A letter , which I received today from a Doctor in India after his reading my first page on Vitamin B12 and looking for answers to his own health challenges , provoked me to expand on my writing, Vitamin B12 page 1, started 2 months ago on the ignorant and eternal "Vitamin B12 supply-and-deficiencies" debate. So here is this second page on the internal B12 metabolic challenges -- The Real B12 "Deficiency" Issues!

     You should consider the following conclusions based upon my extended education, sense, life experience and many reviews of good (but individually never completely perfect) research literature. That research literature should also be available to you or your doctor (on the web or in a good medical university's library).

    Also understand that in many so-called, even best-intended scientific writings, one prejudiced or flawed idea, perception or premise or even just a single erred word can and often does invalidate an entire thesis -- and all other thesis's or volumes based upon the flawed first!

 -- I will add as much here in time as I can. tlr/LSI 9/19/03

  -- since cyano-bacterially produced cobalamin is ubiquitous in the environment, it appears that true B12 intake deficiencies, beyond that of severe starvation or malnutrition, are now understood to be reasonably rare!
  -- and that the now more apparent problem is the consuming human's failed pancreas, fundus and intrinsic factor production, internal binding, absorption, transport, use, and/or waste dysfunctions!
 

B12 absorption, impairment and loses:
   Clear physiology, simple logic and research literature indicates three important conditions --  besides insufficient uptake of B12 (which is truly rare in most all natural conditions or diets) --  that contribute to low serum or interstitial, or malfunctional B12.

1.  Damage to pancreas, fundus and/or intrinsic factor (ileum) production tissues by:
       a. Digestive (auto-)corrosion -- caused by acidic (hydrochloric acid) and caustic (bile) conditions -- which is triggered or precipitated and generally required only by dairy, cheese, egg, meat, fish, fowl, (insect,) industrially hardened fats, all animal fat, and animal protein (lipoprotein) consumption.
       b. Microbial / viral overgrowths: Pancreatitis and/or infections of fundus and/or infections or microbial overgrowths of the intrinsic factor producing (ileum located) cells  -- infections associated again with barehanded handling (butchering, preparing) and consumption of non sterile (not fully boiled) dairy, cheeses, and all incompletely sterilized (not fully cooked) animal tissues as food.
       c. Drugs and Chemical offenses: Environmentally or pharmaceutically ingested, tactile, or respiratory organic and inorganic poisonings (including low level but chronic respiratory exposures e.g. formaldehyde, CL, CO, SOx, NOx, restricted oxygen, petrochemicals, tobacco, etc.) can set up low B12 intrinsic factor production, failed binding, transport or function anywhere in the B12 absorption / intrinsic factor chemistry, including its more evident hemoglobin catalyzation, myelinzation, and critical neuro-function paths.
       d. Autoimmine attack against pancreas and/or fundus enzyme and R-Binding secretion (parietal) cells and/or intrinsic factor (ileum) production cells -- potentially triggered (if or while concurrent liver shunting or bypass error is extant) by the ingestion (or direct injection) of equivalent (antigenic) animal tissues, especially visceral animal products -- those made with pancreas, intestine and /or liver tissues (as cheeses made with "rennet" i.e. pancreatin, frankfurters, sausages, cold cuts or "pot" meats). Milk and eggs with their broadly inclusive base protein equivalents (i.e.. multitude of antigens or antibody triggers) have potential to also trigger pancreatic, fundus, or intrinsic factor production (ileum) cell antibodies .
       e. Intestinal surgeries or accidents which cause visceral structural or mechanical trauma (to pancreas, fundus, intestines, specifically ileum, and /or liver).
       f. Genetic factors - rare, but occasionally occurring recombination errors or radiation effected nucleic flaws regulating any B12 involved tissues and chemistry.

2.  Bacterial and parasitic competition for dietary B12 (AKA: "Blind Loop" losses):
       a.  Many animal dependent pathogenic microbes and parasites (again associated with non-sterile dairy, fish, insect and all animal consumption) as well as abnormal overgrowths of so-called "friendly" flora compete for and can steal most all ingested B12 from the host human's nutrient / fecal flow.

3. Bile wasting of liver stores of B12:
       a. Bile production is the only true wasting transport and exit vehicle of body (liver) stores of B12, i.e. real losses. Urine only transports (or "spills" as a "safety valve") at threshold exceeded B12 serum levels. No other significant loss or export of B12 exists!-- except in placental transfer to fetus and in the milk of lactating females. So excessive bile production -- hence B12 wasting (via bile-bearing excrement) -- is only realized and is (again only truly) associated with dairy, egg, insect, industrially hardened fats, all animal fats and all animal protein (lipoprotein) consumption. 
       So to appropriately conserve uptake B12 liver, serum and interstitial stores -- and to minimize bile-waste losses -- a none-bile digestion requiring, solely vegetation based, nourishment regimen is indicated.

