Professor Herbert clearly provides references supporting the theory that multivitamins harm some, help some and do nothing for others. As you have no idea which multivitamins were studied and whether they even contained cyanocobalamin, it's rather disingenuous of you to suggest that is the problem with them.
He refers to B12 as "factory biosynthesized" but I can't see anywhere that he mentions cyanocobalamin, so I don't know why you assume he means that.
He also explains how Vitamin C can harm people, which seems far more important than whether it is accurate for him to describe Vitamin C supplements as synthetic.
As for his advice on B12, again he provides references supporting the view that 0.1mcg/day is sufficient to sustain adequate B12 levels. Of course, some people such as yourselves have conditions that make this amount insufficient, but that doesn't negate the general point or the studies that have shown this.
Hi Doveman,
As you have no idea which multivitamins were studied and whether they even contained cyanocobalamin, it's rather disingenuous of you to suggest that is the problem with them.
Get realistic. Almost all multivitamins contain a little b12 of some form, as also what he says about not taking folic acid alone is correct, if folic acid is included so will be cycbl, and almost universally it is cyanocobalamin. He mentions a couple of times also "In the USA" quite specifically. People taking multivitamins in the USA are almost 100% going to be getting small doses of cyanocobalamin, possibly not even up to his target range of 25-100mcg. As a society large swaths of the USA show signs of various degrees of b12/folate deficiency. He specifically mentions autoimmune diseases as being frequently found in those taking multivitamins and those are frequently the results of b12 deficiency and lots of people will develop deficiency signs and symptoms while taking cycbl. Multivitamins might very well work a whole lot better at keeping people healthy if they did contain 100mcg of methylb12. That is probably enough to prevent most people from developing certain specific outright deficiency symptoms while taking it. Multivitamins have been discussed at length in various places concerning their b12 content.
He refers to B12 as "factory biosynthesized" but I can't see anywhere that he mentions cyanocobalamin, so I don't know why you assume he means that.
That's becasue I have read all sorts of papers on the subject. Methylcobalamin or adenosylcobalamin are what bacteria produce, depending upon the specific bacterium. It was a real shocker when the researchers of companies started brewing up b12 that they had an almost zero yield of cyanocoblamin, the target variety. At that point they started spiking the output by adding cyanide to the mix and then extracting. Suddenly they had lots of cyanobalamin. We don't talk of soy sauce, beer or wine as being "biosynthecized". They are the natural output of the brewing process. Mb12 is the natural output, no synthesis of any kind required. The only kinds that would then be synthecized are hydroxycobalmin and cyanocobalamin. As he opened that sequence with "In the USA" that would nmake it cyanocobalamin, if any were actually made in the USA at all. To the best of my knowledge it is not at all brewed or biosynthecized in the USA.
He also explains how Vitamin C can harm people, which seems far more important than whether it is accurate for him to describe Vitamin C supplements as synthetic.
Yes it is. It is also far more credible to many persons if you don't mix in a lot of mistakes and misstatements. That was also one of my comments, that the quality of what he was saying is very uneven. I think that it is important to know what things interfer with absorbtion of others when all taken together; such as iron (and if C does that too, then C) preventing absorbtion vit of b12 and Vit E yet being in prenatal vitamins and that the baby needs vits b12 and E for healthy growth. It has real world implications.
As for his advice on B12, again he provides references supporting the view that 0.1mcg/day is sufficient to sustain adequate B12 levels. Of course, some people such as yourselves have conditions that make this amount insufficient, but that doesn't negate the general point or the studies that have shown this.
As far as credibility goes, let's keep it at what he said, he said 0.1mg a day, not 0.1mcg which is utterly ridiculous.
As far as the correct amount 100mcg = 0.1mg, that might be adequate to prevent certain gross deficiency symptoms in some people whose entire absorbtion system is working well. As he was referring to an oral absprbtion amount from that at 1% rate and equallling 1mcg, or monthly injections of 100mcg, he can cite all the research he wants, and there is plenty of it based on research on cyanocobalamin and hydroxycobalamin, that doesn't make it any where near correct in an actual practical health way as opposed to a narrowly defined research question. However he also correctly states that uMMA and Hcy tests are not capable of proving adequacy of b12 amounts which is an accurate assessment in my opinion. I've been working on a longer post discussing that subject at some length , but the USA national day of mourning (4/15) got in the way.
It all comes down to the definition of "b12 deficiency". I have a couple of days of medical stuff in my way and I may finish that post either during this period or within a couple of days afterwards.
Of course, some people such as yourselves have conditions that make this amount insufficient, but that doesn't negate the general point or the studies that have shown this
The problem is that it is NOT limited to persons such as myselves (interesting that you think I have plural selves, what makes you think so? however, I'll run with it as given here) as many studies have shown. That can easily be demonstrated over and over. And demonstration of the reality of it can in fact overturn all sorts of studies that have shown otherwise. Theory is nice to have until it doesn't line up with real effects. Then theory has to be reformulated, a new hypothesis made and tested against reality again.
