Low B12 levels

Carrie_Thomason

Is it possible for MFP to add more micro nutrients so people know that they are getting a balanced diet.

sollyn23l2

Carrie_Thomason wrote: »

Is it possible for MFP to add more micro nutrients so people know that they are getting a balanced diet.

Try chronometer. They have most of the micronutrients.

cwolfman13

Carrie_Thomason wrote: »

Is it possible for MFP to add more micro nutrients so people know that they are getting a balanced diet.

The issue here with MFP is that database entries are crowdsourced and most of that nutritional information is coming from food labels and the like where most micro-nutrients are not required by the FDA to be listed. B12 would be one of those, so even if MFP listed it, the data wouldn't be readily available.

Are you by chance vegan or vegetarian? It's pretty rare for an omnivore to be B12 deficient, as B12 is present in foods of animal origin, but it's very common among plant based eaters who do not supplement as B12 isn't available in plant foods or vegetarians who aren't ovo-lacto for the same reason. If you eat animal products and are deficient, it's more likely than not that you have absorption issues and would need to supplement...probably with a B12 injection.

neanderthin

cwolfman13 wrote: »

Carrie_Thomason wrote: »

Is it possible for MFP to add more micro nutrients so people know that they are getting a balanced diet.

The issue here with MFP is that database entries are crowdsourced and most of that nutritional information is coming from food labels and the like where most micro-nutrients are not required by the FDA to be listed. B12 would be one of those, so even if MFP listed it, the data wouldn't be readily available.

Are you by chance vegan or vegetarian? It's pretty rare for an omnivore to be B12 deficient, as B12 is present in foods of animal origin, but it's very common among plant based eaters who do not supplement as B12 isn't available in plant foods or vegetarians who aren't ovo-lacto for the same reason. If you eat animal products and are deficient, it's more likely than not that you have absorption issues and would need to supplement...probably with a B12 injection.

This.

Just to add:

Age is a biggy, real big and more common that we think. Like wolfman mentioned it's an absorption situation and B12 or at least the lions share is absorbed by hydrochloric acid which is stomach acid and as we age that declines a lot and one of the reasons we don't/can't eat as much as we did when we were younger and it's a
condition called, atrophic gastritis and the main symptoms for a deficiency funnily enough are the same symptoms as Alzheimer's and dementia as well fatigue, and these are manifested if a person has IBD, like Crohn’s or ulcerative colitis, anemia or celiac, so if your old like me, 70, it's a good idea to get tested, I did.

springlering62

I’m B12 deficient and eat lots of meats. My understanding was, B12 deficiency’s pretty common?

I was an epic fail at self injection. Wasted several vials all over the floor. My doctor finally suggested a specific OTC sublingual (melts under the tongue) B12 that’s supposed to have a higher absorption rate due to its chemical makeup. It’s called hydroxocobalamin.

It wasn’t available during the pandemic because apparently there was a fad for b12, and I had to use a different kind. I could sure tell a difference.

http://www.amazon.com/AOR-Methylation-Detoxification-Activated-Gluten-Free/dp/B01BWAJPYS

I don’t think I’ve had low B12 counts or whatever in blood tests since beginning this tablet I took it for years , obese, to help with fatigue, and have continued throughout weightloss.

I just reordered three jars- my nineteenth order of it Amazon tells me, if that’s a testimony, lol.

AnnPT77

springlering62 wrote: »

I’m B12 deficient and eat lots of meats. My understanding was, B12 deficiency’s pretty common?

(snip useful info, see full post above)

FWIW:

Most people in the United States consume adequate amounts of vitamin B12. Data from the 2013–2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) show that only 3% of U.S. men had intakes from food and beverages below the EAR for vitamin B12 of 2 mcg, and the rate for women was 8% [30].

Average daily intakes of vitamin B12 from food are 5.94 mcg for men aged 20 and older and 3.78 mcg for women [31]. For children aged 2–19, mean daily intakes of vitamin B12 from food range from 3.76 mcg to 4.55 mcg [31].

According to an analysis of NHANES data from 2015–2016, people of low socioeconomic status, women, and non-Hispanic Blacks are most likely to have low vitamin B12 intakes [32]. In the United States and the United Kingdom, approximately 6% of adults younger than 60 years have vitamin B12 deficiency, but the rate is closer to 20% in those older than 60 [33]. In addition, serum vitamin B12 levels tend to drop, sometimes to subnormal levels, during pregnancy, but they usually return to normal after delivery [34].

From: https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminB12-HealthProfessional/

IMO, the NIH factsheets for various nutrients are a useful place to look for very mainstream views of nutrient needs, possible effects of under/over consumption of the nutrients, estimated rates of deficiency in the US population, food sources, differences between the nutrient when food-sourced vs. supplement form when relevant, related health conditions, and that sort of thing.

The fact sheets generally come in a "for consumers" form and a "for professionals" form. Personally, I prefer the "professionals" versions, because they're more detailed, provide more links to supporting research, etc.

yirara

Many people who are hypothyroid are also deficient in vitamin B12. Just as a note.

kayetoo

AGREE.

Chronometer doesn’t connect to Apple Health / Fitbit as well as MFP, and isn’t as globally established as MFP. I need full connectivity between all my data sources for a single app to be the most useful.

For those saying micro-nutrients aren’t listed by most producers: so? I already have missing information on some foods as it is. Leaving it as is ENSURES important information stays missing. Micro nutrients are so much more important than macro nutrients and make the biggest difference with how “good” one feels (mental health, physical function, joints, gut/organ health, etc.). Plus, I take a lot of supplements or foods specifically meant for supplying certain micronutrients, and they list those important nutrients. ALSO, what about caffeine?

More micronutrients would be extremely helpful for those who want to make sure they’re getting the nutrients they need while cutting calories. Health is a bigger picture than calories, macro-nutrients, and heart/sodium health.

PAV8888

kayetoo wrote: »

Chronometer doesn’t connect to Apple Health / Fitbit as well as MFP, and isn’t as globally established as MFP. I need full connectivity between all my data sources for a single app to be the most useful.

It doesn't? I've logged on the orange/redish/pinkish platform on a daily basis since October 25, 2020. So 3.25 years now!

Fitbit connectivity slow downs (or issues) are NOT expected daily occurrences. If anything I can think of one? Maybe two? They are, in fact, remarkable *because* of their rarity.

In the almost 6 years between Nov 20, 2014 and Oct 24, 2020 when I was logging on a certain blue themed platform Fitbit outages and connectivity slow downs were more "expected" than "remarkable".

I will grant you that in the more proximate past I've stopped running into frequent posts about connectivity issues on the blue platform. But I also do not observe any issues while using the Canadian headquartered platform a few hours up the "hills" from my current location!

IF anything their "base bmr calories" plus extras from your band approach makes more intuitive sense to me. Even though I do believe I was adequately competent in terms of how the Fitbit-MFP integration arithmetic worked.