A Stealth Deficiency Disease: Let’s look at cyanocobalamin. It was discovered 60 years ago instead of methylcobalamin and adenosylcobalamin because of a laboratory mistake. They ran the solution through a charcoal filter and a cyanide group (+3 oxidation) replaced a methyl group (+1 oxidation); simple chemistry. The Nobel prize was awarded for this mistake which has now become enshrined.
Ten years later the real b12s were identified by x-ray crystallography and nobody really noticed. The definition of “B12” was not changed. Even today cyanocobalamin is “B12” and methylcobalamin and adenosylcobalamin are “b12 analogs”. Because of this 60 years of additional research is built upon this flawed assumption but not all of it.
Now consider that other research has shown that some unknown, but presumed small, percentage of people genetically lack the enzymes to convert cyanob12 to methylb12 and/or adenosylb12, and/or hydroxyb12 to methylb12 and/or adenosylb12, methylb12 to adenosylb12 and/or adenosylb12 to methylb12. These are the cobalamin lettered diseases by name (A, B, C, …).
So when an inactive b12 is used in research there are always a significant percentage that are complete non-responders. When cyanocobalamin is added to foods, vitamins, feed to animals and via animals to us and so forth there is always a percentage, such as 20-40% who don’t respond. You do that for 50 years and a new stealth deficiency disease pops up and everybody is looking in the wrong place because they assume “We solved that problem 60 years ago”. You throw in folic acid which only about 50% can convert in adequate amounts and the other 50% can convert up to its keyhole amount, the biological limit of conversion presumed for everybody but only true in half, and you have another stealth deficiency disease.
Let’s assume for a minute that I am correct in my analysis of this stealth deficiency disease idea and that there is a synergistic set of supplements that will heal much of the damage and correct many of the symptoms (not all things are reversible), statistically based narrow question research will never find the answer in any of our lifetimes. It might take 100 drugs at $10,000/month to force the body to do all the things methylb12 and adenosylb12 would enable it to do it naturally, and with what unknown side effects I can’t even hazard a guess.
The “simple” answer has already been long overlooked because they know something to be true that isn’t. The invention of the roller mill for making white flour cheap invented two widespread deficiency diseases, beriberi and pellagra, that took 60 years or so to figure out. How long should the bypassed and overlooked answer remain hidden? I’ll be pleased to help any researcher find the solution.
(Fred , a former and ME/CFS patient has developed a theory which suggests that a significant subset of ME/CFS patients have a hidden Vitamin B12 deficiency not treatable by standard B12 injections. This is presented for informational purposes only. Fred is not a medical professional and his proposal has not been evaluated by a medical professional; please confer with your medical professional before starting any treatment regime based on his ideas)