Everything You Need to Know About Vitamin B12 (Webinar)
Everything You Need to Know About Vitamin B12
Length: 51 minutes
TLDR? Vitamin B12 deficiency is a common concern worldwide.[1] This deficiency is linked to low energy and poor health. If you’re in the market for an excellent B12 supplement, I highly recommend Global Healing’s own Vitamin B12. This supplement is made from 100% vegan sources and contains the most bioactive forms of B12. Want to know more? Watch the video or read below!
Video Transcript
Hi everyone. I'm Dr. Group, DC with Global Healing, and today I'm going to talk about one of my favorite nutrients which is B12. So the presentation is basically going to be, "Why every single person, well the majority of people, I feel, need to be on a B12 supplement?" And everything you need to know about B12.
So I'm happy you're joining me today, and today we're going to talk about what I consider again one of life's most important nutrients. Most people know B12 is a vitamin that supports their energy levels, but there's a lot more to this vitamin than just supporting your energy levels. B-12 is essential for your brain, your nervous system, your heart, your mental health and so much more.
Unfortunately if you don't get enough B12 your health is going to suffer many things and your body is going to suffer. The statistics show that an overwhelming majority of people worldwide simply don't get enough B12, and most adults over 50 according to studies but I think even adults over the age of let's say 25 or 30 have concerns absorbing B12. So getting enough B12 in your diet alone can be a challenge, and if you follow or you're thinking about following a vegan or vegetarian diet, you probably been told that it can leave you especially vulnerable to a B12 deficiency. But I'm telling you that, that's not really the case. B12 deficiency can affect anyone, not just vegetarians and vegans but also believe it or not most meat eaters are deficient in B12. Some of the more common symptoms of B12 deficiency include fatigue, irritability, feeling ran down specially in the afternoon, never having any energy, memory loss, depression, pale skin, brain fog, mental cloudiness, even weird things like burning sensations, muscle cramps, bleeding gums, slow reflexes, all of these things are potential indications that a B12 deficiency is affecting your body.
The good news is that all those concerns are completely and easily avoidable. If you pay attention to your nutritional needs and you know what to do and supplement with a good B12 supplement. That's what we're going to cover today. Every single thing you need to know about vitamin B12.
So first of all, I'd like to discuss what exactly is vitamin B12. B12 is not created by plants or animals, it's actually created by soil based bacteria. You might even say it's similar to a probiotic. The term B12 is actually a catch all used to describe a group of vitamins known as "cobalamins", and there's four types of cobalamins. There's methylcobalamin, adenosylcobalamin which are the two cofactors of B12, and then there's hydroxocobalamin, and then there's cyanocobalamin. Hydroxocobalamin is the one the pharmaceutical companies have patented and usually that's used as an injectable form of B12.
So methylcobalamin is one of the cofactors of B12 and is one of the two better forms or the best forms of B12, specially when it's combined with the other co-factor which is adenosylcobalamin. These are the only forms of B12 that are already broken down that your body is able to absorb almost instantaneously and use.
Methylcobalamin is also really good for your heart. As a matter of fact, one study found that methylcobalamin was effective at lowering homocysteine levels. High homocysteine levels are associated cardiovascular disease. Adenosylcobalamin is the other cofactor form of B12 and the second active form of B12. Then you have hydroxocobalamin and cyanocobalamin. Hydroxocobalamin isn't bad but the methyl and the adenosylcobalamin are way better for your body to take in. Cyanocobalamin is the one you want to avoid, it's basically cobalamin bonded with cyanide and commercially produced. This is the type of B12 that is produced by bacteria fermentation for the purpose of low cost, cheap vitamin and food fortification. This is the kind of B12 that people fortify and all the different types of food, cereals and stuff like that out there at conventional grocery stores, it's the one that's really bad for you.
If you start looking at B12 supplements, it's the one you see cyanocobalamin in the majority of probably 99% of the B12 supplements out there contains cyanocobalamin. One easy rule is if you see cyanocobalamin in something, you know that company is not a good company so don't buy their nutritional supplements, don't buy their foods or whatever. It's just a very low poor quality.
