Unlocking Vitality: The Unknown Power of Vitamin B12

In this podcast episode, Dr. Rodney and Karen Wirth delve into the significance of Vitamin B12 for overall health. 

They discuss the vital roles B12 plays, from red blood cell formation to nervous system function. Vitamin B12 cannot be produced by the body and must be obtained through diet or supplements.

Certain health conditions, aging, and lifestyle factors like a vegetarian diet or excessive intake of coffee and alcohol can lead to deficiencies. 

Symptoms of deficiency range from fatigue to neurological issues. The discussion underscores the importance of B12 supplementation for those unable to meet their dietary needs. 

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Transcript

[00:07] Dr. Rodney: Welcome to Stance for Health podcast with Dr. Rodney and Karen Wirth, where becoming healthy is not complicated. Control your health by focusing on six areas of life that we teach you so you finally have the energy you have to do what you want instead of being a victim of your age. I have over 20 years experience working as a chiropractor and Karen is an author, speaker and longevity coach. We've seen how a tiny change in your habits today can open up your life to a powerful future. Start today and take your stance for health.

[00:50] Karen: Welcome to Stance for Health. My name is Karen Sebastian Wirth, affectionately known as the Hope lady. And I have next to me Dr. Rodney Wirth. Good to be here at Stance for Health.

[01:04] Dr. Rodney: Good to be here. Absolutely.

[01:07] Karen: We're going to talk today about vitamin B12. You possibly have heard of it, but I want us to dig a little deeper than what you might have heard because it is really an important one. Why is vitamin B12 so important, Dr. Rodney?

[01:24] Dr. Rodney: Well, you really can't get it from anywhere other than from your diet. Your body's not manufacturing it, so it's like folic acid or folate. So it's one of those. You have to eat right. Think about all the things that B12 has a role in. It has a role in cortisol. And another way of saying there's other things, you can say adrenaline or. Oh, yeah, part of what the adrenal products are A, C, T, H, you've got iron absorption, fat and carbohydrate metabolism. And we're just getting started. So then you've got reproductive health.  And then near and dear to all chiropractors, hearts, nervous system function and nerve growth and function. And then on top of that, if you don't have good digestion, then you're not gonna have good brain function either because they go together. It's not surprising then that you'd have digestive issues if you have nervous system issues. But then on top of that, you have. When you say iron absorption, this is one of those interesting supplements in that it leads to red blood cell function and synthesis. A way of looking at anemia. Most of us think of iron deficiency anemia. The reality is you could be B12 anemic.

[02:42] Karen: Oh, wow. I was not aware of that. Yeah, well, you know, that reminds me of reading more about this, that President Abraham Lincoln's wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, was treated for mental illness. And did you know that at the root of it was basically a vitamin B deficiency at that time they called it pernicious anemia. So it's so sad because she basically was mentally ill. That could have been corrected. And we're going to talk about that at the end. That is what is so fascinating about the whole metabolism and how it's worked. What causes that deficiency?

[03:25] Dr. Rodney: You have to kind of think of the two things at once. How much of this do we have to have in our diet? So that would be. There'd be a recommended daily allowance with that.

[03:34] Karen: And if you're not eating well, then you. We're going to talk about that at the end. How much to take as a supplement.

[03:40] Dr. Rodney: There are things that cause deficiency. Let's say you're drinking four cups of coffee a day, or you're having more than a glass of wine or more than a beer per day, or you've got Crohn's or celiac disease, basically, you're not absorbing it well. Or if you're a vegetarian and you're not aware of this, then you've got proton pump inhibitors, you've got H2 restrictors or hydrogen, basically trying to keep the acid down and acid reflux or antacids, those types of things, or even metformin. So those things will cause B12 deficiency. It's another way of saying. Perhaps you could almost say that it's treatment deficiency. Where I'm going with that is oftentimes in our functional medicine, we'll actually say, okay, if you're taking any of these meds, this is what will cause depletion or deficiency.

