Vitamin B12 Recommendation Change

Based on two biomarkers of functional vitamin B12 (cobalamin) status, B12 recommendations formulated more than a half century ago may need to be updated.

February 3, 2012
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  • Michael Greger M.D.

    This is the first of a five-part video series on B12, similar to the series I did on vitamin D where I delve into the derivation of my recommendations, found here for B12 and here in general. To put vitamin B12 in context, please check out Vegan B12 Deficiency: Putting It into Perspective. Tomorrow I’ll identify the safest sources of B12. If you can’t wait until tomorrow for your NutritionFacts.org video-of-the-day fix, please feel free to check out videos on 1000+ other topics.

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  • vjimener

    Hi! Are hemp seeds useful for vegan people? Do they have all the essential amino acids? Thanks

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    • Toxins

      All whole plant foods contain the 9 essential amino acids, therefore complimentary foods are not required. Protein needs satisfy energy expenditures so if you eat whole plant foods, till your full, your satisfying your protein requirements. this is made clear in the paper Position of the American Dietetic Association: Vegetarian Diets.
      http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/2009_ADA_position_paper.pdf

      Also, check out Dr. Greger’s video on vegan protein status showing that vegans had higher circulating protein levels than omnivores due to reduced inflammation in the liver.
      http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/vegan-protein-status/

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  • http://twitter.com/MacSmiley MacSmiley

    Please make all your videos accessible on your YouTube home page by default, Doc. It’s the only way I can see them with my old Palm. And my old Palm is my only access to the web.

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  • http://twitter.com/MacSmiley MacSmiley

    Thanks.

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  • Elvin

    Dr Greger: I hope you will say something about cyanocobalamin vs. methylcobalamin. In some places (the country where I live is one) the only oral B12 available is methylcobalamin, coming in capsules of 500mcg a hit. And then on the packages it recommends taking (over the course of a day) 1500mcg. Now, is methylcobalamin especially hard to absorb, or what? I only take 500 or 1000mcg a day. Enough?

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    • Michael Greger M.D.

      re: cyanocobalamin (the inexpensive form) vs. methylcobalamin. Vitamin B12 supplements are so cheap to produce that supplement manufacturers try to come with all sorts of fancy ways to “add value” to products so they can make more money. The coral calcium scam is the classic example–how else can you charge $20 for a bottle of chalk? Likewise, unless you’re a smoker, have kidney failure, or base your diet around cassava root, cyanocobalamin should be fine. If it’s unavailable, then I would shoot for about 2,000 mcg a day of methylcobalamin.

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      • BPCveg

        Sorry, maybe I missed something … what if you are a smoker, have kidney failure or base your diet around cassava root — why do these factors affect which form of vitamin B12 you should take?

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        • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=640861216 Gary Yuen

          I have the same question.

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      • http://twitter.com/MacSmiley MacSmiley

        2000 mcg daily? Are you saying that methylcobalamin is inferior? that it’s less bioavailable, not just more costly than cyanocobalamin?

        Dr Fuhrman’s Gentle Care Formula MVM has only 30 mcg. Do you mean it’s time for him to reformulate?

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  • bsmithson

    There are 2 items I am seeing called for in cookbooks, and I’d like to know if they are harmless. One is baking seitan in aluminum foil. Is there any transfer of aluminum into the food? And the other is liquid smoke. I had heard that this was mutogenic. Is that true? If so, could you please give me some idea of the risk? I think it is an ingredient not just in recipes, but also in vegan bacon and ham.

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  • Lindsey

    I’m a vegan of 4 years (I supplement B12), and I just had my B12 serum levels checked, and they were at 1900 (don’t know the units) where the max end of the normal range is 900. Do you think it is necessary to get my homocysteine and MMA levels checked as well? Or since my serum level is so high, am I probably OK?

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    • http://www.clinicalcatalyst.com DrDons

      With those values you are fine. No need for testing of homocysteine and MMA levels.

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  • BPCveg

    Dr. Greger: Like you, I was also surprised to learn that the RDA for vitamin B12 is based on an obsolete study. I think that a great future addition to nutritionfacts.org would be a section which provides the latest on RDA recommendations together with sources on which they are based. It would be useful to users of your website to be able to look up any nutrient/supplement (e.g. calcium, vitamin D, etc.) and find the corresponding source information that describes how the RDA was determined. When new studies are published that challenge the RDA, you could then indicate the updates directly on that section. I think that this addition would be a great enhancement to your website.

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    • Toxins

      I second this idea!

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      • Thea

        Yes, a great idea!

        I’ll add my twist: I want a link at the top of the page, right next to “videos, blog, about, …” that takes us directly to Dr. Greger’s latest recommendations (which may or may not relate to RDA) – with links on where those recommendations come from. Right now, if we want a summary of Dr. Greger’s recommendations, we have to hunt for the blog post on it, and I don’t think that post gets updated at these new findings come out.

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  • Thea

    Dr. Greger: I have been following your advice about vitamin B-12 by taking a weekly sublinguil (sp?) pill. While the vitamin B12 daily recommendations have changed, have the weekly recommendations also changed?

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  • Elvin

    Dr Greger: Since then, for one reason or another (non-availibility of cyanocobalamin being one them), there are those that have no choice but to take methylcobalamin, would you be so good from now on as to include methylcobalamin dosage in your Optimum Nutrition Recommendations?

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