Vitamin B-12

Energetic young woman

What Is Vitamin B-12?

  • Nutrient that helps keep the body’s nerve and blood cells healthy and helps make DNA, the genetic material in all cells.
  • Essential to the human body.

What Does Vitamin B-12 Do?

  • Aides in digestion.
  • Improves energy levels.
  • Controls many important functions including working with the B vitamin folate to create the genetic material of our bodies.
  • Assists in keeping homocysteine, an amino acid that helps decrease the risk of heart disease, at proper level.
  • Assists in the creation of red blood cells and these cells carry oxygen to the body’s tissues.
  • Improves unhealthy cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, and stroke.
  • Assists in the prevention of lung, breast, prostate, and colon cancers.

Methylcobalamin (Methyl-B-12) Versus Cyanocobalamin (Cyano-B-12)

Methylcobalamin:

  • Most Active form of B-12.
  • Most of the B-12 we have circulating through our bloodstream is in the methylcobalamin form.
  • Works with your body, not against it.

Cyanocobalamin:

  • Less active form of B-12.
  • B-12 we find in fortified foods, dietary supplements, energy drinks, and doctor-prescribed injections.
  • Does not occur naturally.
  • Synthetically produced in a laboratory from bacterial hydroxycobalamin for use by pharmaceutical and supplement companies.
  • More widely available because it is much less expensive to produce synthetically than the more active form of methylcobalamin or methyl-B-12.
  • Cyano-B-12 is bound to cyanide which can be toxic in high levels.

Why Our Bodies Don’t Benefit From Cyanocobalamin (Cyano-B-12)

  • Body works harder to remove the cyanide molecule from the vitamin, and flush the cyanide completely from our system.
  • The liver must convert cyano-B-12 to methylcobalamin for our body to even get a usable form of B-12.
  • By the time your body finishes this conversion, it has already used up the benefits.

Why Are So Many Americans B12 Deficient?

  • Poor diet.
  • Process of getting food from farm to table is full of chemicals and additives.
  • Veganism: dairy, fish, and animal proteins are the main source of this vitamin in our diet.
  • Low levels of stomach acid, which carries B12 through the body.
  • Diabetes: medicines used for treatment affect how the body absorbs this vitamin.
  • Other causes: astrophic gastritis, pernicious anmeia, celiac disease, Chron’s disease, surgery, acid-reducing drugs, lupus, Graves’ disease, and even excessive alcohol consumption.

Symptoms Of B12 Deficiency

  • Sore tongue
  • Pale thin skin
  • Bleeding gums
  • Easy bruising or bleeding
  • Constipation
  • Rapid heartbeat
  • Light-headedness
  • Weakness
  • Fatigue
  • Stomach upset
  • Weight loss

*These are not the only symptoms, but are the most common when diagnosing a deficiency.*

Medical Interaction To Vitamin B-12

Vitamin B12 can interact or interfere with medicines that you take. Here are several examples of medicines that can interfere with the body’s absorption or use of vitamin B12:

  • Chloramphenicol (Chloromycetin®), an antibiotic that is used to treat certain infections.
  • Proton pump inhibitors, such as omeprazole (Prilosec®) and lansoprazole (Prevacid®), that are used to treat acid reflux and peptic ulcer disease.
  • Histamine H2 receptor antagonists, such as cimetidine (Tagamet®), famotidine (Pepcid®), and ranitidine (Zantac®), that are used to treat peptic ulcer disease.
  • Metformin, a drug used to treat diabetes.

***Tell your doctor, pharmacist, and other health care providers about any dietary supplements and medicines you take. They can tell you if those dietary supplements might interact or interfere with your prescription or over-the-counter medicines or if the medicines might interfere with how your body absorbs, uses, or breaks down nutrients.***

Side Effects Of Vitamin B-12

  • Tell your doctor, pharmacist, and other health care providers about any dietary supplements and medicines you take.

Allergies To Vitamin B-12

  • Tell your doctor, pharmacist, and other health care providers about any dietary supplements and medicines you take.

Rag-Tag Research Geek Recommendation

Methylcobalamin is the most active form of B-12, requiring no conversion by the body prior to becoming usable. What you get is the most immediate and effective form of B-12.  We recommend Bang! B-12™ which contains 2000mcg of Methylcobalamin B-12.

We’re hoping to see more retailers carry Bang! B12™ in the near future. However, since it’s brand new only a few so far have picked it up:


1. StillSmilin.com — relative newcomer, they are attracting customers with very low trial prices and automatic monthly shipments. This is a perfect service for people serious about staying healthy, long term, and that’s exactly what we are all about, so we wholeheartedly support what they are building!

Get Bang! B12™ from StillSmilin.com


2. Amazon.com — perhaps the largest retailer online. Is there anything they don’t sell?

Get Bang! B12™ from Amazon.com


3. aProvenProduct — Sells all the products we recommend and has the best customer service anywhere.

Get Bang! B12™ from aProvenProduct.com

3 comments

  1. Beautiful1 says:

    Hello, why is the Cyanocobalamin and not The Methylcobalamin in the multivitamin you provide
    When it is Cyanocobalamin that is
    Synthetically produced in a laboratory from bacterial hydroxycobalamin for use by pharmaceutical and supplement companies.
    Methylcobalamin (Methyl-B-12) Versus Cyanocobalamin (Cyano-B-12)
    Methylcobalamin:

    Most Active form of B-12.
    Most of the B-12 we have circulating through our bloodstream is in the methylcobalamin form.
    Works with your body, not against it.
    Cyanocobalamin:

    Less active form of B-12.
    B-12 we find in fortified foods, dietary supplements, energy drinks, and doctor-prescribed injections.
    Does not occur naturally.
    Synthetically produced in a laboratory from bacterial hydroxycobalamin for use by pharmaceutical and supplement companies.
    More widely available because it is much less expensive to produce synthetically than the more active form of methylcobalamin or methyl-B-12.
    Cyano-B-12 is bound to cyanide which can be toxic in high levels.
    Why Our Bodies Don’t Benefit From Cyanocobalamin (Cyano-B-12)
    Body works harder to remove the cyanide molecule from the vitamin, and flush the cyanide completely from our system.
    The liver must convert cyano-B-12 to methylcobalamin for our body to even get a usable form of B-12.
    By the time your body finishes this conversion, it has already used up the benefits.

    • Beautiful1 says:

      In addition to previous comment
      Why Our Bodies Don’t Benefit From Cyanocobalamin (Cyano-B-12)
      Body works harder to remove the cyanide molecule from the vitamin, and flush the cyanide completely from our system.
      The liver must convert cyano-B-12 to methylcobalamin for our body to even get a usable form of B-12.
      By the time your body finishes this conversion, it has already used up the benefits

      ThanX
      Diana

    • Geek 15 says:

      Hey again Beautiful! First I just want to clarify that we do not sell products here, we simply offer information and science. I assume, however, that you are referring to the Foundation Multivitamin offered by http://www.app-approved.com. Yes the foundation multivitamin does include a very small amount of the B12 in its cyanocobalamin form. What we have done was considered the other ingredients as well. In our search for the most effective multivitamin, we found this particular one, while it does contain cyano-b-12, to be the most beneficial. The good of the other ingredients far outweighed the minor amount of B-12. One thing we did like very much about aProvenProduct, was that they offered a separate B-12 product, Bang! B-12 that is far more effective than any other B-12 supplement we’ve found, and the B-12 in this one does come in the appropriate methylcobalamin form.

      I hope this was helpful!

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