B12 for endurance athletes

There are a couple of things to know about B12 defficiency. It can occur to anybody ! Not only vegans, paleos, endurance athletes and breatharians whatever it means, but to everybody. 

The thing is, even if you are a super healthy person now, if as a kid you did not develop the bacterial profile, or did not keep it till your adult life, you might have very low or even zero B12 absorption rate. B12 is absorbed even down on the esophagus, under the tongue and up in your nose. However the main part of all B12 is absorbed at the end of the small intestine. This means, it must go through a digestion process and probably will get destroyed or damaged till it arrives.

This means that people sleeping out in the nature, eating unwashed organic out of the ground vegetables and fruits might have more than you do.

In addition to all this lack of bacterial profile, inside you and inside or on the food, you might have a methylation issue, so mostly the Methylcobalamin or Cyanocobalamin either, cannot be absorbed at all. Even with injections you might have issues. 

So damage to this last part of the small intestine is an issue. Every time you have diarrhoea, you vomit, you have gluten overload, taking any kind of pharmaceuticals, mostly antibiotics but others too, even aspirin and anti-histamines, you will kill a large part of this intrinsic factor. I have not seen research about regrowing these proteins with any kind treatment. I am not sure how a pro and prebiotic cure would effect it, neither a bacterial or stool transplant. 

Either ways, us endurance athletes are highly exposed to B12 use and stomach abuse. In addition to this, the minimal required levels in most countries are very low, like 100, 200 or 220 ng/l or pg/ml . Talk to very high end professional cyclists (not just some domestique guy, but where every second counts) ! When their B12 drops under 750, they bang it up immediately ! Low B12 can be disastrous to your recovery, oxygen uptake, nerve health therefor cramping for instance and many others. 

Training for long hours, pounding when running, downhill running or mountain biking, falls and impact can damage the small intestine. Training in heat and getting dehydrated, lack of other nutrients and lack of water in general, very high heart rates and low intestinal blood levels also can damage the digestive tract. 

So, while B12 is not a miracle cure and 90% of all time not the only issue, it takes a big part of the big picture. Together with not enough dark leafy green vitalising veggie intake, vitamin D  and magnesium deficiency, low iron and low testosterone levels, high heavy metal load and toxic mold exposure, chemical abuse like too much shower gels, sprays, deodorisers, too much Ariel and dishwasher liquids, facial creams and hand sanitisers...

I eat a lot of spiruline and chlorella, I put a raw egg into my high fat coffee, I eat some meat and cured meats too, I eat fermented vegetables. I avoid gluten, I sleep well and often camp outside, so I sleep under the sky. I swim in the see and run trails. I get a lot of dirt into my body. Still I find that the general 500 to 700 serum levels are not enough at all. I bump it up !

You might say, but humans should not be reliant on external sources of vitamins and minerals. Well, sell your car, sell your house, quit your job, get multiple wives, sleep under a rock, go to hunt, stop sitting, stop entering big cities and buildings therefor and do not eat anything coming from a shop. Stop cycling for 10hours in 45°C heat, stop running and doing yoga or pilates, stop cleaning yourself, stop doing breathing exercises...

Humans should not rely on external micronutrient sources, yeah true. However, we should not be surrounded by electric wires, drive cars, live in a concrete jungle, stay hunched over all day and get stressed out by our bosses. Non of these existed a couple of 100 years ago. You lived and worked for yourself, for being able to live, eat, multiply and survive. 

As Ben Greenfield would say, use the principal of "Better living through Science" !!!

Anyways, I tried many kind of B12 solutions through out the last decade. Different kind of cobalamin capsules, to swallow or to chew or just let it dissolve under the tongue. I tried sublingual and nasal sprays. Non of them effected profoundly my B12 levels. It kept them from dropping, but caused me to have spots on my face and upper back. Nothing serious, but 1 or 2 days after the first week of dosing, I had like 5 or 6 spots all together. Every single time !

I checked ton of websites and videos on youtube and saw in life many subcutaneous injections. I ordered a big box of 1inch 30gauge needles and a box of 100 1ml syringes. 

I used at the beginning a 1ml/1mg and now a 1ml/5mg solution of hydroxocobalamin acetate. 

I was very afraid of needles all my life and avoided injections. Honestly, this is nothing. Like a mosquito bite. You don't feel the needle entering, nor when it is inside the fatty part of your thigh. I recommend you to get somebody who can teach you or show you, like a physician.