VITAMIN B DEFICIENCIES CAN PRODUCE PSYCHIATRIC EXPRESSIONS. METHYLCOBALAMIN, B12 FIXES THAT

I had always thought of B-12 as an energy tablet, one that people with low-energy take.  But B-12 serves a much greater function beyond boosting of energy.  It restores nerve and brain function.  How so?  It rebuilds the myelin sheath that protects the spinal column as well as all of the individual nerves in the brain.  Keeping this myelin sheath in tact means that your organ signaling will function strong and far longer than most.  Remember: protect that myelin sheath.  The Methylcobalamin form of B12 does this.

The gist of this article is that one, we don't get enough B12 from our diet for a variety of reasons; all this to say that we all should be supplementing with methylcobalamin. 

I was a little disappointed by a couple of things in this article.  One, when Mercola, or his ghostwriter, says lists the various dosages for different individuals, he leaves out what MEN should take.  He lists newborns, children up to 13, "people" 14 and older, pregnant women, and breastfeeding women.  But no mention of men, as if men don't have specific and certain requirements that are distinctive from "people age 14 and older."  Disappointing.  

Second, as the article decries the horrors of B12 deficiency, the writer fails to point out some foods that deplete our vitamin B stores, foods like MSG, coffee, tea, and dental amalgams.  There are other foods as well as prescription medicines that outright block or impair vitamin B absorption, while other things deplete your body's stores of the nutrient.  Why is this important?  Stress and sleep deprivation can also contribute to B depletion, and you don't want to get caught at work expressing mild psychiatric symptoms for your coworkers may not be so understanding, ahem, if you know what I mean.  

Several of the B vitamins (B2, B6, B9, and B12) affect brain metabolism and contribute to psychiatric illnesses like depression and behavioral disorders.  

Not good.  Make sure you take the Methylcobalamin.  

h/t Lew Rockwell

Find the article at Mercola.com.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), nearly 40 percent of the U.S. population have marginal vitamin B12 status and 9 percent are deficient.1 Vitamin B12 insufficiency and deficiency increase your risk of serious health problems, many of which mimic more serious neurological diseases and can easily lead to misdiagnosis and improper treatment.

Neurological problems, in particular, are a possibility even at the “low normal” range at or just below 258 picomoles per liter (pmol/L). A level of 148 pmol/L or less is considered a deficiency state. As noted by the USDA:2

Deficiency can cause a type of anemia marked by fewer but larger red blood cells. It can also cause walking and balance disturbances, a loss of vibration sensation, confusion and, in advanced cases, dementia. The body requires B12 to make the protective coating surrounding the nerves. So, inadequate B12 can expose nerves to damage.

Indeed, vitamin B123 is vital for many functions throughout your body. B12 is required for:  

B12 DEFICIENCY MIMICS MANY SERIOUS NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS AND DISEASES

As noted in the featured video, B12 deficiency can look exactly like multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and autism. The film is made by registered nurse Sally Pacholok (see her B12 Awareness site), a leading advocate for B12 deficiency awareness.6 According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a deficiency can even affect a woman’s Pap test, which screens for cervical cancer.

 

Low B12 can affect the appearance of cervical cells, which can result in a false positive.7 Deficiency also raises your risk of heart disease. Vegans or strict vegetarians who abstain from animal products and do not supplement their diet with vitamin B12 will typically become anemic. Nervous and digestive system damage can also result.8

Claims that B12 is present in certain algae, tempeh and brewer’s yeast fail to take into account that the B12 analogues present in these foods are not bioavailable. The only reliable and absorbable sources of vitamin B12 are animal products. However, even animal foods have become a questionable source thanks to modern farming practices and, for this reason, many experts now believe most people really need to take a B12 supplement to ensure healthy B12 status.9

 

B12 DEFICIENCY WIDESPREAD EVEN AMONG MEAT EATERS

Interestingly, research shows no association between B12 blood levels and consumption of meat, poultry and fish — the primary sources of B12.10 According to the researchers, rampant B12 insufficiency is not due to lack of meat consumption. Rather, the vitamin simply isn’t being properly absorbed. B12 is tightly bound to proteins and high acidity is required to break this bond. In essence, a lot of people simply do not have sufficient stomach acid to separate the B12 from the protein.

