B12 and Human Evolution

[MoKayD]

I found another interesting article about B12. discovermagazine.com/health...

[Narwhal10]

Thanks MoKayD,

Good to read they are writing about essential and not important.

[OldmanD]

I didnt know that we had the ability albeit pretty misplaced to make B12. . . . . . That brings me to another of my off the topic stories . . . . . This not about this particular subject although if it is a documentary I'll probably watch it. . . It was an education to me , Or I seen it as such. . . . . . . I remember watching a documentary about Intersex children and the choices made for them. . . . . Not only was it an education about some thing but it had to be the biggest event in my life telling me to accept anything and anyone who wasnt harmful because if nature could get this fundamental so far wrong there are rather a lot of other things we need to accept. . . . . But NHS doctors cannot accept as small a quirk a a little digestive problem

[MrsTuft]

Interesting comparison between b12d and chemo effects.

[MorningMist]

It has always amazed me that a vitamin so essential to us should be so complicated to obtain. That it’s due to a quirk of evolution explains a lot.

[MoKayD in reply to MorningMist]

I thought the same thing.

[MorningMist in reply to MoKayD]

Nature doesn’t care about quality of life. Enough of us just have to survive long enough to ensure continuity of the species.

[OldmanD in reply to MorningMist]

I think people need to realise we are not perfection personified. . . . . To have an intestine that makes the B12 wee need as wee need it but its made after the bit that can absorb the B12 is plain bonkers. . . . . . We are far from perfect and need to accept that. . . . . . .

[helvella]

Interesting to compare and contrast the case of vitamin C.

The Genetics of Vitamin C Loss in Vertebrates

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

And to understand why the term 'guinea pig' came about in it meaning the subject of an experiment.

(Etymology of the word 'vitamin' also seems relevant. Particularly the bit that comes from 'vital'. And consider how any doctor anywhere can dismiss vitamins. )