So let's talk about why B12 is actually very important for you. I can't stress enough B12 plays a huge important role in your body.
It impacts everything from your energy levels to the way your brain functions. Your nervous system and brain neurons actually rely heavily on B12. In fact, people that have a mass multiple sclerosis or als Lou Gehrig's, ALS need extra vitamin B12 supplementation because it helps protect the myelin sheath surrounding the nerves.
B-12 and folate also work together to create healthy blood cells. B12 helps with melatonin production that can impact your sleep, your mood quality. B12 involve with serotonin production which can help supports your mood. B12 contributes and support your thyroid health. We see people, I mean practically the whole world is having concerns with their thyroid now and it's because B12 deficiency, it's also because of iodine deficiency. B12 helps support your immune system, also male fertility suffers from a lack of vitamin B12 and that was actually a study done at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
The Linus Pauling Institute and Oregon State University found that low vitamin B12 correlates with an increased risk of breast cancer. There's even evidence that suggest that high vitamin B12 administration can help protect against brain atrophy and destruction. Something that could be really important as you grow older especially with dementia and Alzheimer's care. So it actually helps support the brain and might even help prevent some of those damaging dementia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's diseases which are nothing more than just toxic chemicals and heavy metals that have accumulated in the brain, but the B12 can help to protect those brain pathways from degradation from the other toxins.
B-12 also supports energy levels, your endurance that's why it's great for athletes to use it. It works by supporting your cellular function and this directly translate into more physical energy. So here's the bottom line, with so many systems in your body relying on B12, if you don't get enough you're setting yourself up for B12 deficiency and a long list of health concerns.
So I want to get in to B12 deficiency but before we do, it's going to help if I first describe exactly how your body processes and absorbs B12 because this is one of the big concerns that I found when doing research on B12. By the way, I was not the kind of person that I thought people needed B12 all the time, but so many people started writing in and saying, "Well, you're not recommending B12. We all need B12. What's going on?" So I actually had to take three months and do extensive research in the B12 and I was actually amazed of what I found. I mean, because I really don't like to recommend a lot of things to people, I'm more into if you cleanse your body, you keep your body clean on a regular basis, you can act– keep yourself healing mechanism activated, obviously avoiding all the junk foods and stuff like that. But what I have to say is everybody was right. The conclusion of this research or summarized– I'm going to summarize all my research during this presentation today and hopefully you'll see the same thing that I saw, and I started taking B12. I actually developed a B12 supplement because I wanted to take a B12 that had the methylcobalamin and the adenosylcobalamin, and it was GMO free and vegan friendly, vegetarian friendly and everything like that.
Now there's a bunch of B12 supplements out there and this is not an advertisement for my B12 supplement, it's just good information that everybody needs to know because still today, I don't know everything about everything. I mean you still find out things and with the world evolving and changing, you still find some things that you're not going to get through the food supply like I talk a lot about iodine which we have iodine receptors and vitamin D, those are all things that I think everybody needs to be on.
So how does your body actually absorb and process B12? Well first we have to understand that our bodies do not make B12. The only way to get it is through our diet. Now this is the case with most vitamins. However, most vitamins are water soluble and easily absorbs but B12 is different and it requires that your digestive system is working properly which most people's digestive system are not working properly, and this is what lead me to the conclusion that we all need to take or supplement our system with B12.
When you consume B12 through foods, it goes through a lengthy digestive process that begins in your mouth. When you chew up your food, it mixes with saliva. Although most people don't chew their food properly until it's a liquid before they swallow it. The saliva actually contains proteins that protect the B12 from gastric acid in your stomach. Another thing about your stomach, it's lined with cells that are called parietal cells. The parietal cells secrete hydrochloric acid which help with protein digestion, but they also secretes something called intrinsic factor and this is they key when you're talking about B12.
Intrinsic factor is actually a carrier for B12. So when you swallow your food, the saliva protein known as our protein will degrade in the small intestine or the duodenum and it will release the B12. So it protects the B12 in the stomach until it gets to the duodenum of the small intestine, and then it releases the B12.