The researchers speculate that the widespread use of antacids plays a significant role, especially among younger people. In a previous article,11 Dr. Jennifer Rooke, assistant professor in the department of community health and preventive medicine at Morehouse School of Medicine, also notes that factory farmed meat simply does not contain the B12 levels we’re used to.

The reason for this is because animals raised in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) aren’t fed their natural diet. Cows are fed corn and grains, most of which are genetically engineered (GE) and loaded with pesticides, rather than grass. The same goes for chickens, the natural diet of which are insects, worms, seeds and berries, not GE corn.

“It is true that animal products contain B12, and strict vegetarians/vegans are at risk for B12 deficiency, but absorbing B12 from animal products is a very complex process and people who eat meat may be at equal or greater risk for B12 deficiency,” Rooke writes. The reason CAFO animals don’t produce as much B12 is because B12 is made by bacteria that live in both soil and the guts of animals. Cows and chickens raised on pasture obtain the vitamin from the dirt on their food.

Pesticides also kill off soil bacteria, which is why conventionally grown grains are not a good source of B12, and CAFO animals are routinely given antibiotics, which also kill of these beneficial microbes. “In order to maintain meat a source of B12 the meat industry now adds it to animal feed; 90 percent of B12 supplements produced in the world are fed to livestock.

Even if you only eat grass fed organic meat you may not be able to absorb the B12 attached to animal protein. It may be more efficient to just skip the animals and get B12 directly from supplements,” Rooke writes.

PREGNANT WOMEN BEWARE:  B12 DEFICIENCY CAN CAUSE SEVERE NEUROLOGICAL DAMGAGE IN YOUR CHILD

While vegans are urged to augment their B12 intake by stocking up on nutritional yeast, coconut oil and fortified coconut milk, a strict vegan or even vegetarian diet is not recommended. In fact, there are cases in which a deficiency causes serious brain abnormalities. Women of childbearing age also need to be aware that B12 deficiency will place their offspring at risk.

If you’re deficient and breastfeed, your child will also be deficient, and may develop neurological symptoms — symptoms that are frequently misdiagnosed as autism and/or other neurological diseases. It’s really critical to catch a B12 deficiency early, as impaired brain and nerve development can be very difficult to correct once the damage is done. In adults, B12 deficiency can develop in about six years.12 That’s how long it takes to deplete your body’s B12 stores.

Babies, however, do not have B12 stores, especially if the mother was deficient during pregnancy, so side effects can develop far more rapidly. Babies whose moms had a B12 deficiency during pregnancy also have a higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes and other serious metabolic problems.13

A deficiency can be corrected by weekly shots of vitamin B12 or daily high-dose B12 supplements. Mild cases may also be corrected by increased intake of vitamin B12-rich foods. A detailed list of the B12 amounts of different foods can be found on the NIH website.14Some of the richest sources include clams, beef liver, wild rainbow trout and wild sockeye salmon.

B12 DEFICIENCY PLAYS A ROLE IN DEPRESSION AND OTHER PSYCHIATRIC CONDITIONS

Aside from symptoms mimicking autism and Alzheimer’s, B12 deficiency also contributes to depression and other psychiatric conditions. (Other B vitamins, including niacin (B3), B6, biotin (B8) and folate (B9) deficiencies can also produce psychiatric effects.) For example, research has shown vitamin B12 deficiency can trigger confusion, agitation, depression, mania, psychosis and paranoid delusions.15^,16

One study17^,18 found vitamins B6, B8 (inositol) and B12 in combination were very effective for improving schizophrenic symptoms when taken in high doses — more so than standard drug treatments alone. Low doses were ineffective. One of the reasons for this may be related to the fact that schizophrenics tend to have abnormalities in their B12 and glutamate pathways.19

LOW B12 IMPLICATED IN MIGRAINES

B12, along with B6 and folic acid, has also been shown to reduce the frequency, severity and disability of migraines. In one study,20daily vitamin supplements produced a twofold reduction in migraines over a six-month period. Certain gene mutations and dysfunctions can lead to higher levels of homocysteine production, which can make you more susceptible to migraine attacks.

