Chlorella

[Vonni7]

I have been told that chlorella is a good source of b12 but I am doubtful that in a daily dose of 10 chlorella tablets you would get sufficient b12? I would be grateful for any info/advice. Thanks Vonni

[helvella]

If you view chlorella supplements you find find them claiming anything from zero (i.e. no claimed content) through to around 20 micrograms. In other words, an ignorably small amount for anyone who doesn't manage to get enough from their ordinary diet.

Chlorella itself does not make B12 (so far as I know). I imagine they add it either to the chlorella growing tanks or the product as the tablets are made.

Personally, I would just take B12 as B12 and not even bother thinking about other possibilities such as chlorella.

But if you need to inject, is there any need to consider oral at all?

[B12life]

Looking for the cause as that will persuade my answer. are you by chance vegetarian or do you eat plenty of meat and eggs?

If vegetarian, oral b12 supplements will work, if you eat a good amount of meat daily then oral supplements typically won't work.

I eat meat and I was supplementing with 50 times the RDA of b12 orally daily and still ended up severely low; thus I knew I would never be able to process b12 orally despite doctors advice.

So if you fall in my camp, injections are the way to go and will prevent the irreversible, permanent damage as in permanent cognitive and neurological impairment.

[am111]

The b12 in all vegan sources is not usable by the human body. You need either meat or milk to get usable b12. Do not fall for these traps!

[Technoid in reply to am111]

meat or milk? 😆 you can get B12 from many fortified foods, nutritional yeast and of course B12 supplements which provide B12 in amounts orders of magnitude higher than that found in animal foods. Only Meat and Milk? Ridiculous.

[am111 in reply to Technoid]

I am not talking of fortified foods or supplements, as these are artificial. Naturally, vegetarian sources of B12 such as nutritional yeast do not contain B12 in a form usable by the human body. I can get you some references for it...

[Technoid in reply to am111]

No, don't move the goalposts. You said that "you need either meat or milk to get usable B12", which is complete nonsense and I think you are intelligent enough to realize that.

Fortified soya milk or fortified nutritional yeast are both "vegan sources" of B12. How is a vegan food fortified with B12 not a "vegan source" of B12?

[am111 in reply to Technoid]

I am in no mood to argue with you. If you think supplements and fortification counts as food sources, please continue to believe so. And let the public decide who is being nonsense here. Bye.

[boisland]

It's safest to assume there's no b12 in plants. The b12 found in plants are B12 analogues which our body cannot use. I am not saying chlorella provides B12 analogues, but why risk it when you have proven options.

[Technoid]

There is very low quality evidence that Chlorella MAY contain some human bioactive B12 forms.

ref : veganhealth.org/chlorella-r...

If you have PA or other absorption issues this is of no consequence to you as you would never absorb the tiny amounts that could (theoretically) be present.

If you are vegan and you have working intrinsic factor, and you are considering using chlorella as a viable source to meet your B12 needs for the day, I would say that would be extremely unwise. The quality of testing and evidence is not there yet to indicate that chlorella would provide enough viable B12 to prevent developing a deficiency.

Please do not consider Chlorella a viable source of B12 in your dietary or supplement planning.

If you have absorption issues or PA, its of no consequence whether it does or does not have any useful B12 since you wouldnt absorb it if it was present.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc5xI...(Not working as expected?)

[tomdickharry]

The amount of B12 in algae is very tiny. Additionally, there is debate over whether or not it is active. In any case there's not enough to be of use to you, and if you have PA you can't absorb it anyway. You need your injections.

[DominicBere]

If you read the seminal textbook on the fight to get B12 deficiency more widely recognised, called 'Could It Be B12?', by a doctor and nurse couple, you will see that chlorella was once touted as a good source of B12, but not any more. It was probably a couple of decades ago that they discovered that vegetarian sources of B12 are 'analogues' (i.e. look-alikes but which aren't really the same); and not only are these analogues no good for us, but worse than that, they actually interfere with the body's use of the real B12 - so, not recommended.

Edit: Just noticed the video above. I'll need to listen to it. Willing to change my mind if the evidence suggests I should.

Later: Changed my mind. Recommend the video.

[Technoid]

Although Chlorella shouldn't be relied on for B12, it is a quite astoundingly concentrated source of iron. I have been taking just a teaspoon a day for some time.

verywellhealth.com/the-bene...