Psycho-Babble Alternative | about alternative treatments | Framed
This thread | Show all | Post follow-up | Start new thread | List of forums | Search | FAQ

Re: blood tests for vitamins? » banga

Posted by Larry Hoover on March 27, 2005, at 12:05:49

In reply to Re: blood tests for vitamins? » Larry Hoover, posted by banga on March 27, 2005, at 8:34:28

> Lar,
> I have wondered about something....I have very high levels of B12, partly due to supplementation, that I started when I finally recognized my bizarre physical symptoms as B12 deficiency.
> My question is: if my blood levels (and spinal fluid) were high to begin with, what do you think--might it indicate that my body is unable to maximally utilize B12, thus it builds up in the blood?
> My deficiency was largely caused by alcohol consumption, but since B12 is not known to be directly affected by alcohol consumption, I have wondered if the alcohol simply hit me at the weakest point--that I already had subclinical B12 deficiency and the alcohol pushed it over the edge..

Speculating can be useful.

Vitamin B12 is a very unusual structure, when compared to the other vitamins. It closely resembles hemoglobin in structure, but instead of iron in the centre, it contains cobalt. It is called cobalamin.

Cobalamin takes part in a number of reactions, at enzyme active sites, acting as a methyl donor, for example. However, the form of B12 we take must be methylated in the liver before it can become a methyl donor.....so, it's a methyl transporter (something like SAMe). It makes methyl groups more available right at enzyme active sites.

So, you can think of B12 as a team player. A supporting role, rather than the lead.

The liver is the central site in the systemic utilitization of B12. It not only "activates" it, by methylating it, it also stores it. So, B12 status is a surrogate marker for liver function. It's not an excellent marker, but it does suggest something about liver physiology. Maybe you have some cirrhosis?

When I looked at the National Academy of Sciences derivation of the RDA and so on (that's the ultra-conservative and totally evidence-based group that sets these levels), I found that there is no evidence for an Upper Limit (UL) for cobalamin. No known toxic overdose, essentially. I'm not saying there isn't one (don't chug a whole bottle down, and prove the point), but they have no evidence of having adverse effects from too high a B12 level.

Your finding that you have "very high" levels of B12 is based on a normalized level. What that means is they sampled a bunch of people, and graphed the results. Your results lie near the upper edge of the normal curve they developed. One of the foundation assumptions of such a sampling program is that the subjects being sampled *truly are normal*. What if everybody they tested had sub-optimal levels of B12 in their blood? That skews the results, eh?

High circulating B12 levels are a blessing. B12 is a potent antioxidant, with particular capacity to destroy peroxynitrite. There is a whole theory based on chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia (and PTSD and depression) being caused by peroxynitrite. High B12 is good, IMHO. Very good.

In the end, I think we make intuitive decisions for ourselves. We try to find rational bases for our decisions, but.....

<shrug>

Lar

 

Thread

 

Post a new follow-up

Your message only Include above post


Notify the administrators

They will then review this post with the posting guidelines in mind.

To contact them about something other than this post, please use this form instead.

 

Start a new thread

 
Google
dr-bob.org www
Search options and examples
[amazon] for
in

This thread | Show all | Post follow-up | Start new thread | FAQ
Psycho-Babble Alternative | Framed

poster:Larry Hoover thread:470758
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20050323/msgs/476219.html