Vitamins B6 and B12 help to optimize your homocysteine levels. The scientists also found that depending on your genotype, you may need a higher or lower dose to benefit. People with TT genotypes, which have a lower enzymatic rate, metabolize less homocysteine than those with C allele carriers. As a result, the former experience less of a benefit from the supplementation and require higher doses.

SIGNS OF VITAMIN B12 DEFICIENCY

If you’re frequently beset by fatigue and general lack of energy, you may be experiencing the onset of B12 deficiency. Other seemingly unrelated symptoms such as poor memory, shortness of breath, loss of taste and smell, depression and tingling in your extremities, can be indicative of low B12.

Anxiousness and depression may occur because a B12 shortage depresses the brain chemical serotonin, a neurotransmitter linked to your brain’s pleasure centers, and dopamine, the mood regulator registering memory and mood. Unless there’s an intervention, low B12 levels may even lead to paranoia, delusions and hallucinations. Other signs and symptoms include:21

MOST PEOPLE ARE AT RISK FOR B12 DEFICIENCY

There are a number of key reasons for a B12 deficiency, including the following. Unfortunately, doctors frequently overlook these common contributing causes, and B12 deficiency is frequently misdiagnosed as something far more serious.

Needless to say, when a deficiency is misdiagnosed as depression, Alzheimer’s, autism or other serious disease, the root cause remains unaddressed, and no amount of treatment will be significantly effective. So, if any of these situations apply to you, be particularly mindful of your B12 status, especially if you have symptoms associated with deficiency.

HOW MUCH VITAMIN B12 DO YOU NEED AND WHICH TYPE IS BEST?

The recommended dietary allowance for vitamin B12 is:27

• 0.4 to 1.8 micrograms (mcg) for newborns and children up to 13, depending on their exact age
• 2.4 mcg for people age 14 and older
• 2.6 mcg for pregnant women
• 2.8 mcg for breastfeeding women

Fortunately, you don’t need to worry about overdosing on B12 because it’s water soluble, so your body will simply flush out any excess. The type of B12 you use, however, is a factor worthy of consideration. While cyanocobalamin is the form of B12 found in most supplements, this form is far from ideal and does not occur naturally in foods. As explained by Dr. Peter J. D’Adamo:28

As the name implies, cyanocobalamin contains a cyanide molecule. Most people are familiar with cyanide as a poisonous substance. Although the amount of cyanide in a normal B12 supplement is small and from a toxicology point, viewed as insignificant, your body will still need to remove and eliminate this compound. This removal is accomplished through your detoxification systems with substances like glutathione being very important for the elimination of the cyanide.

A far better form of B12 — especially for the support of nervous system health and healthy vision — is methylcobalamin, which is the naturally occurring form found in food. It’s more absorbable and your body retains it in greater amounts than cyanocobalamin.29Considering the many health risks associated with B12 deficiency, and the fact that CAFO animal products — which is what most people eat — tend to be low in B12, it may be wise for most people to take a high-quality methylcobalamin supplement.

