Study: Frequent B12 injections for autism increase cobalt levels...so get enough B12, but don't overdo SI

[genesurf]

If anyone else has more information, pro or con, I'd love to hear it. From the study it seems that much of the extra cobalt was released in the urine.... which is good, but means the kidneys and bladder will have to deal with the extra cobalt.

researchgate.net/publicatio...

"Methylcobalamin injections were able to induce plasma

and urinary concentrations of cobalt in excess of LabCorp occupational maximal

exposure limits, but the exact form of cobalt, the tissue levels, and ultimately

potential tissue toxicity remain unclear. Further, cobalt was observed to induce

significant cellular cytoxicity in human neuroblasma cells, including cellular

degeneration.

It is clear that there may be significant potential benefits to the administration

of methylcobalamin to subjects diagnosed with an ASD based upon the significant

abnormalities identified within the methionine cycle-transsulfuration pathways and

genetics SNPs within these pathways, but much further research needs to be

conducted regarding the optimal therapeutic doses. "

[helvella]

Rather undermines its headline conclusion with:

One of the weaknesses of the present study is that it was not possible to determine the exact form of the cobalt being measured, namely, whether the cobalt measured in the urine and plasma in the methylcobalamin form, a breakdown product, or ultimately as a free form of cobalt. This might have significant implications to the actual toxicity of the cobalt to human tissue.

(PDF) An autism cohort study of cobalt levels following vitamin B12 injections. Available from: researchgate.net/publicatio... [accessed Nov 24 2018].

[fbirder in reply to helvella]

Spot on!

Measuring the toxicity of cobalt (in the form of the easily dissociated CoNO3) with cobalt strongly bound in B12 is daft.

[Gambit62 Administrator]

I downloaded the whole article. It seems very confusing and very confused and mentions 2 different cobalt compounds, one of which is toxic (cobalt(II) nitrate hexahydrate) and methylcobalamin (which isn't).

At one point it mentions that the test looking at urinary levels of cobalamin wasn't able to distinguish between these two compounds.

Urinary levels of cobalt were much higher in patients being given methylcobalamin injections (no surprise there because we all know that excess B12 is removed by the kidneys and passes out of your body in urine).

Not sure how they get to a conclusion that it increases levels of cobalt(II) nitrate hexahydrate) as they didn't measure that specifically.

It remains the case that hydroxocobalamin (B12) is used in very much higher doses (5-10,000x) than those used by patients with PA and B12 absorption problems because of the lack of toxicity - the body just doesn't seem to break B12 down in a way that would result in significant amounts of cobalt(II) nitrate hexahydrate forming, if it breaks down at all.

One of the weaknesses of the present study is that it was not possible to determine

the exact form of the cobalt being measured, namely, whether the cobalt measured in

the urine and plasma in the methylcobalamin form, a breakdown product, or

ultimately as a free form of cobalt. This might have significant implications to the

actual toxicity of the cobalt to human tissue. Similarly, while the present study was

able to demonstrate a direct relationship between the frequency of methylcobalamin

injections and levels of cobalt in the urine and blood, it was unable to examine the

various tissue concentrations of cobalt or the forms of cobalt present in the tissue.

Once again, such data would help to significantly determine the potential toxic

consequences of methylcobalamin injections.

Another weakness of the present study is that it evaluated only the acute

distribution of cobalt following methylcobalamin injections. It does not provide

insights into what the distribution pattern of cobalt may look like in the human body

following long-term administration. It is clear that the case reports presented show

that there may be much more information to be gleaned from such studies.

[fbirder]

The authors of this garbage are renowned anti-vaccination conmen. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_...

[helvella in reply to fbirder]

I'd also note that the paper is not indexed on PubMed, to the best of my ability to search for it.

[Gambit62 Administrator in reply to helvella]

I also couldn't found it there.

To be honest the parameters of the test just left me thinking that it was a colossal waste of time and energy.

The paper was over 8 years ago and doesn't seem to have been followed up with any other studies. I also couldn't find anything on pubmeds.

The use of methylcobalamin in treating autism in this way was, if I remember correctly, was/is a fringe treatment that caused a lot of controversy anyway