Posted by Larry Hoover on February 22, 2003, at 7:31:13
In reply to Re: B-12 shots-vitamins in general, posted by jane d on February 22, 2003, at 4:28:30
> > > Generally, B-12 will not have any lasting effect, mentally....unless you are an over-drinker or elderly.
> >
> > Or on a completely vegan diet and not taking B12 supplements.
> >
>
> Or perhaps on the Dunkin Donuts/Ring Ding/Pringles Diet some of us live on when we get depressed? I've often wondered how relevant the studies saying vitamin supplements don't help most people are to me. It's very nice to say that you "just" need to eat a balanced diet. The daily effort that involves has sometimes been beyond me for years at a time but I can usually manage to buy bottles of vitamins every few months and remember to take them more days than not.I think the latest figures show that at least 10% of the population are B-12 deficient. Common contributing factors are: hypochlorhydria, or low stomach acid, often artificially induced with drugs like Nexxium or Prilosec to treat heartburn or GERD; malabsorption disorders including celiac sprue, and lactose intolerance; irritable bowel and Crohn's disease; pernicious anemia; and those other things mentioned by other posters.
It was long believed that oral B-12 was not well absorbed, so depo injections were developed. The B-12 in the shot is actually mixed with a substance that doesn't dissolve the B-12 properly. It gradually diffuses from this mixture, and thus provides a long-standing supply of B-12.
It has recently been found that oral B-12 has multiple routes of absorption, and the one that involves intrinsic factor (deficient in pernicious anemia), although a major route, can easily be bypassed. There are sub-lingual B-12 tablets which dissolve under the tongue. The B-12 is readily absorbed across the oral mucosa. There are high-dose B-12 tablets which do not require liberation by stomach acid and combination with intrinsic factor for uptake. The dose is high enough that passive diffusion across the intestinal membrane allows a few per cent of the dose to be absorbed.
The link with GERD is more that coincidence, by the way. B-12 deficiency is a cause of GERD. I used to require Prilosec to function, day to day. I took part in clinical trials for Nexxium. I no longer take either one. One of the reasons is that I started taking high-dose B-12.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:201840
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030219/msgs/202739.html