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.

Absorption of B-12 can start in the mouth – but only tiny amounts of pure B-12 crystals can make their way across the thin membranes in the mouth directly into the bloodstream. This is how sublingual B-12 supplements work – pure B-12 crystals under the tongue. However, this isn’t incredibly effective given that only a small amount can be absorbed and the sublingual supplement is only in contact with the thin membranes for a few seconds.

So while you can get pure B-12 into the bloodstream through the mouth, B-12 in food can only be absorbed in the digestive track. Once the food comes into the stomach, enzymes work go to work and pull out the B-12 from the food. Taking antacid medication can foul up the enzymes and the B-12 absorption, however – the enzymes need acid to work!

When the enzymes have done their work and the B-12 is dissolved out of the food, it then makes it’s way into the duodenum. Once inside the duodenum an enzyme called intrinsic factor (IF) picks up the B-12 and forms a B-12 complex. This B-12 complex then moves into the small bowel and the B-12 is (finally!) absorbed into the bloodstream. Only this intrinsic factor/B-12 complex can enter the bloodstream from the digestive tract.

So having enough acid in your stomach and having intrinsic factor are both really important. Without those, you won’t be able to digest B-12 at all. Unfortunately, as people age the digestive system stops working as well, the stomach stops making as much acid, and you get ‘gastric parietal cell atrophy’. With parietal cell atrophy, the cells that make intrinsic factor simply wear out and stop producing it. Lack of intrinsic factor is also a problem for those who undergo gastric bypass surgeries, as the cells making intrinsic factor are no longer part of the digestive tract.

So patches are a great solution for vitamin B-12 deficiency related to gastrointestinal issues of surgery! The digestive track is taken completely out of the picture – the B-12 is sent straight into the bloodstream, over the whole day, in a highly bioavailable form for your body to use. Much better than oral supplementation, which needs stomach acid and intrinsic factor, or sublingual B-12, which is limited in the amount of vitamin B-12 that can be easily absorbed! Transdermal vitamin B-12 is definitely the way to go if you’ve had gastric bypass surgery or are just getting older.

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Good Newsclip Covering B12 Deficiency Basics