More on Cyanocobalamin Safety/Toxicity

 

Cobalamin (vitamin B-12) is synthesized only by certain microbes (bacteria and archaeon), and five forms of vitamin B-12 have been found in foods, according to the British Journal of Nutrition: adenosylcobalamin and hydroxocobalamin are the predominant forms, and other forms found include methylcobalamin, cyanocobalamin, and sulphitocobalamin. Most of these forms are considered synthetic substances, with additional compounds subsequently bonded to the already-synthesized cobalamin.

Methylcobalamin is produced commercially from cyanocobalamin, which is initially produced by fermentation and conversion processes. Adenosylcobalamin is directly produced by bacteria, while methylcobalamin requires an additional process of stripping off the cyanide group (CN, a carbon and a nitrogen atom with a triple bond) and adding a methyl group (CH3). Fermentations producing cyanocobalamin, methylcobalamin, and adenosylcobalamin do not utilize genetically engineered bacteria. The cyanocobalamin form is safe, stable, and bioavailable, and has been used for the vast majority of public health studies over the past century.

The amount of cyanide in cyanocobalamin is trivial, less than in an almond or apple; cyanide tends to be ubiquitous in the food supply in extremely tiny amounts. Cyanide is also produced by our own cellular processes (no great surprise since it's simply a single carbon and nitrogen molecule bonded together), but is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream, converted into thiocyanate (a less toxic form), and excreted in the urine or converted to carbon dioxide and exhaled. 

In fact, the Institute of Medicine has not set an Upper Limit for vitamin B-12 because “no adverse effects have been associated with excess vitamin B-12 intake from food and supplements in healthy individuals” (and both supplementation and food fortification primarily use cyanocobalamin). That same IOM report features this quote: “the amount of cyanide in cyanocobalamin is considered to be physiologically insignificant.” It would take about 2,500 doses of 1,000 microgram cyanocobalamin tabs to approach a dangerous amount of cyanide.

The adenosylcobalamin form is predominant in foods as well as in the human body, whereas methylcobalamin is typically in the body at only half the amount of the adenosyl form. Both are coenzyme forms with separate enzyme systems, and both are needed by the body. Cyanocobalamin feeds both pathways and is an inexpensive, stable, safe, and effective form of vitamin B-12 that does not require genetically engineered bacteria to produce.

Is citric acid made from black mold?

Yes, but so what? That organism - Aspergillus niger - has been used to safely manufacture citric acid for about 100 years. It's also used to make most of the 'fungal enzymes' that are vegetarian-friendly. People consuming citric acid are not eating black mold; just as you're not eating bees when consuming honey. 

People worried about the fermentation process have failed to distinguish between the mold and its purified byproducts that have a long history of safe use.  https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00253-002-1032-6  

The fungus produces materials outside of its body that can be easily isolated and purified, so people are not inhaling or consuming mold when they use a material produced by fermentation. In fact, companies using citric acid perform their normal microbiological screening to assure that there are not concerning levels of mold in that material..

The mold itself would release spores that would be toxic to inhale if it were growing in your house. It may be mildly allergenic if you were eating the actual mold. But that's not what we are exposed to or are consuming when we eat citric acid, which is widely distributed in the processed food chain and has an important role in acidifying and preserving many foods and beverages. Look at your labels!

Isolated Aspergillus-derived products, including citric acid, have been sold for about a century and are considered safe. These also include common plant-derived enzymes such as protease, amylase, and lipase that are not pancreas-derived.  https://fungalbiolbiotech.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40694-018-0054-5 

"Microbial citric acid has high economic importance and widely used in beverage, food, detergents, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. The filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger is a work horse and important cell factory in industry for the production of citric acid."   https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33044884/

"Aspergillus niger has a long tradition of safe use in the production of enzymes and organic acids (Soares de Castro et al., 2015)."  https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/pharmacology-toxicology-and-pharmaceutical-science/aspergillus-niger#:~:text=The%20Aspergillus%20produces%20different%20types,et%20al.%2C%202015).