[04:35] Karen: So often what happens when people come to us for functional medicine, what we have discovered is that many of them, they're coming, obviously, because they have blood sugar issues or other issues. And so that's an interesting combination that actually, the thing that we're taking to correct a problem can create other issues. There was one other on the list that. That I thought was funny because it's laughing gas. Oh, now that. That made me laugh. But laughing gas is really like. It's not so much the person that has the dental procedure, but the people that are dispensing the laughing gas. It's the people who work in the dentist industry.

[05:29] Dr. Rodney: Okay, so they're going to get some cast off.

[05:32] Karen: Exactly. Not so much that we don't have.

[05:35] Dr. Rodney: Laughing gas here, but I don't. It just kind tickles your funny bone. You just think of all the movies that have had that in it.

[05:41] Karen: Right, Exactly. And so I think that another factor that affects the B12 also is just getting older. And some of that has to do with probiotics that you need that will help you absorb the B12. And so that's another reason we're going to talk about at the end.

[06:02] Dr. Rodney: So you're talking about CO factors.

[06:04] Karen: Yes, because absorption is also another issue and there can also be inherited issues with folate. Tell us a little bit more about that.

[06:16] Dr. Rodney: One of the best ways to test for B12 deficiency with blood serum or a blood test that's a very specific test. And then the other one is what's called a single nucleotide polymorphism. And what that is is that you have a genetic predisposition to not able to convert B12 into efficiently in your body. So you can take all the B12 supplements that you want and may work for a while or it might even make it feel worse because you're not converting it. It would then build up and be unconverted into the usable form.

[06:50] Karen: We're talking about a high percentage of people when you saw those causes that could be having this issue and they don't know it, it's undetected. And so one of those signs is fatigue.

[07:07] Dr. Rodney: Okay, so how do I know it's not just from fatigue from not getting enough sleep? You should be getting seven and a half hours of restful sleep. And if that's not working for you, this should be on your list of things to check off. Like let's say I'm getting two and a half to three micrograms, the recommended daily allowance of a B12. And then you start to wonder am I one of those people that has the SNP, the Single Nucleotide Polymorphism or the genetic predisposition to a deficiency due to non conversion. Gotta get that off the list too. If you're still trying to figure out why you're fatigued all the time.

[07:45] Karen: And two other ones that are right there next to the fatigue and this is card and horse because is this other causes anxiety and depression. But they are seeing incredible results with the B12 supplementation in those arenas as well. The sad part is, is that many people very quickly start taking anti anxiety meds or depression. What are some other, okay let's say signs that you might have it doc.

[08:15] Dr. Rodney: All right. Numb, tingly, like pins and needles sort of feelings. In other words, there's times that you might be thinking well I need to go to a chiropractor. Yes you do. If you're feeling that numbness and tingling, it may be from B vitamin deficiency, but it might also be from nerve pressure subluxation like what chiropractors treat. Perhaps before you go to a neurologist, and before you have yourself poked with needles and have a needle EMG before you go to the emergency room, consider B12 deficiency.

[08:48] Karen: Exactly. And then another one is yellow skin. What's going on?

[08:53] Dr. Rodney: It sounds like the. The red blood cells are actually degrading, and so they're. You're going to have some of that pigment actually showing up on your skin. It's not from too much carotene or keratinosis.

[09:07] Karen: I was going to say. That's the one thing that. That made me think of as my. Our oldest had keratinemia because all she ate was vegetables with a lot of carotene. And so it was sweet potatoes and carrots. So there's another indicator with your tongue.

[09:26] Dr. Rodney: So you can look at the tongue and say, is it swollen? Is it smooth? Do they have papilla issues? Fewer papilla that actually house the taste buds. And are they having taste issues? Do they say, you know, food doesn't taste the same way it used to? This is by no means comprehensive, but these are some of the signs, some of the things that you can look at. It's not a diagnosis. Don't say, okay, well, we listened to the podcast. That counts as our visit to the doctor.

[09:55] Karen: Absolutely not. But it's just something to consider, because what about somebody who's feeling kind of unstable or wobbly or dizzy? I mean, that could be pre vertigo there, but it could also be low B12. Why would that be?