SOURCES AND REFERENCES

• 1, 2 USDA, Vitamin B12 Deficiency
• 3 Eating Our Future, Vitamin B12 Deficiency
• 4 Cell Metabolism November 4, 2014; 20(5): 769–778
• 5 PNAS February 14, 2017; 114(7): E1205-E1214
• 6 B12awareness.org
• 7 Health.com March 27, 2018
• 8 The Nutrition Almanac, 3rd ed. p. 32-33; Garrison, R. & Somer, E. The Nutrition Desk Reference, 3rd ed., (Keats Publishing; CT), p. 126
• 9 European Journal of Nutrition 2017 Feb;56(1):283-29
• 10 USDA, Vitamin B12 Deficiency
• 11 Baltimore Post-Examiner October 30, 2013
• 12  Dietary Reference Intakes for Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Vitamin B12, Pantothenic Acid, Biotin, and Choline, Estimation of the
• 13 Science Daily November 7, 2016
• 14 NIH.gov, Vitamin B12 Fact Sheet
• 15 British Medical Journal 956 Dec 15; 2(5006): 1394–1398
• 16 British Medical Journal 956 Dec 15; 2(5006): 1394–1398 (Full article, PDF)
• 17 Psychological Medicine February 16, 2017, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291717000022
• 18 Medical News Today February 16, 2017
• 19 PeerJ Journal 3:e1140
• 20 Pharmacogenet Genomics. 2009 Jun;19(6):422-8
• 21 Harvard, Vitamin B12
• 22 Clinical Chemistry August 2008
• 23 American Family Physician 2017 Sep 15;96(6):384-389
• 24 JAMA 2013;310(22):2435-2442
• 25 Health.com March 27, 2018
• 26 Effects of Antibiotic-Induced Vitamin B12 Deficiency With and Without Oral Administration of Vitamin B12 (PDF)
• 27 NIH.gov, Vitamin B12 Fact Sheet
• 28 DaDamo.com, Cyanocobalamin versus Methylcobalamin
• 29 Just Vitamins, Cyanocobalamin versus Methylcobalamin

DR. ANTHONY CHAFFEE: a very shriveled, atrophied brain. It looked exactly like an 80-year-old patient with Alzheimer's . . . dementia. Then with daily B12 replacement after 5 months, the brain swelled up significantly

And we know that B12 deficiency even as an adult you can lose a percentage of your brain matter.  The brain on the right is a 40 year old brain and you're losing 0.05% to 2% every year, you're damn right that's what your brain is going to look like at 80.  Of course, it will.  But with proper nutrition, it doesn't have to.  And what I think is also striking here is that this one from an 80-year-old brain, huge improvement.  But it doesn't look like a one-year-old brain.  Why the hell not?  Did they just lose out on their ability to develop normally?  Maybe.  But also they are replacing B12 lost via their vegetarian parents.  What about the vitamin D?  What about the choline, the creatine, the carnitine, the DHA, the EPA, the cholesterol, the saturated fat, I'll bet the LDL is pretty damn low.  --Dr Anthony Chaffee

The average person is sick and malnourished.  

80% of the calories consumed in America, Europe and the rest of the world really are from plants and plants don't contain B12, and so you have a vegetarian population basically.  And you're checking their average B12, and you're saying, "O, everybody's in this average."  Well, it's an average.  Of course, they're in the average.  But all those people are deficient because everyone is deficient, now no one is deficient because it's hidden in that average.  But if you're below 650, 700, you can actually get demyelination. Oxford University published a paper in 2008, that showed that under 500 picomoles per liter, 600 picograms per milliliter, down to like 300 picomoles per milliliter, you know, 450 picograms and lower that people were getting so much demyelination of their white matter that their brains were shrinking by 2.5% to 5.5% every 5 years.  

1:56.  And that's my theory as well.  Why do brains shrink?  We accept that.  We say our brains just shrink as we age even though no other animal on earth sees this.  None.  And so we just accept that our brains rot out of our brains.  Okay but if we are losing half a percent 2% of our brain per year because we are in the normal reference range for B12, after 34 years your brain is going to be shriveled up. And you look at case reports.  There's a case report in 1997 of a baby a 6-month-old baby who was a child of vegetarian parents who had severe atrophy to developed and so it was very very shriveled, atrophy.  It looked exactly like an 80-year-old patient with Alzheimer's . . . dementia. Then with daily B12 replacement after 5 months, the brain swelled up significantly.  It looked like basically a healthy 40 year old brain, but it didn't look like a one-year-old brain like it should have.  And so you know it looks like an 80-year-old brain, a 6-month-old baby with severe B12 deficiency looks like an 80 year old brain.  So why are we calling that 80-year-old brain normal?  And then you give them B12 and all of a sudden it looks like a 40-year-old brain 5 months down the line.  So I don't think that's age related atrophy.  I think that's malnutrition over time.  That is why I think people with MS are seeing a reduction in their lesions because they're just getting the basic nutrition that we need.  And so working in neurosurgery, I have seen dramatic recoveries from a neurological perspective, more than I would have expected.  Because normally we don't expect the brain and the nerves to heal all that well.  It doesn't surprise me now, because we've been malnourished we don't have these nutrients like B12 that are allowing your brain to heal if your B12 is at a level that is so low that you are getting demyelination your nerves from MS.  It's not going to happen; it's not going to happen.  But then people do this and they're eating the fat, they're having some liver, they're getting the their B12 and vitamin D up and their DHEA and their and LDL and all that sort of, or DHA and EPA and LDL.  They're getting all of those things up in proportion.  Now the body can actually start healing which we don't think is possible as doctors and clinicians, because we just don't see it.  And we think that the brain shrinking over time is normal because we just see it.  It is the norm but it doesn't mean that it is normal.  It doesn't mean that that is supposed to happen.  

