B12 Deficiency – The Silent Epidemic

B12 is a water soluble vitamin. Our bodies are unable to produce B12, hence the reason why getting adequate amounts in our diet is important.

Vitamin B12 is also known as cobalamin.

B12 is a water soluble vitamin. Our bodies are unable to produce B12, hence the reason why getting adequate amounts in our diet is important.

B12 is required by our body to carry out many functions like:

· Nerve health

· Red blood cell production

· DNA synthesis

· It acts as a methyl group donor, which is an important step in our detox pathway.

As we can see, Vitamin B12 is very important for neurological, cardiovascular, digestive and immune functions. In fact, vitaminB12 is involved in the metabolism of every cell in the body.

B12 has many forms and the most common forms are cyanocobalamin and methylcobalamin.

Cyanocobalamin is commonly found in supplements and certain energy drinks.

Cyanocobalamin has to be converted in our body to methlycobalamin for the functions I mentioned above to happen.

The problem arises as many of us are unable to convert cyanocobalamin to methlycobalamin because we lack the genes to do so.

In Japan, a deficiency is found in levels under 550 pg/ml (400pM).