Cyano, Methyl or Hydroxocobalamin?

[dusk33]

What's the difference between Cyano, Methyl and Hydroxcobalamin and in your opinion which one is the 'best'?

[Grifter]

Have a read of 'Pernicious Anaemia: the forgotten disease' by Martyn Hooper, chairman of PA Society. It explains it all in there. But to my basic understanding, neither is better but cyano has been shown to react badly with smokers, hydroxo is used by GPs because it's easily sourced ( so maybe some cost thing going on there ) and methyl seems to be better for reversing neuropathy type symptoms. Methyl is the 'active' form so doesn't need to go through any methylation so I guess in my opinion, thats the best. But I know from the book that some people find different forms better for them. Hope this helps.

[Hidden]

Hi,

You have asked a question, that would take me ages to answer propperly..no time for that, Just to add to what grifter has explained, cyanocobalamin and hydroxocobalamin are forms of B12 that still need to be converted in the body to methyl and adeno B12.

Cyanocobalamin also first needs to have the cyanide molecul taken off so has an extra conversion needed compared to hydroxo cobalamin. Hydroxocobaamin attaches itself to cyanide and is therefore used for smoke inhilation/ fire victims etc.

With a certain eye condition, cyanocobalamin should not be used (Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy). Tabacco ( particularly chewing) can also cause an eye condition that prohibits the use of cyanocobalamin (Tabacco amblyopia, and optic neuropathy).

See:

nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/dru...

Cyanocobalamin is the cheapest and most stable form of B12, has a long shelf life, and official maintenance dosis is once a month.

Hydroxocobalamin is a "longer lasting" form of B12 (retained in the body longer) and cost more and has a shorter shelf life plus official maintenance dosis is 2-3 monthly depending in which EU country you live.

( My experience is cyanocobalamin is taken up quicker and does not sting like hydroxocobalamin does,but I need it more often, never tried methylcobalamin as I do not want to inject more often).

There are depot preparations of cyanocobalamin that also are suposed to last longer .

Methyl cobalamin is the most natural form of B12 , needs no converting, has the shortest shelf life (will convert back to hydroxocobalamin if not stored right etc), is the most exspensive, maintenance is more regular, often infusion, with then daily/weekly sub cutain top ups (not licenced in UK).

I hope this is of use, for compleet explanations one can use pub med site and put all forms of B12 into their search options, or use the WHO website, or the BNF ( registration needed).

All will give technical details that I find difficult to reproduce!

Kind regards,

Marre.