4:46.  I think it's really dramatic so this is you know this but I'll say this for everybody's benefit this is very typical of a baby's brain.  All the gray stuff is just brain.  These little dark marks here are the ventricles.  They're very small here as well.  There's no space around the outside.  Space in kids, that space is maxed out.  It's pushing against the wall.  That's actually how the skull grows.  The growth of the brain pushes out on the inside of the skull and actually grows the bones of the skull so that's normal baby for a 20-month-old baby.  This is that case report and when you zoom in like this and you didn't know that this was a baby you tell me if I'm wrong here but that looks very typical 4 and 80 year old on the right looks pretty typical for a 40 year old.

5:44.  The big ventricles you look at the edge and you can see that would be called atrophy of the brain you can see this in and I don't read CAT scans of the head, but you can see it right away.  That's not a healthy brain.

6:01.  No, it's not, but if you put that in front of a radiologist and so that's an 80-year-old man, is that supposed to look like that he'd say yeah that's just a normal age-related atrophy the brain on the right would be a very normal for a 40 year old brain 35, 40 year old brain.  Brain on the right of the child, there's no gap around outside the outside the ventricles are very small you can't even see the temporal horns. This one now you can start seeing that.  It's already getting atrophied there is space around the outside the ventricles are a bit more pronounced around the brain stem pons and things like that.  Now in the brain on the left it's much more pronounced much more atrophy huge ventricles big open wide temporal horns that's very typical for an elderly brain.  But again this is a 6 month old girl of vegetarian parents with severe brain shrinkage atrophy due to B12 deficiency.  This is a published case report from 1997.  Retardation of myelination due to dietary vitamin B12 deficiency: Cranial MRI findings. Pediatric Radiology 27(2), 155-158.  And so this is at 6 months old brain and it looks like an 80 year old brain on the right is 5 months later about a year old after daily B12 replacement so massive Improvement on that and if you flip those around and say okay that's a 40-year-old brain right and you would say yeah that's normal normal at age-related atrophy but we know this is B12 deficiency.  And we know that B12 deficiency even as an adult you can lose a percentage of your brain matter the brain on the right is a 40 year old brain and you're losing half a percent, 2% every year you're damn right that's what your brain is going to look like at 80 of course it will but with proper nutrition, it doesn't have to and what I think is also striking here is that this one from an 80 year old brain, huge improvement.  But it doesn't look like a one-year-old brain.  Why the hell not?  Did they just lose out on their ability to develop normally?  Maybe.  But also they are replacing B12 lost via their vegetarian parents.  What about the vitamin D?  What about the choline, the creatine, the carnitine, the DHA, the EPA, the cholesterol, the saturated fat, I'll bet the LDL is pretty damn low.  It's not what you want.  When you're trying to grow a brain that is predominantly made out of cholesterol.  It's largely made out of it anyway.  So I think that's why it looks like a 40-year-old brain instead of a 1-year-old brain like it should because . . . because it's not just B12 that she's missing.  She's missing all these other things.  So when we have MS patients, I have an MS protocol and we optimize B12 we get into reference ranges that are the studies have shown are optimal.  We certainly get them to hell out of that "normal range" that can actually still cause demyelination.  Because you're never going to regrow your myelin without [B12 and the other nutrients found in beef] if you're in vitamin B12, and things like that are so low that you'll get demyelination.  It's never going to happen. 

