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.

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.

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!