Blood testing: B12 Total or Active?

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aWrongun
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Blood testing: B12 Total or Active?

Post by aWrongun »

I'm looking at getting some blood tests in the UK. After reviewing Dale's books I'm not sure about what Vitamin B12 test I should get - 500-1500 pg/ml is for Total or Active B12? I'm assuming Total by the size of the numbers.
GingerGrace
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Re: Blood testing: B12 Total or Active?

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aWrongun wrote: Tue Mar 07, 2023 7:28 am I'm looking at getting some blood tests in the UK. After reviewing Dale's books I'm not sure about what Vitamin B12 test I should get - 500-1500 pg/ml is for Total or Active B12? I'm assuming Total by the size of the numbers.
Welcome aWrongun! Thank you for joining our site and posting in our forum. I am glad you've posted such an interesting question from the UK. I am sure one of our members who is familiar with these specific tests will be able to answer that.

As a Welcome Intern, I'd like to officially welcome you to this caring, giving and knowledgeable group. If you would like to explore the site in more detail, I can share several tools/resources to help you get the most out of your experience. It's great to hear that you are familiar with Dr. Bredesen's books. You may find the Primer to be a nice complimentary resource as it is written by a practicing M.D. with ApoE4/4. It includes information about the biochemistry of the ApoE4 gene and offers a variety of research-based prevention strategies.

Some helpful tips to navigate the site include the How to Guide that offers tips on how to navigate forums, including how to quote members when you respond to posts so they get an email notification of your post (tip: use the quotation icon in the upper right of any post). The How to Guide also demonstrates how to use the Search function for topics and how to subscribe to topics of interest in the forums.

The Wiki is another resource full of information that you might helpful.

Finally, if you would like to learn more about other community members' experiences or even continue to share more about your own, feel free to link to Our Stories.

Again, I am so glad you joined our forum. I look forward to hearing from you in the future. Please feel free to reach out anytime.

Warmly,

GingerGrace
aWrongun
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Re: Blood testing: B12 Total or Active?

Post by aWrongun »

Thankyou GingerGrace for your kind welcome :)
NF52
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Re: Blood testing: B12 Total or Active?

Post by NF52 »

aWrongun wrote: Tue Mar 07, 2023 7:28 am I'm looking at getting some blood tests in the UK. After reviewing Dale's books I'm not sure about what Vitamin B12 test I should get - 500-1500 pg/ml is for Total or Active B12? I'm assuming Total by the size of the numbers.
Hi aWrongun,

I'm guessing a few things here: that you are generally healthy, without any symptoms of severe anemia and mostly want to be sure you're getting enough active B-12 to get the benefit of it.

Speaking from my experience only, I first was alerted to the need to take more B-12 when I was in a clinical trial for people with normal cognition who had ApoE4. That was exactly 5 years ago and my total B-12 tested (by the study) was 426. I was told by the neurologist at that major medical center that getting it above 500 was associated with a lower risk of cognitive impairment. He specifically recommended 500 mcg of a chewable lozenge of methylcobalamin. Six months later my B-12 level was 644. A year after the initial result it was at 671. While that number may not indicate my "active B-12", it's comfortably above what has been associated with better cognitive health in people my age (70). It seems from a small 2010 study that the two tests are fairly comparable in accuracy for healthy people.
Accordingly, in 69 (90.8%) samples, there was a parallel agreement/ classification of results, both being normal or abnormal. In 61 (80.4%) patients, both results were normal, whereas in 4 (5.2%) patients, both results were high, and in 4 (5.2%) patients both results were low. However, in 7 (9.8%) cases, there was disagreement/ misclassification of results; 6 (7.8%) patients, holoTC was normal while total vitamin B12 was low, and in 1 (1.4%) patient, holoTC was normal while total vitamin B12 was high.

Conclusion
It can be recommended that holoTC and total vitamin B12, alone and in combination, have almost equal diagnostic efficiency in screening/diagnosing vitamin B12 deficiency for the majority of patients. In very few patients, holoTC appeared to be a better reflector of vitamin B12 status.
Comparison between Serum Holotranscobalamin and Total Vitamin B12 as Indicators of Vitamin B12 Status

So for me the takeaway was:
  • Only take methylcobalamin, which has better bioavailability.
  • Once the test result is above 500, keep doing what you're doing.
Hope this helps!
Nancy
4/4 and still an optimist!
GingerGrace
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Re: Blood testing: B12 Total or Active?

Post by GingerGrace »

aWrongun wrote: Sat Mar 11, 2023 12:51 am Thankyou GingerGrace for your kind welcome :)
You are very welcome aWrongun. I'm happy that you have joined this engaging and caring community. Please reach out if I can be of any further assistance.

GingerGrace
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