Help with Vitamin B12 and Folate test results please...

[naturegirl3434]

It seems every lab has such different reference ranges for what's normal and what's not. It is so confusing to me. I had labs done:

Vitamin B12: Result is 486 and is flagged as Normal

(Reference range is 232-1245pg/mL)

Folate: Result is 16.5 and is flagged as Normal

(Reference range: >3.0) A serum folate concentration of less than 3.1 ng/mL is considered to represent clinical deficiency)

It seems to me that the B12 would almost be low? I don't understand the folate level at all. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

naturegirl3434

It's not hard to understand really. Each lab has their own reference range. You take your result and use their range, no other range applies.

Vitamin B12: Result is 486 and is flagged as Normal

(Reference range is 232-1245pg/mL)

This is flagged as normal because it falls within range, that's all there is to "normal". However, just because it falls within range doesn't mean that it's at an optimal level.

According to an extract from the book, "Could it be B12?" by Sally M. Pacholok:

"We believe that the 'normal' serum B12 threshold needs to be raised from 200 pg/ml to at least 450 pg/ml because deficiencies begin to appear in the cerebrospinal fluid below 550".

"For brain and nervous system health and prevention of disease in older adults, serum B12 levels should be maintained near or above 1000 pg/ml."

So going by that, your B12 is below the level they think is good. You might want to consider supplementing.

You can always check for signs of B12 deficiency here b12deficiency.info/signs-an...

and if you want to know how much B12 is actually available for your cells to use then do an Active B12 test.

Folate: Result is 16.5 and is flagged as Normal

(Reference range: >3.0) A serum folate concentration of less than 3.1 ng/mL is considered to represent clinical deficiency)

Again this is flagged as normal because it is over the level where they say there is deficiency.

Some labs do have proper ranges for folate and in those cases the recommended level is at least half way through the range. In your case you can't do that as there is only a "deficiency" level. However, at 16.5 that is a pretty good level.

[naturegirl3434 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thanks so much. That's what I was after was the optimal ranges.

[naturegirl3434 in reply to SeasideSusie]

I have been suffering with almost all of the b12 deficiency symptoms in this article. Wow.

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to naturegirl3434]

In that case, I would list them and discuss with your GP, ask for further testing. Doctors are supposed to go by symptoms rather than numbers so hopefully your GP will be willing to do further tests.