      All three main B12 defect producing conditions listed (with sublistings) above do generally exist, at varying "subclinical" levels in all persons eating some form of the "Western-like" dairy, fish, fowl and cattle meat (animal tissues centered) carnivorous diets.
      But since the first tiered, ie. herbivorous animals, like cattle (which are consumed directly by humans), or second tiered, carnivorous animals, like fish, fowl, swine (also consumed by humans), are very efficient collectors and concentrators of (vegetation decomposition sourced -- cyano-bactria produced) B12 within their body tissues (as would also, or does occur in totally herbivorous humans) -- the consequent "super-doping" or high intake of B12 by meat-eating humans generally compensates (often overcompensates) for the same animal-ingestion-caused impaired absorption, etc. (listed above) and so does mask those subclinical damages naturally inherent with dairy, egg and all animal (and insect) tissues consumption.
  --  That masking is generally successful! -- until the damage rates overtake and exceed the super-doping B12 compensation rates that the animal tissues also provide! 

    (The subtle but ultimate occurrence, over time, of animal tissue triggered B12 absorption breakdown may well be simply deemed, written off, or accepted as part of "normal" aging! -- or as a undetected factor in a host of other psychological, neurological, physiological, genetic and geriatric diseases, and dying or death, and "diagnosed" through many different nomen, up to and including "natural causes"!) 
 

     Conversely, the highly efficient absorption of environmentally available (trace, but ever present, "botanical") dietary B12, along with efficient enzyme (pancreas), R-binding (fundus) and intrinsic factor (ileum) production, efficient binding of B12 with intrinsic factor, and efficient micro-villi transport (into the portal blood flow into an efficient Liver) -- is found associated and enhanced by and in a non-corrosive neutral intestinal pH nutrient (fecal) flow. 
  -- That healthy neutral pH condition is only realizedwithin a (non-hydrochloric acid, non-bile demanding) totally vegetation provident (herbivorous) dietary regimen and its resultant efficient liver storage and effecient conservation of B12 in the non-wasting conditions, maintained by a non-bile demanding, simple fats, simple proteins (and simple sugars), intestinal nutrient / fecal flow.
tlr/LSI - 9/19/03

However, since B-12 producing Cyanocobalamin bacteria love light and air, and they flourish on the surfaces of all plant matter, the more surface of a plant food you can consume, the more B-12 you will obtain. In scientific terms: the higher the surface ratio to consumed end-product volume, the higher the Vitamin B-12. 

That means that the greens, that generally grow with large surface areas in relation to weight of consumed product, will carry in the most B-12. 

Items that can provide excellent boost to your B-12 stores are juiced greens, with the highest surface to volume ratio.  So the richest supplies of B-12 generally is in the grasses: wheat grass juice or Barley grass juice or other juicable grasses, then parsley, or similar thin leafed greens (or finely flowered greens like broccoli) - which concentrate even more available B-12 by juicing! 

 -- Remember that the favored food of my old cows is the grasses and any leafy silage -- 800 pounds of it to make 1 pound of finished cow! -- That's why my dumb colleagues think nature's supply is those animals! -- They don't understand or haven't figured how the cow truly came by so much vitamin B-12. -- So it is obvious that sometimes those "highly educated" "scientific" wives-tail finding (and actually self believing) human scientist fellows are not as smart as they think themselves to be! -- Sorry but my old cows are smarter! -- My old cows eat grass -- not another cow, some other critter, some liver, slaugtherhouse wastes or sewage to get their Vitamin B-12!!!

Also Cyanocobalamin bacteria (like my old cows) do well on the soil-oxygen supplied surfaces of tubers (potatoes, carrots, beets, etc.) - so the skins and sub skins are a good supply of B-12 and should not be discarded where possible. (My old cows love those tuber's skins.)

Also Cyanocobalamin bacteria do well on fomenting vegetation or on saprophytes, like yeast! Both are excellent in nutrients and rich with B-12! (Cows love them too!)

Also like all micro-biota, Cyanocobalamin bacteria are impaired or killed by pesticides, so you should try to choose organic or pesticide free produced foods wherever possible. But if organic is not available, at least consume plenty of greens. (You can spout and grow your own grasses or greens at home even on a window sill and the wind blown air-carried Cyanocobalamin bacteria will land and multiply on them.)

tlr/LSI 01/03/04

Animal bacterial pathogens (and symbiotes) -- the ones that can cause disease in you and in the animals -- are  darkness requiring (light and cosmic energy sensitive) and do not tolerate much "free" oxygen, if any at all (anaerobic). They do not survive well or for very long (only minutes) outside the protective and nutrient provident animal's (or human's) tissues and fluids (blood, eggs, lymphus, milk).

Plant pathogens and flora-symbiotic bacteria, all the "Cyano" bacteria, which includes the Vitamin B-12 producing Cyanocobalamin Bacteria; on the other hand, prefer light and require abundant free oxygen (aerobic) -- so they cannot survive in you or in any animal and cannot cause you or any animal disease. But they "happily" live everywhere else in the environment, even blowing in the wind as they are whisped from (and to) the leaves and surfaces of every tree and foliage on the Planet. It is their metabolic end-product (waste) which is consumed, collected and conservatively used by my old cows and by your body as Vitamin B-12.

Thanks to the plants and their special symbiotic kind-to-plant kind-to-animal kind-to-humanity bacteria! 
We should learn some divine good from then both! -- Let Live! Then We Can Live! 
tlr/LSI 01/06/04