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Eggasperated

Vitamin B12 Also CO-Q10

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After an article in the Times at the weekend I am thinking of putting OH on this (and possibly myself) to see if it helps with memory problems (although this could just be a 'when it suits him to forget' issue :lol: ) and also sleep problems.

Having looked in Holland and Barrett I am now confused between straight B12 and the combined vitamin tablets, also the dosing seems to range from 25ug to 1000ug. Does anyone take these or have any advice as everything I've read on the Internet has made me even more confused :? Any advice welcome :D .

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B12 is quite tricky to supplement with as it's a water soluble vitamin - ie anything the body can't immediately use is excreted in the urine. If you're taking a B12 supplement you need to look for one that has a high dose (at least 10 micrograms for a daily supplement) as the body will actually use very, very little of it. It will turn your wee luminous green by the way :shock::lol:

To be honest, unless you have pernicious anemia (your body cannot process B12) and as long as you are eating a variety of B12 rich foods throughout the day, then you are unlikely to need to supplement with B12.

B12 rich foods are anything of animal origin, so meat, fish, dairy and eggs. Also some breakfast cereals are fortified wih B12 and Marmite is a good source too.

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Thank you Lavenders, the Times article suggested older people are likely to have problems with using the B12 in food. We also have a largely vegetarian diet, although we eat fish and have found a good source of local meat so are eating this occasionally; so I thought a supplement may be useful.

Mind you the luminous green wee is a bit off putting :lol: .

Might re-read the article and have a think :think: .

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I have to have B12 injections every 12 weeks as my body doesn't absorb it - it is stored in the liver, so they reckoned it would have taken at least 4 years for mine to get as low as it was.

 

I wouldn't suggest over dosing on it without taking a blood test first - as with anything there are dangers of it being too high as well as too low.

 

Tracy

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B12 is a difficult vitamin to get from a largely vegetarian diet, it comes from mainly animal sources.

 

I'd disagree with that. Any vegetarian regularly eating cheese, milk, eggs, yoghurt and fortified foods such as breakfast cereals, Marmite, plant milks etc is unlikely to be deficient. According to my handbook 'Nutrition for Dummies' (yes, I am a vitamin geek :lol: ) "Dietary deficiency is rare, and usually only seen in young children following a vegan or macrobiotic diet that excludes fortified breakfast cereals or supplements". Pernicious anaemia is a separate issue, as others have said, linked to body not being able to absorb B12, so not diet related.

 

Anyway, a supplement of 10mcg per day is highly unlikely to do you any harm whatsoever. As I say, anything that your body doesn't use it will simply wee out. You'd need to take a humongous dose to even contemplate it being harmful.

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According to the Times:

 

"Over 60s - Vitamin B12 is the one vitamin that is better obtained from supplements than from food. The reason: older people have trouble absorbing vitamin B12 from foods, due to less stomach acid production or the use of medications that interfere with B12 absorption. The form in supplements is much easier to absorb"

 

Well OH falls into that age group, but I am not sure which medicines they are referring to that might affect B12 absorption.

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proton pump inhibitors are some of the drugs which can cause a depletion (not sure why) thats drugs like Omeprazole and Lanoprazole - these are the common ones. Yes LB I think its the pulses - many dont eat any animal product eggs, chesse or anything. also can run in families. In my last practice we had a lot of patients on the injection - mostly Asian, some Caucasians not many Afro caribbeans.

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Ok, after further research I have decided to try OH on Coenzyme Q10. This is because he takes a statin which is known for reducing this and there seems to be a known benefit in taking this as a supplement (of course it is more expensive than B12 :roll: ).

Anyway, decision made - many thanks for all your useful input :D .

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I'm interested to read this thread. although I am vegetarian I am not too keen on dairy and so the only animal products I eat regularly are a splash of milk in tea or coffee, and our eggs ( about 4 a week) and nor do I eat fortified breakfast cereals or much bread at all. I am not aware of having any of the symptoms, but I may look at supplementing for a few months to see if it makes any difference. Either that or I'll have to eat loads of Marmite on toast.... :wink:

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I started using sibu cellular support after seeing a write up on it in Mail on Sunday for a menopausal prob which I wont post on here as there may be males reading it. Its made a huge difference , in fact when I stopped taking symptons came back. beats all the stuff Gp threw at me I can tell you.

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Sorry to crash this post - but just wondered whether those of you who were thinking about B12 supplements went ahead and if so, whether you've found them helpful?

I had a blood test about 5 years ago which then showed that my ferritin levels were VERY low and B12 lowish - the Dr didn't really offer a follow up and I've just carried on as normal since. However, just recently I've started to get problems with "restless legs" - last night was truly awful - I was in the bath at 2am in an attempt to relieve the restlessness! - so am wondering if B12 and Ferritin are low again?

I'm a veggie, but eat marmite by the jar load - have bought some iron stuff (ferroglobin or something) to see if that helps.

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Before my hysterectomy, I suffered from night cramps in my legs (probably due to anaemia) and found that a bit of seasalt in my nightly mug of Ovaltine helped a lot. Not enough to taste, just a couple of twists of the salt mill used to do it. Not sure if this would help at all with restless legs though, but it might if you are lacking some minerals :?

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