The BEST & WORST Forms of Vitamin B12

vitamin B12 is an incredibly important vitamin and it just so happens that many of you are not getting enough of it why is it important because its active forms which we will soon discuss are needed to create DNA and create energy inside of your mitochondria when you don't have enough B12 in your body these two major systems will suffer and you will end up with symptoms like macrotics like insomnia cognitive and memory problems difficulty with concentration non-specific GI issues nerve problems and more given the wide range of symptoms associated with B12 deficiency it can sometimes

be difficult to pinpoint this problem especially when you consider the coexistence of a functional folate deficiency which often goes hand inhand with a B12 deficiency what may seem like a big problem though really isn't and that's because replacing low vitamin B12 is actually super easy as long as you use the right form and the right route of administration so whether you're suffering from any of the symptoms I just mentioned or you know you have a B12 problem that you're trying to address or you just want to be proactive about your health understanding how to take

vitamin B12 is important for just about everyone and when it comes to supplementation as a consumer you have some choices and which option you choose actually matters with this in mind let's talk about the best forms and worst forms of vitamin B12 starting with the the worst form first and that's number one cyanocobalamin cyanocobalamin is by far the most commonly used form of vitamin B12 primarily because it's so cheap but as you will soon find out this is not the form I recommend for several reasons reason number one is that it is synthetic whether something

is synthetic or natural simply refers to its source in the case of cyano calaman it's considered synthetic because this form does not occur in nature this means that it's man-made and and created in a laboratory as a general rule it's always ideal to use vitamins and hormones that are considered bioidentical and natural and that's because these forms are more easily used by the body when it comes to natural versus synthetic B vitamins we do have some limited evidence to suggest that these natural forms are greater in their effectiveness compared to their synthetic analoges the problem

with cyano cobalamin is not just that it's created in a laboratory but also that it requires an extra step before it can be used by the body and this brings us to problem number two it requires activation to methyl cobalamin before it can be used this is that extra activation step that I just mentioned previously your body can use cyanocobalamin but in order to do so it must first be broken apart in the liver this metabolism results in the creation of a cyanide compound that must be eliminated by the body fortunately this isn't really a

big deal unless you're a smoker what may be a problem though is the next step after the liver breaks apart cyanocobalamin into cobalamin and cyanide the cobalamin component must be methylated into methyl cobalamin most people believe that methyl cobalamin which is another form that we'll talk about in just a minute is superior to cyanocobalamin because methylcobalamin they think does not require this extra step and because of the prevalence of genetic methylation defects pre-methylated forms of vitamin B12 like methylcobalamin are thought to be superior but that isn't quite true this is because methylal balamin even though

it comes preethy ated still must be broken apart into methyl and cobalamin so ultimately it too requires another methylation in order to be used I know that may sound confusing so here it is again cyanocobalamin and methylcobalamin both require methylation after their absorption so this activation step is not unique to cyanocobalamin but to make things even more interesting the methyl Group found on methylcobalamin probably provides additional benefits that we don't fully understand I say that because methyl coal seems to be retained better by the body compared to cyanocobalamin at a rate of roughly three times

and methyl calaman supplementation also results in more storage of cobalamin inside of the liver so even though most people may be wrong about why they recommend methyl cobalamin over cyanocobalamin it's still the truth that methyl cobalamin is probably best and this brings us to problem number three cyanocobalamin comes attached to cyanide which must be eliminated by the body even though cyanide is definitely toxic to the human body the amount of cyanide produced when cyanocobalamin is metabolized isn't enough to cause major harm the reason that I think cyanide may be a problem though is not because

of its direct toxic action but because when the body eliminates it it gets metabolized into thiocyanate and thiocyanate is known to be thyroid Toxic by blocking the uptake of iodine into the thyroid gland for these reasons it doesn't really make any sense to use cyanocobalamin because a it's not a naturally occurring form of B12 B extra steps are required for its activation and utilization by the body and C the breakdown of it results in thyrotoxic byproducts having said all of this there is one redeeming quality to cyanocobalamin and that has to do with stability the

more active forms of vitamin B12 which we will soon discuss tend to readily turn into hydroxycobalamin when exposed to UVA light and this doesn't seem to occur with cyano Calin this means that the more active versions are probably better than cyano cobalamin but only if strict Manufacturing practices are taken into account to block UVA light exposure all of this brings us to option number two which is AD denil cobalamin both adeny cobalamin and methyl cobalamin are considered the active co-enzyme forms of vitamin B12 both of these forms are found in different locations inside of the

body and are both important for different reasons in the case of a denil cobalamin it is primarily stored in the mitochondria where it is used to create suil COA for the TCA cycle that's a lot of mumbo jumbo so let me simplify a denil cobalamin is primarily used to create ATP inside of your cells and because your cells run on ATP as a source of energy it's obviously critical for just about every cellular function you can think of knowing this some people believe that a denil Calment is likely the best form of vitamin B12 because

