Vitamin B12 maintains normal folate metabolism which is essential for cell multiplication during pregnancy. No good data are available on what constitutes vitamin B12 deficiency in pregnancy, nevertheless vitamin B12 deficiency is frequently reported in pregnancy due to inadequate dietary intake of vitamin B12 and a physiological decline of maternal vitamin B12 concentrations. This decline can ...

In cobaiamin deficiency, inadequate DNA-thymine synthesis appears to resuit from decreased conversion of N5methyltetrahydrofolic acid to tetrahydrofo ic acid (THE). The N5-methyl THE conversion catalyzed by N5methyl THF-homocysteine methyltransferase requires a cobalamin coenzyme, presumed to be methylcobalamin (methyl-B12). In support of the above, in B12-deficient marrow cultures, methyl-B12 ...

Vitamin B12 (B12) adequacy during pregnancy is crucial for maternal health and optimal fetal development; however, suboptimal B12 status has been reported in pregnant Canadian women. Methylmalonic acid (MMA) is a sensitive indicator of B12 status. Since few studies have measured MMA during pregnancy in Canadian women, the objective of this study was to evaluate B12 status in pregnant women livi...

The usual dietary sources of vitamin B12 are animal foods, meat, milk, egg, fish, and shellfish. As the intrinsic factor-mediated intestinal absorption system is estimated to be saturated at about 1.5–2.0 lg per meal under physiologic conditions, vitamin B12 bioavailability significantly decreases with increasing intake of vitamin B12 per meal. The bioavailability of vitamin B12 in healthy huma...

Dietary supplements and functional foods are becoming increasingly popular complements to regular diets. A recurring ingredient is the essential cofactor vitamin B12 (B12). Microalgae are making their way into the dietary supplement and functional food market but do not produce B12, and their B12 content is very variable. In this study, the suitability of using the human B12-binding protein int...

background: vitamin b12 (cobalamin) deficiency can result in some clinical and paraclinical characteristics similar to what is seen in multiple sclerosis (ms) patients. this study aimed to evaluate the controversial association between vitamin b12 deficiency and ms. methods: we measured serum vitamin b12 in 60 patients with ms and 38 healthy controls. clinical disability was evaluated according...

The overwhelming consensus in the mainstream nutrition community, as well as among vegan health professionals, is that plant foods do not provide vitamin B12. Despite this, some vegan advocates still believe that plant foods provide all the nutrients necessary for optimal health and, therefore, do not address vitamin B12 when promoting the vegan diet. Other vegan advocates acknowledge the need ...

In this contribution we investigated the correlation between plasma vitamin B12 levels and cognitive impairment in Alzheimer's disease. We could demonstrate a significant inverse correlation when the MMSE scores of those patients with the lowest 10% Vitamin B12 plasma levels (<184 ng/ml) were compared with the upper 10% Vitamin B12 plasma levels (>598 ng/ml): p=0.008, Spearman-Rho= -0.36. MMSE ...

I N PREVIOUS REPORTS’3 it was shown that uncoated charcoal adsorbs both free vitamin B12 and B12 bound to proteins, but charcoal precoated by mixing with saturating quantities of albumin adsorbs only free B12. This finding has been confirmed.4 The charcoal particles may be considered as solid microsponges and the albumin coat as a molecular sieve surrounding each sponge. Small molecules such as...

Bg CHESTER GorruEB, KAM-SENG LAU, Louis R. \VASSERMAN AND VICTOR HERBERT T HIS COMMUNICATION reports the use of protein-coated charcoal iii rapid assays for: (1) intrinsic factor (IF), (2) unsaturated B12 binding capacity of gastric juice, (3) antibody to IF, and (4) serum unsaturated B12 binding capacity. The assays are based on the finding that charcoal precoated with a large molecule can ads...