The uptake of ingested vitamin B12 and its total body balance: a mathematical model suggests the optimal supplementation strategy
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Impaired or insufficient uptake of vitamin B 12 causes neurological disorders, anemia, and various diffuse symptoms, all historically called pernicious anemia (PA). Maintenance of adequate B 12 body store ( B ) is important, but the recommended doses and duration of peroral B 12 -supplementation are usually half-empirical. The current work suggests physiologically realistic algebraic equations to express the changes in B via the daily B 12 -uptake. The data from literature were used to estimate the relevant parameters of the equations. The modeled values of B showed that the daily ingestion of B 12 = 3×2.0 μg maintains the steady state value of B = 1316/1858/2683 μg in healthy individuals with low/mean/high types of B 12 -uptake. The “classical” PA-patients have a highly decreased intrinsic factor (falling from 30 μg of B 12 -equivalents to below 0.2 μg), giving B = 47/81/123 μg for the low/mean/high B 12 -uptakes and the aforementioned doses. Alignment of B with the combined index of B 12 -status (cB12) in a heterogeneous cohort indicated that B > 1250 μg provides the safe B 12 -status for > 84% of the subjects. The risk of PA is associated with B < 400 μg. Repletion of a low body store from B = 400 μg to ≈ 1250 μg would require a prolonged supplementation of healthy individuals with B 12 -pills, if they receive 1×5 μg/day or 1×50 μg/day. These schemes are expected to raise B after the time intervals of (not possible)/2200/780 days or 2330/860/480 days, respectively. Only a pill with high B 12 = 5000 μg/day would raise B to 1250 μg in 24/16/10 days.
Source: Biochimie
Author: Sergey N. Fedosov
Institution: Aarhus University
Language: English
Subfield: Rheumatology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,110
OpenAlex ID: W4417081022