[10:11] Dr. Rodney: That's another neurological manifestation. Think about anything that could affect one of the 12 cranial nerves. You've got smell, you've got sight. Cranial nerve 2 is the optic nerve. Balance is vestibulocochlear, which is cranial nerve 8 and 12. I already mentioned that. With your tongue, maybe you can't shrug your shoulders as well. On one side, I'm shrugging my shoulders, but that would be weakness in that. There's other ones, too. What? Cranial nerves three, four, and six, maybe one under both eyes. You can't converge well, so I'm just. I'm trying to exhaust the lid.

[10:44] Karen: Did you know that a B12 deficiency could cause damage to the optic nerve?

[10:50] Dr. Rodney: So anything that has to do with those cranial nerves, there's another one, too. What was it? Someone not being able to smile properly or smile as wide as they used to. I mean, we're talking about cranial nerve 7 and then cranial nerve 5. That's the trigeminal nerve. If you're losing sensation on your face. So these are just some of the things to look for obviously.

[11:11] Karen: And the final one is memory loss which that's more on the sense of one of the things that could be. But if there's no other possible cause, it could be the B, it could be the B12.

[11:24] Dr. Rodney: Who are you again?

[11:27] Karen: So let's talk about, I mean I'm sold, I don't want any of those. What can I do about it? So what are the most important things.

[11:38] Dr. Rodney: For food I would recommend if you're already eating non processed foods and range fed chickens, range fed beef and if you eat basically bacon without all the nitrates, cheese, try to get as clean of a cheese. You want to speak on that?

[11:56] Karen: Well, we get Kerrygold butter and Kerrygold cheese but it has to do with, with the types of cows that they have in Europe. In this case it's Ireland and it doesn't have the allergic reaction that you have with the cows here in our country, but the meat, grass fed beef and then fish that it would be like we do the salmon, the sockeye.

[12:23] Dr. Rodney: Salmon, anything that's wild caught rather than farm fed.

[12:27] Karen: And so what you have to do is get quality ingredients and eat them on a consistent basis. But what happens if you're not getting enough even with that? Where, what else can you do?

[12:44] Dr. Rodney: What we recommend to all of our patients is that you get on a really good multi. In fact one of the ways to be able to tell if it's a good multi is, is if it's hard to get meaning that the company you're buying from, buying it from runs out, puts you on back order.

[13:01] Karen: And there's two things with that that is that they're selling but also they're not over producing.

[13:06] Dr. Rodney: They, they have a tough time getting the quality, the quality that they're looking for. Yeah, yeah.

[13:12] Karen: So we are very happy with Nutra west which is what we carry here in our office. But we also, if you are not here here and you can't come by this office, we also have sourced a lot of good ones on fullscript so if you're interested in that please let us know in the messages. So how much should B12 should I be getting every day?

[13:40] Dr. Rodney: So just in terms of converting micrograms to milligrams micro is just a 100th decimal place or two 100 decimal places away they're saying for, for pregnant women it's basically 2.6 or 2.8. Yeah, that's what it is. You know you can after breastfeeding Obviously you're feeding two so that's the 2.8. And so what that actually translates to, it's about that by itself, that's not hard to attain. In fact, that's about one third of what we consume with just one of the core level health reserve that we take. It's a good, super good multi.

[14:22] Karen: And the good news about vitamin B is that they're water soluble, so your body takes what it needs and flushes out the rest. So you're not gonna overdose on them, which is really good.

[14:33] Dr. Rodney: Yeah. And that's actually a good thing. When you reach saturation levels, that's a good thing. It means you're getting enough. So rejoice in that.

[14:41] Karen: It's such a topic that I had no idea until we researched this all of the reasons to take B12. We trust that this has been helpful to you. We are here to answer any questions you have and we look forward to.

[15:00] Dr. Rodney: Helping you take your Stance for Health. Thank you for joining us at Stance for Health podcast, where getting healthy and staying that way are not as complicated as you might think. Subscribe now and discover steps and small changes that can increase your energy and open the door to vibrant health and longevity. If this podcast has been helpful, please write a review. We'll see you next time.