It's right there in the small intestine that the B12 will bind to intrinsic factor and transport the vitamin through the duodenum and the jejunum into the ileum which has intrinsic factor B12 receptor. So the ileum actually has B12 receptors and that's how you absorb them, but the intrinsic factor has to carry the B12 to the ileum to reach the intrinsic factor receptors. So along the way, it's involved the the synthesis of hormones like melatonin and neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin. Now, if you don't have enough intrinsic factor then the B12 can't bind to it and it can't be absorbed properly. It'll just exit out through your body. Now keep in mind that's a best case scenario. Good B12 absorption is relying on a lot of different things specially enzymes and pancreatic enzymes like lipase and protease as well. If anyone of those steps is out of balance, you might not be able to absorb the B12 you need, and that's what we're finding with today's society. All of the toxic foods, the beverages, all the other stuff is that we have a concern with intrinsic factor and actually absorbing B12.
So it might not be that you're not taking it then, it might just be that you're not absorbing it, carrying it and utilizing it properly. This is a big concern for the majority of people and usually the primary cause is not B12 but not having enough intrinsic factor. Now there's a number of reasons that you might not have enough intrinsic factor. If you have weak stomach acid or you just don't produce enough stomach acid, you might have low intrinsic factor.
Sometimes stomach surgery, if you ever have any type of stomach surgery, that can affect intrinsic factor production. If you have gastritis, that can destroy the gastric mucosa which in inhibit intrinsic factor production. Some of the things that most people eat on a daily basis like MSG which is hidden under natural flavoring, hydrolyzed vegetable protein. I mean there's probably 35 different hidden terms for MSG where you would never think you're consuming MSG but you actually are. That has been shown to directly decrease gastric intrinsic factor. So if you're consuming, you're eating out of restaurants, even though you're taking an animal protein and stuff like that that might contain B12, you're not producing the intrinsic factor that carries the B12 to the ileum.
One thing you definitely need to be careful of and I had no idea about this is mercury. Tap water, water contamination, if you have dental fillings of mercury, all that can leak down into the gut. If you ate fish that contains mercury, high fruit, corn syrup. I mean there's plenty of sources of mercury out there. What happens is the mercury can damage the small intestine and affect not only B12 absorption but also intrinsic factor production.
Another thing that we can link altered intrinsic factor production to is genetically modified foods, specially the GMO foods that contains the BT Toxin which can damage the stomach cells causing them to not produce or alter the production of intrinsic factor, and that also leads to leaky gut syndrome. Gluten is another thing that I would recommend everybody avoid whether you're gluten sensitive or not because now it's been shown that gluten can actually cause an immune response for up to six months straight if you just consume gluten one meal, and those who don't know what gluten is, that's going to be any of your wheat or barley or rye, the majority of the foods out there that are made with any type of wheat are going to contain gluten. So whether you're sensitive or not, we all are sensitive to gluten and it has been shown that gluten causes damage to the parietal cells in the stomach. So again gluten can actually prevent you from absorbing B12.
What happens is your immune system can actually attack intrinsic factor which can be induced by gluten sensitivity, chemicals, plastics, bad food, an acidic environment. When your immune system attacks the intrinsic factor that can cause what's called "pernicious anemia". The causes are enormous, I mean we could talk about probably thousands of different things that you're going to take in through your mouth, air, food, water, beverages, all that stuff because so many people are having gut issues, stomach issues, but the bottom line is any of those toxins that are coming into your mouth can cause an alteration in your stomach, can cause alterations in the acidity level of your stomach, and all that can lead to B12 deficiency.
So let's talk a little bit about B12 deficiency, I would say after doing three months of research and please do your own research because don't believe everything that I say. I'm just relaying this information so you can use this to start your own research. I would say that B12 deficiency is a huge concern, and it probably affects close to 80% of the population out there. I say that because believe it or not, even most pets are deficient as what their finding. I mean if you ask your vet, they'll probably going to do some test and find out that your cat or your dog is deficient and that's why most cats and dogs right now are getting B12 shots. But anyway, B12 deficiency can produce a huge range of symptoms.
