B12 Education

Vitamin B12 is a nutrient that helps keep the body's nerve and blood cells healthy and helps make DNA. Since your body doesn't make vitamin B12, you should supplement your diet with it on a regular basis because your body doesn't store vitamin B12 for a long time.

Is B12 supplementation safe?

B12 is a water soluble vitamin and is generally considered safe, even at high doses. No Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) has been established for B12, due to its low level of toxicity. This threshold has not been set for B12 because your body excretes whatever it doesn’t use through your urine.

However, supplementing with excessively high levels of B12 has been linked to some negative side effects and although several studies have shown that megadoses of the vitamin can lead to outbreaks of acne and rosacea, these studies focused on high dose INJECTIONS not oral supplements.

(Our B12 is a whole food supplement and our formulation is titrated for an average dose based on age (adult/teen/child) and/or condition (pregnancy/nursing)

Who is at risk for low B12 or B12 deficiency?

Vegans and vegetarians are especially at risk for lowered levels of B12 which lead to full B12 deficiency. Even at the lower end of normal B12 range, one can experience neuropsychiatric or hematologic abnormalities.

Not just vegans and vegetarians...

Most people in the U.S. get enough of this nutrient. If you're not sure, you can ask your doctor if you should get a blood test to check your vitamin B12 level, and if you're a vegan you should definitely get your B12 checked asap regardless of how good you feel.

You may also be more likely to develop vitamin B12 deficiency if you have:

Pernicious anemia
taken antacids, antibiotics and or birth control pills
Reached age 60 and above, B12 deficiency is common in the elderly
Conditions such as Crohn's or celiac disease
Experience with alcohol misuse or heavy drinking
Glossitis (a swollen, inflamed tongue) may be a sign of B12 deficiency
Immune disorders, such as lupus or Graves disease
Atrophic gastritis (thinning of the stomach lining)
Had weight loss surgery or any operation where part of stomach was removed.
Certain medications interfere with absorption of B12. This includes some heartburn medicines including proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) such as esomeprazole (Nexium), lansoprazole (Prevacid), omeprazole (Prilosec OTC), pantoprazole (Protonix), and rabeprazole (Aciphex), H2 Blockers such as cimetidine (Tagamet) and famotidine (Pepcid AC); and certain diabetes medicines such as metformin (Glucophage).