anyone know if there's anything you can take with B12 to help the absorption rate? like how calcium paired with magnesium works better. also is a specific type of B12 better than others? i saw this one that claims to be the only kind we can absorb but it was only available in 1000mcg dose and i don't need quite that much.
also i started taking B12 seperate from my B complex 50's because i was recommended a higher dose of B12 but too much of other B's can be bad so i can't just take 2 of the complex. anyway what i'm wondering is if it's easier to absorb it if i space them out, like take one in the morning and one at night, or can i take them together with the same effect?

try to not eat things with b12 analogs because those block the b12 receptors (stuff like seaweed, miso, etc).

wish i could help you with that but....i take my b12 as an injectable. i know that there are sublinguals out there...they were suggested to me but....i'm used to needles and have no probs injecting myself (or other people as i discovered to my surprise in nursing school) so.... look into a sublingual maybe....

what's sublingual?

anyway just to update, i picked up some pamphlets at the HFS and read that B12 needs to be taken throughout the day because it's water soluable. i take it that means our body loses whatever we don't use rather than storing it like Vitamin C. it says to take smaller doses through the day instead of one mega-dose. so i'm taking my complex with breakfast and my 12 with supper, and then in a few weeks i'll get a blood test done and see if i need to start taking one at lunch as well.

some scary info...
B12 lowers homocysteine which causes heart disease and stroke. so a deficiency could raise your risk of those. pernicious anemia (caused by not enough B12) can lead to congestive heart failure, neurological problems, increased incidences of infections, impotence in males.
B12 and folic acid deficiency symptoms include depression, anorexia, addiction to alcohol, loss of memory, dementia and insanity!!!

also linked to MS, muscular distrophy, parkinson's, Lou Gehrig's disease, alzheimer's.. etc.

elevated homocysteine is also linked to diabetes and arthritis and renal failure.


this is one important vitamin!! taking B12 apparantly also helps regulate melatonin meaning your sleep patterns are more normal. this explains why i've been sleeping so damn well lately and falling asleep so quickly at night.

this pamphlet talks about "methyl B12" which is supposedly an active form so that more of it is absorbed and for people who's bodies can't activate it (alzheimers, thyroid disease, diabetes, osteoperosis and if you've had part of your stomach removed)
but i only saw this type in 1000mcg dosage, it may be available in smaller doses elsewhere, my town isn't exactly known for product availablility.

just some notes about this..

you need very little vitamin b12 each day, roughly 2 micrograms. if you're eating any fortified foods that contain b12, like soy milk, they take into account (on the nutrition label) the fact that you only absorb about 50% of vitamin b12 when taken in small doses. thus, if a glass of soy milk claims it gives you 50% of vit b12, it means that there is actually the 2 micrograms of vit b12 in it that you need, but you will absorb 1 microgram. so you don't need to take into account the absorption of vitamin b12 when eating fortified foods.

on the other hand, when you have larger doses of vitamin b12 (higher than 5 micrograms), the absorption rate greatly decreases to about 1% from that 50%, basically because of its water solubility, as you mentioned. so, if you're taking a 1000 microgram dosage and you're only absorbing about 1%, you're getting about 10 micrograms of vitamin b12 - roughly 5 days worth.

for what it's worth, some vegan fortified sources of b12 are soymilk, meat substitutes, breakfast cereals, and nutritional yeast (although it's not recommended that you use solely the nutritional yeast as your source).

LF you should just take supplement with a high dose of B12.

I use solgar "nuggets" 1000microgram and let them melt under my tongue. (they taste nice)
http://www.solgar.com/cgi-bin/online_reference_new/online_ref.pl?function=Product&id=96758415516445

A little jar with (I thought) 100 nuggets is only about 15 dollar.

yeah i'd heard that you don't need much and that the body stores it for a long time but now i'm reading that a lot of people don't absorb it as well as others and that we don't store it to use through the day. conflicting info, it's confusing. but i had been eating fortified foods and my B12 was really very low. i felt so much better after i started supplements and figured out what the symptoms were so now when i'm low i can tell because i recognize those symptoms again. if i forget to take my B12 for a couple days the symptoms reappear, even though i eat fortified foods.

so i dunno maybe i don't absorb it as well as other people possibly because of my thyroid condition (hypo).
i have found that i sleep like 100 times better when i'm taking the supplements and that's reason enough for me to take them.
plus fortified foods are expensive. i usually have veggie burgers, soymilk and soy yogurt around the house but i don't always have them every day because of the cost. it's cheaper and easier for me to take supplements right now unfortunately
i'll keep it in mind when i have more grocery money though, thanks for the tips

i looked at the solgar nuggets and they were too expensive, i bought a cheaper brand, lower dosage but i am still taking the solgar B complex as well so i think i'm ok

I take a multivitamin with "extra" B vitamins" (I put it in quotes cause it's not really all that much more, but it is over 100%). You think that's good enough? I also have a bottle of Vitamin B Complex pills, they're all like 50 mg(or mcg?) each, should I take that as well?

There's nothing you can take to enhance absorption. Absorption is best with an empty stomach, because otherwise B12 will bind to some proteins or other stuff. Megadoses don't result in equally higher absorption. They are unnecessary unless you're suffering from pernicious anemia, then a megadose sublingually would do the job. Passively absorbed B12 will be flushed away with the urine to a high percentage. The best way is to have a a high enough dose of B12 around all meals; it would be in between 1-5 mcg per day to be on the safe side. All else is only helping the phamaceutical companies!

Here's a link stressing how important B12 is for your body.

http://vegnutrition.netfirms.com/b12.html

Actually, a bio-chemist friend tells me that virtually everything grown in the lab (like B12) is grown in animal serum. Generally, calf blood. Does anyone have any info on that? Thanks.

Most b12, sometimes called "artificial" or "synthetic" b12, is supposedly made by adding streptomyces bacteria or fungi, i don't know which they are (myces suggests fungi, but some bacteria are named myces because of their resemblence to fungi) to a largely carbohydrate medium, and having the streptomyces "eat" the carbohydrates (much the way yeast eats bread, or beer, when making these) and produce b12 as one of the metabolic waste products. That is: streptomyces fermentation; streptomyces growing in a carbohydrate culure medium. "Natural" b12 is usually extracted from animal livers.

....to a largely carbohydrate medium...

Thanks for the info. Do we know what the rest of this medium consists of? other than Carbs? This friend says ALL the mediums he works with and has worked with contain animal products, generally veal calf blood. I think I'll do an internet search and see what I can find. But might not really want to know. I mean, what if B12 isn't vegan!!

yeah i made sure to buy one that said "from vegetarian sources" but i realize there's probably some degree of animal testing involved in anything i buy. i don't particularly have a choice though because i'm not into eating dirt ;)