Older Vegetarians Should Take Extra Vitamin B12 A DGReview of :"Independent effect of vitamin B 12 deficiency on hematological status in older Chinese vegetarian women" 08/07/2002 By David Loshak Older vegetarians should take vitamin B[12 supplements routinely because vitamin B12 deficiency is associated with anaemia in this patient population, investigators report. They add, however, that anaemia associated with this deficiency is seldom macrocytic. The investigators, led by Dr. T. Kwok from the department of medicine and therapeutics, Prince of Wales Hospital, Chinese University of Hong Kong, examined the independent effect of vitamin B12 deficiency on haematological indices in 119 Chinese women over 55 years of age who had been vegetarians for more than three years. The investigators took fasting blood samples from the patients in order to perform a complete blood count as well as to measure serum iron, total serum iron binding capacity, serum iron saturation, serum vitamin B12, serum folate, serum methylmalonic acid (MMA) levels, and renal functioning. Women with iron deficiency, defined as iron saturation below 15 percent, and those with serum creatinine above 150 mmol/L were excluded from the study. Forty-two percent of participants had definite vitamin B12 deficiency, defined as vitamin B12 level less than 150 pmol/L and MMA ³ 0.4 µmol/L. Another 32.8 percent of the women had possible vitamin B12 deficiency, defined as one but not both of the above criteria. Ten percent had iron deficiency. After exclusions, 96 women were analysed further. Vitamin B12 deficiency was associated with falls in haemoglobin concentrations of up to 0.9 g/dL, but it was not associated with a rise in mean corpuscular volume. After adjustment for confounding factors, serum MMA but not vitamin B12 levels correlated inversely with haemoglobin and platelet counts and positively with mean corpuscular volume. However, the percentage of women with anaemia did not rise significantly until serum methylmalonic acid levels exceeded 1.0 µmol/L. The authors concluded that vitamin B12 deficiency is associated with a decrease in haemoglobin concentration, although B12-related anaemia was rarely macrocytic. They recommended that older people who are vegetarians routinely take vitamin B12 supplements. American Journal of Hematology 2002; 70:186-190 Thanks to DGReview docguide.com Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.