By Jack Norris, RD, LD
I’ve concluded a personal experiment using a daily multivitamin that I conducted after writing the article, Are Multivitamins an Adequate Source of B12 for Vegans?
In the article, I present evidence that a daily multivitamin containing 5 µg of B12 should be enough for adults (who aren’t pregnant, breastfeeding, or have a malabsorption disorder). I couldn’t find a multivitamin with 5 µg of B12, so I used a Deva multivitamin with 6 µg instead.
Here’s the timeline:
- October 7-20, 2021: No B12 intake.
- October 20, 2021 blood tests:
- serum B12: 281 pmol/l
- serum methylmalonic acid: 148 nmol/l
- serum homocysteine: 10.4 µmol/l
- October 20 (after blood draw): Began daily intake of Deva multivitamin containing 6 µg of B12 and 60 mg of vitamin C, with no other source of B12.
- January 26, 2022 blood tests:
- serum B12: 307 pmol/l
- serum methylmalonic acid: 112 nmol/l
- February 10, 2022 blood test:
- serum homocysteine: 10.3 µmol/l
These results, especially the reduction in methylmalonic acid to a low level, indicate that a daily multivitamin with 6 µg of B12 was enough to maintain a healthy B12 status.
4 thoughts on “Personal Experiment Using a Multivitamin for B12”
Hi Jack, thanks for your article. I have been vegan for over twenty years. However, what works for you or I may not work for someone else.
…[snip]…I am happy your test showed your B12 levels were fine, but this may not happen to all others. namaste’, rachel
Hi Rachel,
I understand that I’m just one person and that B12 absorption varies among individuals. The reason I conducted this experiment was that a vegan dietitian had been adamantly claiming that a multivitamin with a relatively small amount of B12 isn’t adequate for a significant portion of vegans despite the fact that the evidence as I describe in Are Multivitamins an Adequate Source of B12 for Vegans? indicates that it should be.
If my B12 status had deteriorated over the course of the experiment, it would have provided some evidence that we should question the Rationale for VeganHealth’s Recommendations, but since my B12 status appeared to slightly improve, the experiment doesn’t provide evidence to question our rationale.
For anyone curious, Deva B12 supplement contains B12 in the form of methylcobalamin – as far as I could check on their website at least.
> For anyone curious, Deva B12 supplement contains B12 in the form of methylcobalamin – as far as I could check on their website at least.
The supplement I took for this experiment lists the B12 as cyanocobalamin on the label.