin before it got to the point where it was available to be used by her body so it took longer to have an effect.

[Gambit62 Administrator in reply to Gambit62]

did a search and came across this

cambridge.org/core/services...

the abstract doesn't mention b12 levels as being something that is affected by B12 because, looking through the discussion, a) different studies have shown different patterns of results in relation to general B12 status between smokers and non-smokers b) there might be a correlation in some studies but the studies haven't ruled out general factors around dietary choices between smokers and non-smokers that wouldn't explain the differences in B12 status rather than being a direct relationship between B12 absorption and smoking. The results in relation to folate seem to be open to doubt as well. The paper is from 2003 so there may be later research clarifying the situation ... or muddying the waters even further.

[Nathan12345 in reply to Gambit62]

methylcobalamininfo.com/smo... it was on this site

[Gambit62 Administrator in reply to Nathan12345]

Thanks for the link

personally I'd be a bit wary of the site as the agenda seems to be around promoting methyl as the best form but ...

leaving that aside the article also gives the impression that VitC destroys B12 - from what I can find this is based on a 1974 study, the findings of which were quickly overturned.

I did find several references to slightly higher levels of excretion of B12 in urine by smokers but again that could be down to conversion to cyanocobalamin which is generally (but not universally) excreted quicker than hydroxo.

My personal conclusion would be that the site is selectively using studies to prove the points that support its own agenda and conveniently forgetting about any evidence that might point in the other direction.

[clivealive Forum Support]

Hi Nathan12345 I've been having monthly injections of cyanocobalamin (the precursor of hydroxo and methylcobalamin) for 45 years and I seem to remember being "warned" that smoking would increase the amount of cyanide being "taken in" thus making it harder to process the B12. Sadly my memory is not what it used to be....

[Nathan12345 in reply to clivealive]

Hi clivealive that's interesting because if it is true it might explain why I still have some symptoms even after getting my b12 blood levels nice and high. I rarely drink now because I was told alcohol depletes B12 but there was something telling me that smoking might aswell (probably to do with the decrease of oxygen in blood cells which led me to it). I should be due a doctors appointment soon for the 6 month follow up so I shall ask on the day.

[wedgewood in reply to Nathan12345]

Trouble is , Nathan12345, doctors know very little about B12, as many of us have learned to our cost.

[Nathan12345 in reply to wedgewood]

That seems to be the case wedgewood, it took me long enough to get a diagnosis

[fbirder]

It's very unlikely that the teeny amounts of cyanide in cigarettes will remove significant amounts of B12. The human liver is extremely good at removing cyanide in the blood. According to this paper - ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/359... - the half life of cyanide is about 4 minutes.

This paper - researchgate.net/publicatio... - says

The cyanide concentration in the blood did not show a clear relationship to either smoking or moderate occupational exposure

[Nathan12345 in reply to fbirder]

Hmm ok, I'm just at a stump with all of this at the moment. I know nicotine is a stimulant and i do only manage to get 6 hours of broken sleep a night and that poor quality of sleep can cause cognitive problems which in turn would explain it, I just seem to be at a loss as my b12 level has gone up and my original symptoms have definately improved but my memory seems to still be a bit bad :/

[fbirder in reply to Nathan12345]

It an take a while for some of the neurological symptoms to fix themselves.

If you are worried about cyanide and/or other toxins then you could try vaping - using e-cigarettes. Much, much healthier for you.

[Nathan12345 in reply to fbirder]

It has been about 6 months really since i started treatment but i did stop it maybe 3 months ago, ill probably try the vape or just quit smoking completely