AN ANNOUNCEMENT THAT BENFOTIAMINE CURES AND PREVENTS ALZHEIMER'S IS EXPECTED SOON

A few quotes from Bill Sardi.  

One,

There is a doctor in Italy who is astonishingly curing Parkinson's disease with B1 shots (mostly among alcoholics).   

Two, 

Because of poor absorption, it is unlikely the best diet or fortified foods can overcome a state of B1 deficiency. 

Three,

Vitamin B1 is well provided but just not absorbed or is rapidly excreted (diuretics). 

Four, 

An announcement of the highly absorbable fat-soluble form of vitamin B1 (Benfotiamine) cures and prevents Alzheimer's disease is expected soon. 

And Five,

One of the ways widespread nutritional deficiencies remain hidden is that blood tests only reveal what is called the reference range (commonly occurring range), not the healthy range.

I remember sitting in an Anatomy class at UC Irvine back in 1990 and how the professor made the comment that vitamin supplements only produce expensive urine.  My thought that followed was "Why would he make such a claim?  Was it to direct all health authority to the practitioners of health, to doctors?  Was he a spokesman for doctors?"  I didn't know.  I didn't know his credentials.  I should have checked.  But it was an Anatomy class.  He made other cracks, too, that I didn't like.  Years passed before I began to understand how universities are staffed with folks loyal to the medical industrial complex and not necessarily to human health.  This is one reason I appreciate the work of nutritional journalists, especially Bill Sardi.  

Sardi in his article, "Just Remember Dietary Supplements Are Not Supported By Science And Are A Waste of Money," reminds us, perhaps constantly so, that nutritional supplements play an important, nay, vital role in providing health, in recovering from illness and injury, as well as stave off the ravages of age-related diseases.  Troubling is the fact that we don't read as much as we should learn about the benefits, or that we begin to read regrettably when it is a bit late.  In his latest reminder, Sardi lists the benefits of certain vitamins. 

Folic Acid prevents spinal defects during birth.

In the 1990s grain products were fortified with folic acid to prevent birth defects (spina bifida, anencephaly) . . . 

Folic Acid prevents strokes; prevents deaths from stroke, and facilitates better and faster recovery.  You probably need to be on Folic Acid daily to get these results.  I wouldn't wait until after the fact if you know what I mean. 

and a decline in stroke-related mortality was reported. Researchers then subsequently reported that 31,000 stroke-associated deaths may have been prevented by folic acid food fortification. Folic acid blood levels doubled during this period (from 6.6 to 15 nanograms/milliliter per blood sample) with an accompanying 14% decline in homocysteine blood levels, which was believed to be the mechanism responsible for the decline.

If you're not familiar with Bill Sardi, a nutritional journalist who has been studying, reviewing, reporting on the supplement industry since the 1970s, and you're unsure whether to take his word, then check his sources.

Here is the Lancet:

Then in 2007 The Lancet journal reported that folic acid (vitamin B9) supplementation reduces stroke risk by 18%.

Here is the Journal of the American Medical Association:

Then again in 2015 the Journal of the American Medical Association reported the combined use of a blood pressure pill (enalapril) and folic acid, but not the drug alone, significantly reduced the risk for first stroke.

Maybe my old UC Irvine Anatomy professor could read an article or two by Bill Sardi and learn . . . learn something beyond the 3 x 5 index card of allowable opinion on vitamin supplements.  But it appears that my old Anatomy professor was not alone, that, in fact, there was an industry consensus that multivitamins were a waste of money.  Read for yourself.

Thereafter organized medicine reached a consensus that:

Dietary supplements are still popular despite little evidence they're useful. – Science-Based Medicine

Study after study has demonstrated that favorites like multivitamins don’t actually improve outcomes on a number of health measures. - VOX.com

Multivitamins are a waste of money, doctors say. – Scientific American

There is no evidence that taking a multivitamin regularly has the ability to ward off chronic diseases. – LiveScience.com

Thankfully, opinions change.  The results of Folic Acid on stroke and its effects are a stunning 73% decline.  