it comes preactivated and because of the importance of ATP for every cell in the body but again this isn't exactly true because just like cyanocobalamin and methyl cobalamin ad denil cobalamin still gets broken down into cobalamin after absorption from there the body turns cobalamin into ad denil cobalamin once again inside of the mitochondria it does this using adeny which is derived from ATP not from the adeny that was ingested originally and just taking ad denil cobalamin doesn't force that vitamin B12 into the mitochondria like you might think it's still definitely a better form than cyanocobalamin

but it's not automatically better than methyl cobalamin and number three this brings us back again to methyl cobalamin we've already discussed this form of vitamin B12 quite a bit but here's some additional important information that you should know unlike ad denil cobalamin which is primarily located inside of the mitochondria methylcobalamin is located inside of the cytoplasm one of its main functions is to help turn homocystine into methionine methionine then proceeds to the formation of s adenosyl methionine which is a universal methyl donor for over 100 different substrates when methylcobalamin levels are low it cuses two

big problems number one is a functional folate deficiency because the body can no longer recycle tetrahydrofolate and number two is an increase in homosysteine levels and elevated homosysteine is a big problem because it increases your risk of heart attacks inflammation and oxidative stress the idea is then if you have an elevated homocysteine level already then taking methyl balamin may solve this problem but again it's not quite that simple and there's no evidence to suggest that methyl cobalamin is better than than a denil cobalamin at reducing homocysteine levels methylcobalamin is still a better option than cyanocobalamin

but it's not automatically better than ad denil cobalamin and this brings us to the final form of B12 that you need to understand and that's hydroxycobalamin hydroxycobalamin is another abundant and natural form of B12 but it's considered an intermediate form of B12 not an active form of B12 the advantage of using hydroxycobalamin is three-fold number one it's considered a more stable form of vitamin B12 compared to methylcobalamin and AD denil cobalamin number two it helps to eliminate Cyanide and number three it's the preferred form of vitamin B12 for some rare genetic disorders like inborn errors

of metabolism overall it's a superior form compared to cyano cobalamin but probably not better than a denil cobalamin or methyl cobalamin since that was a lot of information and it may be confusing let's do some quick takeaways number one all forms of vitamin B12 are roughly absorbed at the same rate this includes cyano cobalamin by the way number two even though they are absorbed at the same rate their bioavailability differs from form to form and the body favors naturally occurring compounds like adenosylcobalamin hydroxycobalamin and methylcobalamin number three regardless of what type of vitamin B12 that

you take it must still be methylated before it can be used this is true even if the vitamin B12 that you are taking already comes pre-methylated and the methyl groups found on ad denil cobalamin and methylcobalamin do not accelerate this process number four whether or not a type of B12 works for you has to do with your own personal genetics and their impact on enzyme activity B12 binding in the blood and vitamin B12 metabolism because of all these things here's what I think is best if you're going to take a vitamin B12 supplement take a

triple combination of hydroxycobalamin adeny cobalamin and methylcobalamin in my opinion there's just no reason to use cyanocobalamin given all its potential problems and limited benefit this shotgun approach of taking all three active forms of vitamin B12 means that no matter what type of genetic B12 problems that you have or B12 polymorphisms you can ensure that you're getting the B12 that your body needs yes you might actually just get lucky using one form over the other but right now there's no good way to determine which one your body will do best on in a perfect world

we just be able to test your genetics and tell you exactly how much and what form of vitamin B12 that you should take unfortunately we don't live in that world which is why I think taking the shotgun approach is your best option right now when it comes to dosing I would recommend using a dose between 1 and 3 mg of vitamin B12 this 1 to 3 migr range equates to 1,000 to 3,000 microG an ideal dose would be something like 1,000 microG of AD denil cobalamin 1,000 microG of methylcobalamin and 1,000 microgr of hydroxycobalamin yes

this is a relatively big dose however it has several advantages the first is that it bypasses the need for intrinsic factor which is where the majority of vitamin B12 absorption problems occur and the second is that high doses of Vitamin B12 upregulate the enzymes involved in B12 metabolism and these are the enzymes that are often impaired in the genetic polymorphisms that many of you have so no matter what type of genetic problems or gut issues that you have you can Brute Force the absorption and utilization of vitamin B12 using these strategies the next thing you

need to figure out is how best to take it and here you have four options option one is in a capsule option two is sublingually or under the tongue option three is nasally or in the nose and option four is as an intramuscular injection for the vast majority of you listening to this right now the preferred option is the sublingual route this is because it bypasses the need for absorption inside of the intestinal tract which again is where all of the absorption problems occur and because it's almost equally as effective as intramuscular injections which are

the best form most people would rather put something under their tongue than get a shot once a week to get their vitamin B12 the next best option after the sublingual route would be injections followed by capsule injections are ideal for those people who have severe vitamin B12 deficiency symptoms or in those who don't see Improvement using the sublingual or capsule route capsules of course can always be used as well but you'll need to compensate with very high doses to account for that absorption issue inside of the intestinal tract if you aren't sure if you're someone

who should be using a vitamin B12 supplement then I'd recommend checking out this video next