Now for most people, the biggest symptom of B12 deficiency is fatigue, mental fatigue, as well as physical fatigue. They just don't have the energy. They're always feeling drained. If this is you, and sleep and exercise aren't doing the trick to increase your energy, that's probably because you a deficiency of B12. B12 can also bring on physical symptoms that can be anything from an upset stomach, shortness of breath, neuropathy, nerve pain, anemia, that's when the blood doesn't have enough red blood cells. Now a lot of people think this only relates to iron deficiency which isn't true. Remember, B12 is necessary to produce red blood cells, and red blood cells carry oxygen.
So if you're low on red blood cells, you're not going to have enough oxygen headed to your brain and your muscles. So muscles need oxygen and poor oxygen circulation can also cause muscle pain.
So you can link a B12 deficiency to many things and ultimately not enough oxygen to the brain can symptoms of mental illness, brain fog and more different types of symptoms. In fact, talking about B12 deficiency and how it affects the brain and mental health, I touched on it before but quite frankly, anytime you got neurological or psychiatric issues, a B12 deficiency needs to be considered. Now, think about all the kids and all the people these days that are taking the anti depressants, anti psychotic, ADD, ADHD medications, bipolar medications, anti anxiety medications, I mean personally I don't believe there's anything that mental illness doesn't even exist because I've done the research, all mental illness is caused by some sort of vitamin deficiency or it's caused by too many toxins coming in, chemicals that leads endocrine disrupting chemicals, all that could go up to the brain and cause misfiring of your brain can end up causing mental illness. But right now, doing research I actually found out that vitamin B12 deficiency is involved in many neurological disorders, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, memory loss, stress, anxiety, depression, an ADD, ADHD, nervous system damage, there's even 400 studies linking B12 deficiency to anxiety and depression.
There was a paper from the journal of nutrition and wellness that reported B12 deficiency can lead to psychosis, mania, depression, memory loss and memory malfunction and more.
So if you're experiencing or if you know anybody that's experiencing depression, mood swings, even sadness, lack of motivation, you need to think about B12 as a possible cause and make sure that maybe you want to go down and meet with your natural healthcare practitioner or whatever because, "Hey, it's a simple easy remedy that might actually take care of these mental illnesses and prevent you from being on any type of psychiatric or psychotropic drugs which are extremely damaging, and the list of side effects for those is we could do a whole show about that. There's even research to suggest that B12 deficiency contributes obsessive compulsive disorder.
Researchers at the University of Michigan and Tufts University found that vitamin B deficiency may increase the risk of age related cognitive decline including Alzheimer's disease. In some cases, a thyroid disorder like hypothyroidism can combine with the B12 deficiency and creates symptoms of depression. a lot of things happen with the thyroid in a lack of B12 deficiency. Just think how many psychiatric ailments can be linked to a relatively simple dietary deficiency, specially iodine, B12 and vitamin D. Those three are three of the things that I always do, of course I always do complete cleansing with people first but anybody that's suffering from any mental illness clean up their intestines, clean their liver and gall bladders, as a matter of fact traditional Chinese medicine, [SP] a Rovatec, always associate in mental illnesses with liver congestion.
So cleansing the liver and iodine vitamin D3 and B12 might be, I mean I'm not saying it's going to work all the time but it might be something you want to look into for any type of mental or neurological issues. The question is, "Are you giving your brain, your nervous system the nutrition it needs to function properly?" I mean that's the question you have to ask, so it's better not to wait for symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency to arise before you start paying attention to, if you need B12 or not.
There's even something called subacute combined degeneration which affects the white matter in the brain's spinal cord when you're B12 deficient. This is something you want to avoid obviously at all cost since it can affect your neurological function, how you walk and your muscle strength. So think about that, it's much easier to just get enough vitamin B12 than to have to deal with the symptoms. So then, I went to look into what actually causes a B12 deficiency? Why are we all B12 deficient?