Fast forward to today. . . . News reports claim a massive 73% decline in strokes and stroke-related death among the highest risk patients and a 21% decline in stroke overall with folic acid supplementation.

If we're 65 and older, we should be taking Folic Acid daily.  

About 795,000 people suffer a stroke each year in the U.S. and more than 140,000 people die from stroke. Most strokes occur among adults over age 65. If a recent study holds true for every senior American, the consumption of a multivitamin with folic acid could reduce the number of strokes from 795,000 to 628,050 (166,950 fewer strokes). Stroke death rates would dramatically plunge too. And they say vitamin supplements are worthless. Go figure.

Folic Acid reduces strokes in folks with high blood pressure from 5.6% to 1.8%.  Can you doctor's prescription claim that?  Ha.

Strokes occur among individuals who have high blood pressure. Their risk for stroke is 5.6% and folic acid drastically reduces this risk to 1.8% in high-risk groups.

Imagine the savings in healthcare costs if folks supplemented daily with Folic Acid.  I didn't realize that stroke-related costs run $34 billion a year.

With strokes costing $34 billion a year, a public health agenda to encourage all senior Americans to supplement with folic acid could theoretically reduce strokes costs to $26.9 billion, a savings of $7.9 billion.

According to the Census Bureau, there were 49.2 million Americans over age 65 in 2016. At $.20 [cents] per folic acid pill, it would cost $3.59 billion for American seniors to protect themselves from a stroke. Net savings would be ~$4.3 billion. It appears modern medicine is throwing away health dollars and lives for its bias against dietary supplements. Obviously, folic acid pills far exceeded what food fortification began over two decades ago.

Folic Acid is required for DNA repair.  Blood vessels are damaged without adequate folic acid.  

The researchers noted that a low folic acid level was associated with a low blood platelet count. Folic acid is required to repair DNA. It then follows that wall of blood vessels and blood platelets are damaged and platelet count declines without adequate folic acid. Blood platelets are responsible for blood clotting, a necessary part of wound healing.

If this is true, and I have no reason so far to doubt it, why then do university professors, representatives for modern medicine, continue in their claim that vitamin supplements and multi-vitamin supplements, in particular, are of no benefit?  

Sardi addresses this too. 

HOW MODERN MEDICINE CONCLUDES DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS ARE UNNECESSARY

Here is how modern medicine comes to its erroneous conclusion [that] dietary supplements are not needed: 

. . . a good diet will provide all the nutrients necessary for health. 

Of course, that position is self-serving as modern medicine games human populations for more disease to treat.

A good diet is not enough to stave off disease or to maintain health.  And I particularly like Sardi calling out "high-calorie malnutrition."  Wow.  I wonder if one of the reasons that vitamin supplementation is frowned upon by the medical industry and its representatives at the universities is that for vitamins to be effective, one must remove sugars, high-glycemic carbohydrates, and alcohols from one's diet.  These foods are representative of huge industries.  You tell people that B1 improves this, restores that, and prevents this on condition that they stop consuming one of these foods, then you might see the conflict of interest that the university reps protect.  

Beriberi, the name for the disease that emanates from a deficiency of thiamin (vitamin B1), is broadly prevalent [in] well-fed societies as it is induced by "high-calorie malnutrition" given that added sugars, carbohydrates, alcohol, and even tea block its absorption. 

Okay, here is another bullet point for those 50 and up managing stomach acid.

The progressive decline in stomach acid secretion with advancing age is yet another reason why B1 deficiency is highly prevalent but unrecognized. 

What is interesting that B1 deficiency is not easily recognizable or detectable.  Sardi says that "it defies detection as a collective disease." And my guess is that the physician who doesn't know much about nutrition, will diagnose B1 deficiency as some psychiatric condition and compel him to write a referral to a psychiatrist rather than informally recommend a patient to take 2 B1 tablets every day for the next week, then call him by week's end.  

