Vitamin B-12 absorption is a surprisingly complex process – you wouldn’t think just getting a vitamin into your bloodstream would have so many steps! For most things it’s just eat…absorb…GO! Not with B-12, tho. Which is one reason why it’s so easy to become B-12 deficient – with such fussy steps, there is much more that can go wrong.

General B-12 Facts

• The technical name for B-12 is cobalamin.
• There are four types of cobalamin.

This article on About.com attests that multiple sclerosis (MS) sufferers have a significantly higher rate of vitamin B-12 deficiency. Apparently vitamine B-12 deficiency can make MS symptoms worse. And unfortunately it might be a little more difficult to diagnose deficiency in people with MS, too – one study found that while blood B-12 levels were normal, the cerebrospinal fluid B-12 levels were low.

This is actually pretty easy to grasp. Imagine a steel factory – a factory where they sometimes don’t have enough of one of the needed materials for making really good girders for buildings.

Even if you are using supplementation like the vitamin B-12 patch, it’s still important to make sure you’re eating foods that are high in vitamin B-12. Generally you find the best sources in fish, meat, poultry and dairy.

Wikipedia’s article is pretty informative but kinda dry and technical, so it’s broken down a little here.

This part is amazing: apparently B-12 deficiency can potentially cause severe and irreversible brain and nervous system damage! And it doesn’t take all that much to be deficient, either. Scary.

There’s a great list at PCC Natural Health Market detailing possible vitamin B-12 drug interactions. There were no negative interactions listed (whew!), but plenty of the drugs listed increase the need for B-12!

Here’s the list:

Recent research shows women with low levels of vitamin B-12 have up to five times the risk for major birth defects!