Vitamin B12 - Nutrition Biomarkers, Cycle 1 - Canadian Health Measures Survey - Food and Nutrition Surveillance - Health Canada

Vitamin B₁₂ (also known as cobalamin) plays an important role in some enzyme reactions in the body and is essential for normal red blood cell formation and neurological function. Vitamin B₁₂ deficiency can cause anemia and may lead to potentially irreversible neurological damage.

Some groups of people, such as those with low stomach acidity or intestinal disorders, may not be able to absorb naturally-occurring vitamin B₁₂. Some studies estimate that 10-30% of older adults have a condition called atrophic gastritis that reduces stomach acid secretion and, thus, absorption of vitamin B₁₂.

Dietary Sources

Vitamin B₁₂ is found in foods of animal origin (e.g., fish, meat, poultry, eggs, milk and milk products) and some fortified foods (e.g., fortified vegetarian substitutes).

Absorption of vitamin B₁₂ from food is complex and relies on the condition of the stomach, the presence of a highly specific binding protein called intrinsic factor and pancreatic enzymes.

Assessment of Vitamin B₁₂ status

Vitamin B₁₂ status of Canadians was assessed by measuring serum vitamin B₁₂ levels. Concentrations of serum vitamin B₁₂ reflect both dietary intake and body stores of the vitamin.

Notes:

Total household population aged 9 to 79, except those meeting the exclusion criteria.  For more information regarding the exclusion criteria, please refer to the  Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS) Data User Guide: Cycle 1.

Bootstrap weights included with the dataset were used to estimate the 95% confidence intervals for all means and percentiles assuming a student's t-distribution with 11 degrees of freedom.

A competitive chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay (Immulite 2000 by DPC) was used to measure serum vitamin B₁₂ levels.

Measurements that fell below the limit of detection (LOD) were assigned a value equal to half the LOD. The limit of detection is 111 pmol/L.

Data source: Canadian Health Measures Survey, Cycle 1.

Related Resources

Chapter on  Vitamin B₁₂ in Dietary Reference Intakes for Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Vitamin B₁₂, Pantothenic Acid, Biotin, and Choline (1998)

 Distribution of the household population by the concentration of serum vitamin B₁₂, by age and sex, Canada, 2007 to 2009

 Vitamin B-12 and homocysteine status in a folate-replete population: results from the Canadian Health Measures Survey