B12 levels

[Shirley7144]

In canada the b12 levels of normal is 138-652. Mine is 215. dr says this is normal. What's your take on this?

[Gambit62 Administrator]

shirley7144 - there are two different sets of units used to measure serum B12 - pmol/L which is the range that you quote for Canada - and ng/L which gives a higher range.

However, serum B12 isn't good enough to be used as a single measure in evaluating B12 deficiency - it will miss 25% of people who actually are B12 deficient - though the chances of this get smaller as you get further from the bottom of the range. Lack of macrocytosis (larger rounder red blood cells) can't be used to rule out B12 deficiency either as it isn't present in 25% of people presenting with B12 deficiency. Full presentation - symptoms, history etc need to be evaluated ... and given the overlap of B12 deficiency symptoms with a number of other conditions - using symptoms can be really difficult as well unless you have ruled out other possibilities