(I certainly do not want to cause anyone to worry, and admins please delete if necessary.)
I received this email from ForefrontHealth which advertises their products and was rather concerned about their statement about B9 and B12
Therapeutic Complex of Vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, & B7
There are a couple of things that separate our Vitamin B Thyroid Complex from all others. First, we use only specific B-Vitamins that are essential to your thyroid health. And we specifically don’t use Vitamin B9 and B12, as studies show supplementation increases the risk of cancer (mainly lung cancer). Second, most widely available B-Vitamin supplements also contain cheap and ineffective vitamins, very low (non-therapeutic) dosages, and potentially harmful excipients. For example, most B-Vitamin capsules contain toxic “nanoparticles” like titanium dioxide. Titanium dioxide is a known neurotoxin that has been shown to cause diabetes and block nutrient absorption. That’s not what you want from any supplement. Instead, we’ve designed our Vitamin B Thyroid Complex to be optimized for your thyroid health, while also making it 100% safe. Contains 2 fl. oz. / 60 ml (60 daily doses) of pure, clean, Vitamin B Complex, optimized for your thyroid health.Other ingredients include water and a 10% alcohol solution
They have a "Ask a question section" so I wrote,
:
Hi I am rather concerned about you saying, " we specifically don't use Vitamin B9 and B12, as studies show supplementation increases the risk of cancer (mainly lung cancer)."
I thought it was the folic acid that was the problem and Folate was O.K. to use. Also what about the people who have a vitamin B12 deficiency and they have to use it, plus some Hypothyroid people are low in B12 and often supplement with it.
Could you please advise.
Thank you.
01/20/2020
They replied,
A: Multiple studies have now linked supplementation of both B9 and B12 to certain types of cancer.
As for a Vitamin B12 deficiency, there are many things that can be involved and we generally aim to correct the underlying problem rather than simply the band-aid approach of taking large amounts of B12 in hopes to bring levels up.
For example, if digestion is compromised, then that can affect B12 absorption from food. In general, you don't B12 to last long periods of time. So, ensuring that one's diet contains adequate B12 at each meal can play a role as well. There are also other conditions that can affect B12 absorption, however, it's important to investigate and address those conditions accordingly.
What do members think of this ?
Written by
lucylocks
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I can only "speak" personally as I'm not medically trained and say that I have been having injections of Vitamin B12 (cyanocobamalin) for over 47 years and have taken 1 – Folic Acid 400μg tablet every day for more years than I can remember and I'm still "clivealive" aged 78.
There are indeed many causes of B12 deficiency which as they say need to be investigated before prescribing injections willy nilly
I can see they might assess it as not being essential to your thyroid health but rather odd simply to ignore it.
I am not happy with them saying that B9 and B12 increase the risk of cancer. Yes, there have been some papers which raise concerns but I don’t think any of them have proved causality.
Also, bear in mind that pregnant women are expressly encouraged to ensure adequate folate intake (albeit usually as folic acid) and failure to achieve adequate levels can have consequences for the foetus. Is it right to propagate fear of cancer?
But they include alcohol (ethanol) as an ingredient while that is widely regarded as carcinogenic. It is also advised against in pregnancy (who knows whether people taking this supplement are pregnant or not?).
They rather ignore your point about folate vs folic acid, rather than clearly answer.
It sounds like they're dismissing the existence of pernicious anemia entirely to me and telling people to just clean up their diets and they'll be fine.
And that advice nearly killed me so I wouldn't listen to anything they say. They have zero credibility to me.
..and if all we needed to do is sort out our diets, there would be no need at all for their services !
I had an appointment with an Adult Inherited Metabolics Diseases consultant last week, and discussed alarmist statements made a couple of years ago to me (and probably many others) by Haematology consultants re B12 being carcinogenic, toxic and highly addictive.
I was concerned because this tripe is obviously being repeated to warn vulnerable patients off requesting more frequent B12 injections/ self-injecting .
She agreed with me that there is no scientific evidence for these statements, that in some cases more frequent B12 injections are required treatment, and high-dose B12 is used as an anti-toxin.
She should know.
DNA is after all "their thing". She also said that they often meet with resistance from GPs when their feedback reports, based on DNA findings, indicate more frequent injections are necessary.
I guess all we can do is keep asking for written proof of these sort of claims -in the form of professional scientific research- even where we know it doesn't exist.
Thanks to lucylocks for bringing this to our attention and for taking the time to challenge it.
No I don't - but do remember previously one of the other Metabolics consultants saying to me that even if a functional problem in DNA was found, and she wasn't expecting it as MMA level raised not high, she would "only" advise 2 injections a week.
Might need your help when my report comes through fbirder , okay ?
The statement highlighted should really say 'are associated with a higher risk of cancer, particularly lung cancer'
As helvella says, the studies have only identified a correlation and if people bothered to read them in detail they say that more studies are needed to establish the exact causal link.
Both folate (folic acid is one form of folate/B9) and B12 are used in the processes that replicate DNA so deficiency and absorption problems would realistically be expected to result in higher levels of problems relating to errors in DNA reproduction, such as cancer. If someone is deficient/has an absorption problem that has been identified then they would be supplementing - that's only one scenario.
To be honest I would always be rather sceptical about marketing blurb ... and the above is marketing blurb. It tends to put spins on things rather than being a good source of genuine information.
In relation to pregnant women. All women in Britain who plan a pregnancy are strongly advised to start folic acid ideally 12 weeks before conception and continue postnatally . The reason is to prevent Neural Rube Defects in babies, so important x
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