So it's obviously– Well, obviously B12 deficiency is caused by not getting enough B12. That's what most people are thinking anyway. Well, you didn't get enough B12 in your diet that's why you're deficient. However, the real number one reason most people are B12 deficient is because they didn't absorbed enough due to unhealthy digestive system. That is what I realized and that's what a lot of other practitioners have realized. It's not like you're not consuming enough B12, the concern is you're not absorbing it and your digestive system is messed up.
So remember how we talked about the intensive process your body goes through to digest and absorb the B12? Well, if your stomach or small intestine have any functional or structural damage, you may have trouble absorbing enough vitamin B12 and other nutrients for that matter. So if you have leaky gut syndrome, food allergy, you're sensitive to dairy or gluten, you might have excessive bloating or gas, if you have harmful organisms in your intestines like parasites that can steal or destroy the B12 before you even get it. For example, tapeworms are notorious for stealing vitamin B12 from people. If you eat sushi, I mean I've come to the conclusion also that every single person has parasites. I mean if you're not doing a parasite cleanse twice a year, at least once a year then it's time for you to seriously look into doing that. I mean for example, one square inch of sushi has been found to contain 10,000 to 100,000 larva or eggs of different types of worms, mostly tapeworms. Parasites can lay up to 100,000 eggs a day or maybe even up to a million. So it's just something to consider but any type of gastric concerns, any chronic irritation of the stomach lining can result in the reduction or loss of gastric cells. IBS, Cronus disease, also the colitis celiac disease. I mean the list of digestive, our concerns goes on and on and on. Really any inflammation or inflammatory bound disease or digestive ailment, if you have any of that there's a strong chance that you're not absorbing enough B12 or other nutrients for that matter. Don't think that, "Hey," like me I eat a fairly healthy diet.
I mean I'm mostly raw vegan most of the time, and why would I have deficiency in B12, most likely I probably would. Wrong, after reviewing all this research and even eating a healthy diet, I still and I didn't do any test but I still had some of the symptoms of B12 deficiency and I started taking 2,000 micrograms a day and I've notice a tremendous difference in my overall health just by taking some additional B12.
Some people think well, I eat healthy. I'm exempt from all the concerns but that's not necessarily true. I mean, age can be a factor. I'm almost 50 and as you do– I had a horrible diet for probably the first 25 years of my life, 30 years of my life. So that does come into play. I did have digestive concerns, that's one of the reasons why I started– I stopped eating meat slowly over a period of time. Wasn't because I was a radical, and I just wanted to say, "Oh I want to be a vegan or I want to be a vegetarian." It's because I grew up for a long period of time on crappy food. I even can remember a time where I was eating TV dinners. I mean, I can still remember everything that comes on a Salisbury Steak TV dinner because I ate it for like weeks on it one time in my life. So even not consuming enough probiotics and lacking of good solid balance of good bacteria in your gut can lead to a B12 deficiency too. So there's a lot of assorted items that can be problematic factors. Alcohol consumption. I mean alcohol isn't good for the liver and it can cause inflammation to the stomach and decrease stomach acid which can lead to be B12 deficiency. There's quite a bit of research to show that parietal cell function is dramatically decreased when it's exposed to alcohol.
Also the British Journal of Nutrition reported a study that showed coffee intake correlated with low B12 status. That's people that are drinking probably more than one cup of coffee a day. We have to remember also that 80% of the coffee, the world's coffee supply is heavily contaminated with pesticides and insecticides residue. I personally would probably link the damage to the– not specifically to coffee but more to the pesticides and the insecticides and the herbicides that are causing damage to the parietal cells. I don't like to think anything naturally growing on the Earth if it's organic can really cause that much damage to the body unless it's over used. So stress actually, smoking is another thing, acidic conditions can also destroy B12. Meat for example which is a source of B12 is actually very acidic and can destroy the B12 that it contains. One thing that doesn't get talked about enough is the number of prescription medications that can cause B12 deficiency. That was very shocking– Well, it wasn't shocking but you know, when you look at all the different things like I was doing it's like, "Okay, let's see. Is this true? Does everybody need B12?" Well when you look at all the different factors out there that can damage the parietal cells and damage the production of intrinsic factor and can neutralized B12 absorption, I'm telling you there's a lot of things out there. Some of the things you would never even think about. I mean think of how many people right now and how many children are on one or more prescription medications.