Derrick Lonsdale, the reigning expert on vitamin B1, says thiamin deficiency has a low mortality and a long morbidity.

That low-mortality and long-morbidity mean that a B1 deficiency won't kill you, but it will present the symptoms of illness, the kind that is chronic or "long morbidity." 

Because B1 deficiency is associated with so many maladies (autism, diabetic complications, disruptive autonomic [nervous] system disorders, heart failure, neuropathy, sudden infant death, alcoholism, it defies detection as a collective disease. An announcement of the highly absorbable fat-soluble form of vitamin B1 (Benfotiamine) cures and prevents Alzheimer's disease is expected soon. There is a doctor in Italy who is astonishingly curing Parkinson's disease with B1 shots (mostly among alcoholics).

B1 can be found aplenty in our food supply and even through supplementation.  Supply is not the issue: absorption is.  

Because of poor absorption, it is unlikely the best diet or fortified foods can overcome a state of B1 deficiency. Once classified as a prison camp for malnutrition disease, beriberi is now prevalent as a disease of overconsumption. A sub-disease population is beriberi induced by water pills (diuretics). Modern medicine can't imagine how a B vitamin deficiency prevails in a well-fed population. Vitamin B1 is well provided but just not absorbed or is rapidly excreted (diuretics).

What's terrible is that the symptoms of a B1 deficiency show up as mild cognitive, even psychiatric in nature, and so not knowing that they are deficient in B1, some folks seek relief via marijuana, which only exacerbates the symptoms.  Ugh.  

According to the US Department of Agriculture "only" 18.4% of Americans consume an inadequate amount of thiamin (that's ~57 million Americans), not enough to cause a run on health food stores, but millions more simply don't absorb or retain B1. The B1-deficient run for marijuana instead.

[BESIDES B1 & FOLIC ACID, THERE IS] ANOTHER OVERLOOKED B VITAMIN DEFICIENCY

Healthy ranges used to measure values in your blood are mistaken and often result in poor detection of B12 deficiency.  

Pernicious (vitamin B12) anemia is prevalent depending upon the blood level used to define deficiency. Up to 40% of US adults may be B12 deficient. One of the ways widespread nutritional deficiencies remain hidden is that blood tests only reveal what is called the reference range (commonly occurring range), not the healthy range. If massive numbers of people are B12 deficient then that becomes the reference range, which mistakenly can lead to the false belief an individual has a normal (common) blood level but is deficient.

Doctors misdiagnose all the time, often for self-serving interests. 

It is common for doctors to look at a blood test and mistakenly conclude whatever symptoms a patient is suffering from are not caused by a shortage of vitamin B12.

False normal B12 blood tests are common. This is likely why many older adults with so-called normal blood levels experience clearance of symptoms upon B12 supplementation.

For me at least, B12 gave me back my circadian rhythms, and I am able to return to a regular sleep pattern, one where my sleep is uninterrupted and deep; not long, just deep and I wake rested.  B12 does this.  

B12 deficiency may be rampant, especially among certain groups (vegetarians, gastric bypass patients, users of B12 depleting drugs (metformin, antacids), yet public health authorities will claim prevalence of deficiency is low. A US Department of Agriculture report issued over a decade ago noted that 4 or 10 Americans "may be flirting with vitamin B12 deficiency." 

Even milder symptoms that we dismiss with a wave of the hand could be a B12 deficiency.

Many chronic unsuspected symptoms of B12 deficiency such as a chronic cough and back pain, may never be counted in estimates of the prevalence of B12 pathology.

The comparative costs of supplementation are in your favor. 

JUST REMEMBER, the prevailing position by modern medicine, despite the science, is that vitamin supplements are needless. You must be a crazy, eccentric, ignorant, easily misled fool to be caught taking dietary supplements. Best to take them in your closet where nobody will see you. Because of this attitude, many patients simply hide the fact from their doctors [that] they are loading up with vitamins every day. Still, Americans only spend ~$8 a month on dietary supplements and ~$250 a month on drugs. It should be the other way around.