Why Lemurs love vitamin B12

This week we have been enjoying some relaxed time off with the kids and on Tuesday we headed to Marwell zoo.

We had a right old time, and finally got to see the snow leopard, who is normally nowhere to be seen, aka hiding in their cave thingy wishing for actual snow.

This time he/she (couldn’t tell, let’s say it’s a her), was in fine form.

Remarkably long tail, short front legs with longer back legs for super duper jumping, sodding massive paws, aka murder mitten.

It looked like a soft toy, it was so perfect, but a soft toy that would rip your throat out.

Then, we had the fortune of stopping by the tigers at feeding time.

The male tiger, Bagi, was tucking into a rack of ribs tied to a tree.

He had serious canines, they are for meat, and he was loving life.

High quality meat gives you some things you cannot get from plants.

Carntine – from the Latin “carne” for meat.

Remember, we use that in Meta-Boost to increase energy by burning fat, thus reducing free radicals and inflammation, plus carnitine also blocks your main neuro-excitatory neurotransmitter, glutamate (for less pain, less anxiety/depression).

You can check out a summary of Meta Boost and carnitine (and ALA/SOD) here:
https://lessons.academyofchiropracticnutrition.com/meta-boost-has-landed/

Creatine – helps you to recycle your ATP with a plethora of benefits

You can check a previous newsletters here

https://lessons.academyofchiropracticnutrition.com/the-creation-of-creatine-is-crazy/

But one of the more well known nutrients you can only get from meat is vitamin B12.

Here is the way it works;

Animals that are herbivores eat grass and plants, and in the case of ruminants like cows etc, these are then fermented and then digested.

The fermentation of plants by bacteria produces vitamin B12 which the animal then absorbs for its own use in energy making in all tissues.

Then we eat the meat of the animal and get the B12.

So why then can’t we eat plants and get B12 from the fermentation in our guts?

Well, actually we can and do make B12 (along with other B vitamins) in our colon where we ferment food residue (remember small intestines are for absorption of nutrients).

But the issue is, while we have transporters for other B vitamins we make in the colon, we are lacking one for B12.

Thus, we are 100% dependent on dietary intake of B12 and if you don’t eat it, it will kill you, slowly but surely.

It won’t mention B12 deficiency on the death certificate.

It might say, dementia (note secondary to homocysteine damage).

Or suicide due to psychotic event, or cancer (from homocysteine induced damage) but not B12 deficiency.

And this leads us to the last part of our Marwell trip, the lemurs.

Cute little bunch they are, made more famous by the film Madagasgar.

But the dude on the bottom left is about push out some poop and his friend on the right, keen to not let that potential source of B12 go to waste, grabbed a warm handful as it was coming out and popped it straight into his cake hole.

Iris was not impressed.

Partly because it was rank and partly as this triggered me into this exact story of B12 and digestive tracts, which she found really boring fascinating.

So now you know the theory of poo eating aka coprophagia in animals, they are after vitamin B12.

Luckily for you, the answer is easier than trying to catch lemur poo, just suck an active form sublingual B12.

Or a squirt of liposomal hydoxo form b12

Remember both bypass digestion and get B12 directly into the blood.

The ACTIVE sublingual is immediately ready to work as METHYLcobalamin and ADENOSYLcoabalamin.

While HYDROXOcobalamin (the one GP’s use to inject) is one step away and converts into the active forms (some people have an issue with conversion).

This is the preferred form for any patients with clinical anxiety.

Why?

Because if B12 works quickly in the METHYLATION cycle (i.e. immediately active) it will improve your neurotransmitter levels, but too quickly in some.

The inactive form converts and so is a slower change and you can start with a few drops and slowing increase of a few weeks.

The main benefit of liposomal B12 is it bypasses the challenge of getting B12 from the BLOOD into the CELL (which where we want it).

Strange as it sounds, this is a problem for some patients, especially those who are very ill.

Remember B12 is water soluble, the cell membrane is a fatty, phospholipid bilayer.

And a LIPOSOME is a fatty globule, in this case with our B12 encased in it, ready for instant absorption into the blood from the gut and then from the blood into the CELL.

Remember the key at risk groups for B12 deficiency:

Even if they are not deficient or you don’t have a test, it is still very useful for chronic pain.

Check this out, chronic LBP, no B12 test, 500 mcg B12 active form x3 a week for 2 weeks or placebo, reassessed at 8 weeks, 32% drop in pain.