If you are, if you know somebody that is, no doubt about it, you're going to be B12 deficient and you're going to have to supplement B12 into your diet.
Antibiotics, big. This is something tracing back because antibiotics can destroy B12 and considering that many animals on free lots are raised with antibiotics, cows, pigs and stuff like that. This also might be a reason why so many meat eaters are deficient in B12, because if you're not eating grass fed, organic chicken and beef and everything organic. I mean even the organic ones still sometimes have to use antibiotics then, you could be thinking you're getting your B12 from your meet but you're actually not because the animal has antibiotics in it.
I'll tell you also with so many people being on– having diabetes and the metformin, a type two diabetes medication, that's been linked to impaired B12 absorption. So anyone out there have heartburn, okay. If you take acid blockers, watch out because most anti acid, practically all antacids are going to reduce B12 absorption.
I know, living in Houston, we have the oil and gas industry here. There's people that– I mean practically everybody I talked to, men over the ages 30 have a roll of antacids in their pocket, and they pop them like they're candy. They go to two or three rolls of antacids a day. So how on Earth are they going to be getting B12, they're not. So just be aware, all antacids are going to inhibit B12, proton pumping inhibitors which are used to reduce stomach acid and manage acid reflux have been linked to a 65% increase risk for vitamin B12 deficiency, and that was a study published by the journal– JAMA, Journal of American Medical Association.
If you've known anybody that's had cancer that have gone through chemotherapy or radiation. Chemo is ultra rough on your whole body for that matter especially the digestive system. It irritates the stomach, the intestines which is terrible because B12 is specially important for people with cancer. Anyone undergoing chemo should be taking megadoses of B12 because it's going to help protect some of the normal cells.
One thing that I should talk about is how B12 deficiency affects people following a vegan or vegetarian diet because that's all you hear out there. Well, if you're a vegan, if you're a vegetarian, you're going to be deficient in B12. No doubt about it. In fact, what I found out is, that is one of the biggest myths about B12 deficiency, that's it's a bigger concern for vegans and vegetarians than meat eaters. Unfortunately it's pretty common for people to mention to their doctor that they're transitioning to a vegan or vegetarian diet and the doctor jumps all over them and basically says, "Oh, you're going to be deficient in B12, you're going to be deficient of iron and all that." Aside from the fact that the health benefits from a plant based diet are incredible specially alive plant based diet, the truth is that eating meat isn't some sort of free pass out of B12 deficiency and meat eaters are just as likely if not more likely to suffer from a B12 deficiency because people who eat meat are more likely to have the gastrointestinal issues that inhibit the absorption of B12. Sounds strange but there was a study performed 60 years ago called the Framingham study and it looked at the effect of cholesterol on cardiovascular disease and inadvertently found that many meat eaters were low in B12.
One of the reasons is that the B12 producing bacteria is heat sensitive and is killed when the animals or is cooked. So this alone is going to make most animals sourced B12 unusable. So that means, that study proved and with more research coming out– is you can't really even get your B12 whether you're a vegan, vegetarian or meat eater. Those study from the journal of agricultural and food chemistry that found microwaving foods containing B12 reduced the vitamin content by close to 50%. So even if you have a little bit of B12 left in your food and you microwaved it which I highly recommend, by the way everybody throwing out your microwave because microwaves radiate the food. They cause damage to the food and what you're getting is dead irradiated food that you're putting in your body. It's extremely unhealthy and it activates the immune system, and immune system actually has to attack your own food.
So we talked about the symptoms of B12 deficiency and a lot of the health concerns. Obviously most people are wondering at this point in time, is there some way to test to see if I have B12 deficiency? The answer is yes. You can test. There are few ways to check for B12 deficiency. They are not a 100% accurate but they can definitely provide some clues.
