B12

[mischa]

I'm curious as to know why is B12 so important in hypothyroidism. Why is it needed for this condition? Would appreciate if someone could answer this for me.

[FallenAngel22]

This is a good link to explanation of vitamins and thyroid thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/treatm...

[mischa in reply to FallenAngel22]

Thank you for the post. I've seen so many posts that mention B12 as well as ferritin, iron and D3. It's good to know these things when you're hypothyroid.

[FallenAngel22 in reply to mischa]

Yep, it seems many vitamins need to be optimal level to help the thyroid. I rattle when I walk as I take so many different supplements!

[mischa in reply to FallenAngel22]

I'm glad I'm not the only one.

[Spareribs in reply to mischa]

about a quarter of thyroid sufferers have a B12 deficiency - which can lead to pernicious (deadly) anaemia (especially if a non-meat eater).

It all begins in the gut, farmers knew this decades ago - cobalamin & folate disorders are common - sadly most only find out during stress of pregnancy 'tho - more detailed information can be found on the PA site. J

I see Lyn has a recent link to a film about B12

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

[gabkad in reply to Spareribs]

Spare, I know veterinary medicine and animal husbandry is far ahead of human nutrition, but where did you get this 'farmers knew it decades ago'? I'm really interested. It's like what I say 'animals make money, people cost money'.....

[Marz in reply to gabkad]

Martyn Hooper who heads up the PAS - also wrote the book - Pernicious Anaemia - The Forgotten Illness and B12 Deficiency - spoke at the last Thyroid UK Conference. He told us about this lost sheep - ( he showed a picture on the screen ) and how the Farmer told him he needed a B12 jab. He then proceeded to show him the 5 gallon containers of B12 in the corner of the shed ! Apparently over 80% of B12 produced in Europe goes into animals

I remember there being what I think were salt blocks on the dairy farm I grew up on - the cows licked them. I remember them being replaced. That could possibly have contained other ingredients too. Another basic requirement of good health....

[gabkad in reply to Marz]

Thanks Marz. I looked it up and my goodness. Sheep get cobalt deficiency if not supplemented. Apparently the bacteria in their forestomach make B12 but only if the animal is getting enough cobalt.

I learn something new everyday!

[Marz in reply to gabkad]

I think the B12 we take comes from the gut of some animal or other.....yikes !

[gabkad in reply to Marz]

Nah. They make it from bacterial fermentation.

[Marz in reply to gabkad]

oh - alright then !!

[gabkad in reply to Marz]

This came up years ago, maybe 30 years plus ago. My father is/was a pharmacologist. On evening he told me that one of the students found it objectionable that B12 in supplements came from bacteria and that this was thoroughly stinky, rotten, and disgusting. He said aside from getting it from animal products in the diet, the only way to get it as a vitamin supplement is to use bacteria to produce it. Humans don't have the sort of stomach like cud chewers where the type of bacteria required can live. Or really long guts like gorillas that have major fermentation going on. Gorillas can live on leaves and strip twigs but their guts are different from ours and they ferment the vegetation in ways we cannot.

(The thing about sheep and cows isn't that they need a B12 supplement. They need cobalt.

When it comes to Gorillas, there must be cobalt in the African forests.)

[Marz in reply to gabkad]

Your knowledge is amazing You obviously do not have issues with your own B12 - your memory is great

Thanks for the information....

[gabkad in reply to Marz]

Marz, yesterday i was doing the motherhood guilt trip thing wondering if I'd given vitamins to my kids. I could not remember. What with all the vitamin discussions around here and that I encourage my adult children to take vitamin supplements....Then the younger one called last night and I asked her. "Oh yes you did. Flintstones Chewables. They tasted like sweet chalk."

Maybe because I didn't try them I can't remember I gave it to them?.... I do recall that later they were getting Centrum Forte.

I think it's important for kids to get vitamins because we can't be sure they are getting enough from the food. My parents gave us vitamins every morning back in the 1960s. In those days it was a big deal and supported by doctors. Nowadays the messaging is so mixed. The government position is that people are taking vitamins and supplements for no benefit. They should only be taken if there is evidence of deficiency.....!!! Who tests for that? The doctors are getting their heads stamped on for ordering too many B12 tests. Vitamin D testing is not covered anymore. So? Too much B.S. going on.

[Marz in reply to gabkad]

My girls were 60's babies - and I did not give them supplements as far as I remember Ah yes Haliborange - small pills in a bottle type container. We lived in the grounds of an ancestral home in a school house where there was a huge walled garden. We bought our veggies there - loads of them for 1s 6d - or so ! Always cooked from scratch and they had liquidised liver from our casserole !! Cods cheeks on a Friday ! - poached - no bones !!

It seems the controversy about supplements will continue - we have to be our own judges I guess.

Have just spent a fortune on a selection of supplements for a sleepy grandson of 16 - doing his exams. Hoping for miracles We are a very tall family and seem to shoot in our teens and become weak and tired. Oh to be a dainty blonde !

[gabkad in reply to Marz]

I grew 7 inches in one year while we lived in London. My father instituted an exercise program which included running a mile every day. He said 'you are growing quickly but you heart needs to be strong for your final height.' Dutifully I ran every day plus walked a mile to and from school.

A lot of kids today are so sedentary it makes me wonder how much reserve they'll have as they enter middle age. Tall people especially need strong hearts.

[Marz in reply to gabkad]

..yes we seem to be a family of strong hearts - soft but strong ! My grandson cycles to and from school and to football training and matches. My daughter is busily working which involves travelling. He also does a paper round before school - It was the best way of weaning him away from designer t-shirts when he realised he would have to work for three weeks to pay for one

[Spareribs in reply to gabkad]

Dad knew it and his Dad & probably his grandad before....

I found old pellets for "pine" in sheep when clearing stuff out - yes bacteria are needed to use B12 (& should be living in our guts unless antibioltics have wiped them out) isn't one Lactobacillus reuteri?

I used to have haliborage too!

[gabkad in reply to Spareribs]

Lots of kids were underperforming in the old days. Just then their parents could sign them out of further schooling and they could find jobs that did not require any skills beyond some physicality. These days the system wants all children, regardless of whether they can cope or not, to stay in school. There aren't those jobs anymore for people who can barely read. It's like a person needs a bachelor's degree to serve coffee in Starbucks.

[deborahknight in reply to Spareribs]

hi can u tell me wot PA means fo he site u suggested hun ta x

[Marz in reply to deborahknight]

...as mentioned by Sparerib - it is Pernicious Anaemia....