Vitamin B12 | Methylcobalamin

Vitamin B12 | Methylcobalamin

Properties: Vitamin B12 is excellent in terms of supporting the functioning of the whole body. Although it mainly affects the nervous system, there are numerous properties of this compound. It has a profound effect on metabolic processes and the performance of the cardiovascular system but we’ll bring it up in a minute. 

Let’s focus on the issue why vitamin B12 is significant for our nervous system. Well, it helps to maintain this system in good condition. To be more specific, it protects the most important cells in this system – the neurons. It has been proven that it accelerates the process of neuron regeneration. This is extremely important because if we take care of our nervous system when we are young, we’ll most likely enjoy good health and mental fitness as we age.

We should also remember about vitamin B12 when we deal with a lowered mood. It’s one of the key vitamins that provide mental harmony. Thanks to vitamin B12, the activity of crucial neurotransmitters (dopamine and serotonin) that are responsible for the good mood and feeling pleasure is stimulated. It results in a better mood but also the increased motivation and energy. Both mental and physical. Vitamin B12 is involved in the metabolic processes and because of that it has an indirect impact on energy production in cells. That way, it ensures the “boost” for our body and consequently it makes it easier to take up new challenges and reduces fatigue. 

If we add to all these properties the fact that vitamin B12 helps to prevent atherosclerosis, improves the functioning of the circulatory system and, additionally, helps to decrease the level of cholesterol, it should be clear that it works well as a substance that supports the overall condition of the body.

Occurrence: Cobalamin is exclusively produced by prokaryotes, mainly by the microorganisms that reside in the gastrointestinal tracts of different animal species. That is why its main sources are products of animal origin: beef, veal or poultry liver, fish (pike, herring, mackerel, trout, Alaska pollock, carp), crustaceans, eggs, milk and cheese. Some amounts of this vitamin can be found in vegetables that have been fermented (for example in miso that is produced from soybean) and in some algae.

Biochemistry: Vitamin B12 is chemically complex. Central position in this molecule belongs to cobalt that is in the +3 oxidation state. Cobalt is coordinated to the nitrogen atoms forming the conjugated pyrrole ring. Different substituents can be bound to cobalt, for example the cyano group (found in cyanocobalamin), methyl group (in methylcobalamin), hydroxyl group (in hydroxocobalamin), in the water molecule (in aquacobalamin) or in the radical of 5’-deoxyadenosine (found in adenosylcobalamin). Cyanocobalamin is the most stable among them. That is the reason why this form of this vitamin is most commonly used in supplements. In its pure form it forms red, needle crystals that are soluble in water.

Fun fact: The early discoveries regarding vitamin B12 were made in the 1920s. George Whipple’s team discovered that consuming high levels of beef liver improves the clinical status of patients suffering from pernicious anemia that is related to the low production of red blood cells. In the following years George Minot and William Murphy confirmed that this effect is dependent on cobalamin presence. In 1934 these three scientists were awarded for their discoveries with the Nobel Prize. But this was not the only time that someone got the Nobel for research on vitamin B12. In 1964 Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin also received a Nobel Prize for defining the spatial structure of this chemical compound.