The thing to know is that B12 works in the cells, not the blood stream. So a serum B12 like a blood serum B12 measurement isn't going to be totally accurate. But there is something called spectracell test which can determine intracellularly if B12 deficiency exist and is a better evaluation. You can also measure methylmalonic acid and homocysteine levels to indirectly tell if B12 is low, but they're not as reliable as spectracell. There are test that can determine if you have anemia also and what type of anemia. There is something called the schilling test actually which checks vitamin B12 absorption and can also determine if you have pernicious anemia. All of these are fairly standard lab procedures you could have done, but obviously if you can, the best idea is to avoid that scenario in the first place. You could go to a doctor and you can get a lab test done or you can just look at your dietary habits, see if you're having any concerns, see if you're having any symptoms, or what I'm doing and what I recommend people do is just take a B12 supplement which is what brings me to the next part of the presentation which is, "What is the best way to correct and avoid a B12 deficiency?"
Well, the best way to avoid a B12 deficiency is to consume enough B12. I personally recommend at least 1,000 to 2,000 micrograms a day. The only B12 I would take is a B12 supplement with the cofactors which is a combination of the methylcobalamin and the adenosylcobalamin.
So where can you get get B12? Well, one obvious answer like we talked about is food. Foods considered to be good sources of B12 are beef liver. How many people that you know eat beef liver, red meat. Of course if it's medium or rare or something like that is probably going to have more B12 in it because it's not cooked all the way through. Make sure it's organic. Dairy which I recommend, nobody eats dairy products because dairy is an inflammatory products which cause inflammation in the intestinal tract and may even harm the parietal cells which secrete intrinsic factor. But raw dairy is another– it would be something that some people might want to consider. Shellfish also contains B12. So you have to decide for yourself whether or not to consume animal products, and if you do, that's your choice. That's fine. But I still with all the toxic chemicals and everything else, you're looking at even consuming animal products all day you probably still going to be vitamin B12 deficient.
Personally I avoid meat and dairy but that's something that I had concerns with for a long period of time and I slowly eliminate it. Just make sure you only get organic grass fed meat or a dairy locally, sustainably raised and stuff like that. If you are a vegan or you are a vegetarian, there's definitely fewer options available for you. Now, a lot of the foods for vegans and vegetarians are fortified and even other foods are fortified with synthetic vitamin D. There's like soy which I highly recommend people avoid, and the fortification is done with cyanocobalamin. The cyanocobalamin is not the ideal form of B12. The ideal form is the methylcobalamin or the adenosylcobalamin.
Those are the only two co-factors of vitamin B12. Those are what vitamin B12 breaks down into the body. There's a lot of supplements out there that contain methylcobalamin. But the adenosylcobalamin is the other co-factor of B12. Unfortunately the adenosylcobalamin is very, very expensive to put in in a nutritional supplement. So the perfect nutritional supplement would have a ratio of adenosylcobalamin and methylcobalamin in the same supplement. That's what we use and that's what I actually produced, even though the adenosylcobalamin is $14,000 - 15,000 a kilogram. But if I'm going to be taking something, I'm going to be taking the best and I'm going to be taking both of the co-factors.
So there's really no question in my opinion that a B12 supplement is the easiest way to consistently and reliably meet your B12 requirements. A lot of people go in for B12 injections. They take a pill, they take the sublingual drops. There's even B12 patches available. So it doesn't matter whatever you choose to do, that's what you choose to do. You might just try to avoid the cyanocobalamin.
There's really no denying the fast acting efficacy of a B12 injection. Injections are great but if you don't like getting shots, or you don't have easy access to the doctor, they're not for everyone and what I found is they– I haven't found injectable B12 that contains methylcobalamin and adenosylcobalamin. So that's why I feel like the liquid supplements are fast, easy, convenient, take a few drops. Take a drop for full, hold it under your tongue. Switch it around your mouth for 30 seconds or so, swallow it.
I specially like the fact that the ones that contain vegetable glycerin. The glycerin actually protects the B12 from some of the stomach acid. So you actually get that B12 coming down into the small intestine. According to research at Texas A&M University, B12 injections and B12 supplements are equally effective. The Lancet which is the British medical journal even published information that cited oral B12 supplementation as more tolerable than injections. Not much surprise that a swallow of liquid is easier to take than getting stuck with the needle.
