Training & Nutrition - Vitamin B-12 and carbohydrate metabolism

I've started taking vitamin b-12 pills and I've started feeling a lot better when I'm working out as well during everyday tasks. The bottle I bought at GNC is 1500mcg (25000% Daily Value). I'm a bit concerned because 25000% seems like a lot. I read somewhere that you can't OD on B-12. Is it dangerous to be taking this much? Why are they selling pills with such a high dosage? Also, the bottle says "high potency essential for carbohyrate metabolism." What exactly does this mean, and should I be adjusting my diet? I've been gettin a lot of headaches, but I don't know if there's a connection. I really don't want to stop taking the pills because this is the first time in my life that I haven't felt like taking a nap by the side of road instead of biking, but I would like to make sure that it's the right supplement for me.

It's not dangerous...just makes for expensive and bright-orange pee. I never noticed any difference with the stuff, though, so I didn't bother buying more.

Why are they selling pills with such a high dosage?

Because you will buy them.

Because you will buy them.

+1

Your napping desire on the side of the road has more to do with your eating habits, I would guess.

Why not just take a daily multi-vitamin with b-12? It'll be much closer to %100 and probably cheaper too.

there's an excellent source of b12 in a well know wholesome and natural food: BEEF! eat nice juicy steaks, preferably a grass-fed steaks, on a regular basis and toss the silly pills into the trash!

How much sleep do you get? Not enough, I bet.

I have the same concerns. I'm willing to bet that such a massive overdose has never been tested. I buy the lowest dose possible and then cut them in half and take a half every two or three days. I'm not a supplement fan, but B12 is an exception as I've read in the 2005 USDA Nutrition Guidelines that as you get old you don't absorb sufficient B12 from natural foods. I've also read that if you eat primarily plant based, the soils are depleted of what provides plants B12.

Al

I've also read that if you eat primarily plant based, the soils are depleted of what provides plants B12.

Not true. http://www.sfasu.edu/auxsvcs/Foodservices/nutrition_page.htm

+1

Your napping desire on the side of the road has more to do with your eating habits, I would guess.

Actually, the B-12 pills are helping, without a doubt, since I've all of a sudden improved. But I thnk the headaches are food-related, since I've been exercising more than usual.

It seems like B-12 pills are getting no love on this board! 100 pills were only $7, which is a lot cheaper than wholesome and natural foods like nice juicy steaks :) Just kidding. But I'm going to keep taking them and see what happens

Well, it's possible you were/are anemic. Symptoms include fatigue, headaches, etc. but then again so do thousands of other ailments, so...? If you are vegetarian (vegan), it's worth being concerned about. But if you eat meat, dairy and/or eggs on a semi-regular basis you are probably already getting more than 100% B-12 making supplements unnecessary.

"but I would like to make sure that it's the right supplement for me."

So find out. Have a Doc run some tests, find out what's going on.

Everything in balance. Too much of any one stuff will throw something else off... be careful...

Actually, the B-12 pills are helping, without a doubt, since I've all of a sudden improved. But I thnk the headaches are food-related, since I've been exercising more than usual.



If headaches are food related, then it's a carb deficiency not a vitamin deficiency. It could also be an electrolyte deficiency. When we first started to jog many years ago, my wife and I both developed headaches. Solved it by adding electrolytes (ERG/Hydrolyte) to our drinking water.

Al

Thanks, I'll definitely try adding electrolytes to my drinks.

If you are vegetarian (vegan), it's worth being concerned about.

If you're vegan handle your food with your dirty unwashed hands right after you've used the bathroom.

I read somewhere that vegan societies get their B12 from the way the produce is, ahem, fertilized.

yeah, it's modern sanitation that robs vegetables of b-12, not some inherent unsuitability of vegan diets! produce is cleaned really well nowadays, in "first-world" societies. poop has b12 in it, so they're washing the b12 away when they clean the produce. good? bad? i dont know, but it's interesting!

b12 is one of the nutrients that your body can store for long periods of time. if you take a pill with a million-billion % of the b12 rda, you don't have to take it every day. plus, the rdas are usually inflated anyway, so there's a safety margin. your body may not even be able to store that much b12--you might just be peeing it out.
i've known a couple of people who said that b vitamins make a huge, huge difference in their brain function and nerve stuff. they have stress or anxiety or whatever, but they feel better when they take b vitamin supplements. etc. if you have a b12 deficiency, it can cause irreparable damage to your nervous system, so the opposite would make sense, too. anyway i'd try to take that pill once a week (or even less) and see if you still get all the benefits.

i get headaches when i exercise, sometimes, but it's almost *always* because i'm dehydrated and my sinuses are upset about it. this happens even if i drink what i think is a lot of water. i started drinking gatorade and it seems to have helped. i dont know if it's electrolytes or what. gatorade is colder and tastes more interesting than water so there's more of an incentive for me to drink it, so maybe that's a part of it.

hope your head feels better!

Why are they selling pills with such a high dosage?

Because some people, such as my wife, don't absorb B12 properly and need to take massive doses of it to absorb the required amount.

"Vegan Society"?

Any references on that please as I didn't know that they existed.

Actualy I've heard of one maybe but a close analysis of there traditional diet showed that they were inadvertently consuming insect larvee with their homegrown vegetables.

The problem with vitamin pills is that they're not vitamins as such but synthetic vitamin isolates. Vitamins, minerals and enzymes work together as a trio and vitamins come with MANY other co-factors in real food as well. Taking a large dose of a vitamin isolate taxes your bodies ability to supply all the required co-factors for its abosorption. Personaly I can't tolerate vit-B pills. They disagree with me big time. Raw egg yolks are a supperior source of B-vits. I also consume plenty of liver.

Regards, Anthony

That's pretty neat. I wish pills would give me more energy. It would be interesting to see what would happen if someone switched your B12 supplements with sugar pills, they might work just as well and are probably cheaper.