SEE YOURSELF UP CLOSE! B12 Deficiency; it's Many Masks; Supplement and Proper Test Details

As I was putting together this article on B12, I thought I’d share my motivation. I see so much B12 lacking in everyone that I has an LBA session with me (live blood analysis) - almost an epidemic... And not all of this deficiency is for the same reason. As more and more (sometimes young) people switch to eating vegetarian and vegan - for whatever reasons - environmental, spiritual or financial - and often doing it on the advice of advertorials in dastardly “health” magazines that are covertly plugging the advertisers' products such as soy and spirulina and in scientific sounding articles. I shudder.
Also quite “shuddering“ is the misdiagnoses of a B12 deficiency due to masked symptoms from those we trust with our health! So here are some details just in case it may have any bearing on your persoal health or that of a loved one. I always assumed GPs tested for B12 once in a while to make sure all patients are doing well...Oops... not so! Lack of B12 causes many issues that get paraded around as symptoms that receive diagnoses and then medications or labels in mainstream medicine – depressions, anemia, chronic fatigue, etc.
The most important thing to know is that there are several kinds of B12 and that these are not at all created equal. For example, Analog B12, the kind that you cannot absorb, is removed from the body thru the stool. If your doctor’s lab tests your stool for B12 then it’s Analog (not human active) that they will find and they’ll say it’s fine as after all they have just found it! You can actually be quite deficient of the real active B12 in spite of mainstream medical tests. We take in the analog B12 mostly from eating plant based foods and it can block the good B12 from metabolizing properly.
Analog is found in spirulina, chlorella, tempeh, barley, malted syrup, shitake mushrooms, and above all (the ultimate culprit) unfermented soy. It is also in beans, flour, fillers, tofu, soy milk, edemame, etc) and more. It’s presence blocks the absorption of the good B12 - Hydroxocobalamine and Methylcobalamine. Hydroxocobalamine and Methylcobalamine. are the two bio-available B12’s which are found mainly in foods such as liver, clams-mussels-oysters and some other shell fish, beef, other red meats, (not white meat), salmon, trout, haddock, tuna, egg yolks, and to some degree in yoghurt, cheeses and a tiny bit in milk. (An example - one egg has the same amount of useable, good B12 as 1/2 a chicken). An omnivore who turns into a vegetarian can become very deficient in as little as 4 months! We store B12 in our livers for slack times.
B12 - the Hydroxocobalamine and Methylcobalamine variety - is what you want to see your supplements (and possible B12 shots) made of. This is the kind our bodies need, absorb and store. Without, we can become very ill. Look carefully for the right kind at quality health food stores as a lot of poor quality abounds - it is very telling which companies will spend a bit more on quality content and which ones want us to blindly swallow the analog variety - the kind also known as cyanocobalamine.
B12 deficiency can parade/mimic as many conditions such as inflammation, indigestion, constipation poor co-ordination, mood swings, depressions, the beginnings of MS, chronic fatigue, adrenal fatigue, infertility and increases in existing autism symptoms.
When B12 is bioavailable (through food and proper supplementation), then there is help with improving sleep quality, degenerative neurological diseases, depression, and detoxing and many more important chemical reactions. The red and white cells created in the bone marrow alsoimprove. B12 is intricately involved with the work of the bone marrow and the nervous system.
Cyanocobalamine B12 supplements – the kind most often seen on the store shelves (and in all the big-box stores) is ineffective and requires much higher dosages for little advantage.
B12 is part of a complex dance – the stomach’s hydro-chloric acid and R-protein has to be in good supply and these tend to decrease with age when not given attention (not to mention what happens when stomach coating medicatins and stomach/GERD/acid over-the-counter "help and relief" is taken. The enzyme pepsin and other intrinsic factors in the small intestines have to be in good working order, too, and can only be so with good healthy intestinal vila and no dysbiosis (leaky gut syndrome) and good basic digestion and a healthy stomach lining.
Low hydrochloric acid (or no acid due to meds) in the stomach doesn’t control the bacteria there properly and creates more of the analog B12 that blocks the good B12 there that you might be getting from your food and supplementation and this leads to bloating and a decrease of good, helpful bacteria. This also reduces the necessary intrinsic factors in the intestines.
Many people have this situation – and yet it is easy to adjust.
GP’s can offer tests for B12 – as long as they are not blood tests as these often deliver false positives and false negatives and also measure the free analog B12 – of no use. It’s of no value to know that you are circulating the stuff you don’t want and then be told that there you have it! Your B12 is fine! (These standard tests’ numbers, if you are stuck making do should be above 550 pg/ml - a level deemed as okay and healthy – as set in Japan. Lower numbers in North America are seen as normal and okay).
The most useful test is a methyl malonic acid (MMA) urine test (and hopefully it’ll be above .58 to 3.56 MMA ug/mg.)
Your GP will offer B12 shots – a great idea but only if your mercury fillings have been removed from your teeth – otherwise there will be more harm than good delivered to the nervous system due to toxic methylation. If you only want the odd one, say once per three months, then that can squeak through. Again, check to see what kind of B12 your physician or naturopath is actually using for the shot - they may have had an eager salesperson persuade them to get the cheaper cyanocobalamine variety.
Eating your way to B12 health is a wonderful alternative option - the best option, infact. Eat the right foods and maintain a healthy intestinal track to metabolise your fine B12 containing foods and get this essential health factor working in your favour at all times - important while healthy and important while healing. Important is also to use a live blood analysis session to see how you’re doing and where you’re at, so that
there is no guessing for such an important element.
Eat well and be well.
By Merrie Bakker, Vancouver, BC. http://www.PacificHolistic.com, info@pacificholistic.com
REIKI, Clearing with dowsing, Reiki classes, Wednesday evening Introductory Reiki sessions, Reflexology, one day Reflexology, Dowsing and Chakra classes