So like I said the best B12 supplements on the market are going to contain a combination of the methylcobalamin and the adenosylcobalamin. That actually– not only that I'm saying that the National Institute of Health website says the exact same thing. That's what some doctors are recommending although it's very rare to kind of find a supplement that has both of those.
So while we're talking about the absorption of B12, it's probably a good time to mention the necessity of making sure your digestive system is in order because remember, we talked about before about the intricate process of what has to happen for your body to actually absorb the B12, and how any kink in the digestive process can cause concerns with B12 absorption, and really nutrient absorption overall. So you can take all the B12 in the world, but if you're not absorbing it, it doesn't matter. The answer to this is, is to strengthen your digestive system, heal your gut. Remove the inflammatory food from your diet. If you're consuming a lot of processed sugar, stop. If you're eating gluten, stop or just slowly reduce it over a period of time until you can stop.
Another big thing is to avoid and stop eating genetically modified foods, that's going to be your corn, your soy, your beans. I mean a lot of things are genetically modified, and how to avoid? The easiest way is to just eat organic, certified organic foods. Those are study over 15 years ago that found the mice fed potatoes treated with the BT toxin is what they use in genetically modified foods had structural changes in the ileum, and that's where your B12 is going to be absorbed.
The ileum is the main– Well, it is the only in the major absorption side of B12 before it releases into your system. So changes in the ileum structure will absolutely affect your B12 status. If you're not eating probiotic foods, taking a probiotics supplement then something I highly recommend you start doing. That's not a replacement for B12 supplementation but some probiotic bacteria particularly lactic acid bacteria play a role in production of B12 in the guts. So kefir, kombucha tea, a good probiotic formula. Those are all really good to repair and strengthen your gut health. There was even a study in Stanford, they found if you take a probiotic supplement it greatly increase your B12 levels and the absorption of B12. Another thing that I always recommend that people can do to help reset their digestive system is to perform a series of body cleansing. Oxygen and intestinal cleansing and liver cleansing specially. If you've never done this, check out our nine-step body cleanse program on our website at GlobalHealingCenter.com.
It can be a huge game changer for you. So anytime, really the one thing that I always talk about is activating your body's own self healing mechanism. Creating a clean and green outside environment, breathing clean air, eating clean food, drinking clean water and avoiding all the toxic things that can come in to your life or into your mouth.
So let's just do a little recap of what we've talked about. Vitamin B12 is absolutely essential for your health. It doesn't only affect your energy levels but your cardiovascular health, your nervous system, your bones, your joints and specially your brain. Unlike other vitamins, absorbing B12 requires that your digestive system and your liver are working efficiently, so that's another thing to consider. Is your digestive system healthy? Would you benefit from an intestinal cleanse? Are you getting enough probiotics? Are you getting enough enzymes? Have you performed a liver cleanse? Are you giving your liver regular nutritional support?
kIt's great feedback that'll help others and it adds to the conversation. So thanks for watching. Tune in for more great videos on our Youtube account at Global Healing or visit us online at GlobalHealingCenter.com, sign up for our newsletter, our blog and thanks for taking the time to watch this presentation today.
References (1)
- Stabler, SP, and RH Allen. “Vitamin B12 Deficiency as a Worldwide Problem.” Annual Review of Nutrition., vol. 24, 11 June 2004, pp. 299–326. Accessed 3 Mar. 2017.
†Results may vary. Information and statements made are for education purposes and are not intended to replace the advice of your doctor. If you have a severe medical condition or health concern, see your physician.
Dr. Edward Group, DC
FOUNDER | HEALER | ADVOCATEDr. Group, DC is a healer and alternative health advocate, and an industry leader and innovator in the field of natural health who is dedicated to helping others. He is a registered doctor of chiropractic (DC), a naturopathic practitioner (NP), and proud alum of Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan School of Management. Dr. Group, DC is the founder of Global Healing – a mission and vision he has shared through best-selling books and frequent media appearances. He aims to spread his message of positivity, hope, and wellness throughout the world.
