B12 Reading

[MoKayD]

I found a couple of interesting articles about B12 deficiency

lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/vit...

This article talks about a study the US Department of Agriculture undertook which says as many as two fifths of the US population may be B12 deficient.

legistorm.com/stormfeed/vie...

[Lunario]

Good explanation (1st link), but I wonder why it is so often mentioned that high oral substitution should be as effective as injections, without pointing out that it does not work for many patients.

I also can't confirm that pills are as effective as injections, and it makes me angry every time I read something like that. These statements, in my humble opinion, lead doctors in the wrong direction, as we all know just too well.

But interesting to see that the 2nd link is a press release from an Agricultural Research Service. 🤔

[MoKayD in reply to Lunario]

I completely agree with you about oral supplements. They did nothing for me.

Before I retired I worked for the USDA. It's a wonderful agency. They do so much research that benefits the whole world. I have participated in several of their human use research projects which involved eating only the food they provided for several weeks to study the effects of different foods on the human body.

[Lunario in reply to MoKayD]

Are these studies available to the public? That would be an interesting read.

I remember reading an article when I was visiting one of my aunts in Canada. It was about exactly that: how different foods affect the human body, and the bottom line was, "eat what your ancestors ate." There is obviously an evolutionary connection.

Nevertheless, I love and eat spicy Thai food as much as I like sauerkraut and whole grain bread (the dough must rise long enough, though, my guts can’t handle industrial made bread). 😋

[MoKayD in reply to Lunario]

This is link to the USDA ARS website ars.usda.gov/oc/human-nutri...

This is a link to their study briefs ars.usda.gov/oc/fnrb/archive/

[Lunario in reply to MoKayD]

Thank you.

[WiscGuy]

Thank you for posting links to these articles.

I personally feel the Oregon State article is generally very good. However, in some instances it conflicts with information in the 2019 article "The Many Faces of Cobalamin (B12) Deficiency", written by a team of Dutch clinicians/researchers and published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, a peer-reviewed journal. The Oregon State article, according to information at the bottom of the article, was originally written in 2000 by a single author, and through the years has been updated, each time by a single person, and has never gone through formal peer review. I am not medically trained, but my personal outlook is that, in areas of conflicting information, my greater confidence is in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings article.