 

Commercial production of vitamin C for fortification and dietary supplements

In most mammals, vitamin C is made in the liver from blood sugar using a four-step enzymatic process. Humans and about 20 other mammalian species lack one of these enzymes, requiring us to both obtain vitamin C from our diet and to sustain internal levels of vitamin C using a variety of other food antioxidants.

But rather than extracting vitamin C from foods, the modern way to manufacture it is to start with dextrose, a sugar identical to blood glucose, and manipulate it into ascorbic acid, which is vitamin C; mimicking the biological production technique to some extent. The result is a nature-identical vitamin indistinguishable from the form in foods.

The primary method of biosynthesizing vitamin C starts with the conversion of glucose into sorbitol. Dextrose is converted to sorbitol by adding hydrogen to the molecule; that is typically done with a catalyst (defined as an easily recoverable material that facilitates a chemical reaction but is not used up in the reaction nor added to the molecule). The only added element is hydrogen, which is applied in a pressure tank.

Converting the sorbitol into sorbose and then into an intermediate known as 2-KLG is done using a two-step fermentation process

Then a final lactonization step (reacting 2-KLG with acid and/or dehydration is used to produce the lactone known as l-ascorbic acid/vitamin C; chemical form C₆H₈O₆).

When to take products with enteric coating

The reason why we suggest taking enterically coated supplements on an empty stomach is to avoid the pill (capsule or tablet) being trapped in the stomach with food for an hour or more, which could allow the contents to release prematurely prior to reaching the small intestine.

In a study of 24 subjects, at baseline the median gastric pH was ∼1, increased to pH 4.5 with ingestion of the meal, and then returned to approximately pH 1 some 3–4 h after the start of the meal. https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.00956.2001#:~:text=test%20(nonparametric).-,RESULTS,the%20start%20of%20the%20meal

However, if someone has low stomach acid (aging, antacids, etc.) to start, the pH can increase even more and risk the capsule emptying directly into the stomach. That can cause either degradation of the contents or increased risk of burping up and tasting any oils in the product. 

The esophagus and stomach are especially sensitive to essential oils, as evidenced by people adding drops to water and drinking that, later ending up with mucous lining degradation leading to stomach pain or heartburn, and occasionally emergency room visits.

Kosher for Passover means avoiding fermentation of grains

 

There are different interpretations of the religious laws, but in general they do not allow wheat or other traditional grains, including grain alcohol, during Passover with one exception:

Wheat flour that is used to make matzos has been specially supervised from harvest through processing to ensure that it has not had an opportunity to start fermenting, so it is continually inspected to ensure that it is not in contact with moisture in order to inhibit fermentation. The water used to make matzos is left out overnight to cool, also in order to inhibit fermentation. Milling, mixing with water, kneading, and baking are done in separate areas to avoid cross-contamination. 

Fermentation is believed to occur about 18 minutes after a grain is mixed with moisture, so after mixing the flour with water, kosher for Passover matzos are put in the oven within that time limit; the ovens are separate from the preparation areas so that the heat is not promoting fermentation of materials being mixed/prepared.

Grain-based fermentation products such as alcohol are also forbidden in kosher for Passover products, since the purpose is to avoid using aged or fermented materials to mimic the plight of fleeing slaves who didn't have time to let (sourdough) bread rise in their hurry to flee Egypt. 

(While it is quite likely that the newly freed slaves would have grabbed already-baked bread, this specific kosher for Passover practice of removing all leavened bread and other forbidden items from a household during the holiday is evidently intended as a ritual to evoke sympathy for their hurried exodus during the Passover Seders practiced by their descendants.)

The traditional grains banned unless following the same rules as the matzo wheat include wheat, rye, barley, oats, and spelt; all of which were available in Egypt some 3,500 years ago. 

Wine is allowed for Passover when the yeast is the product of the grapes themselves. But the wine must not include added non-kosher yeasts, other non-kosher additives (isinglass), or be produced/stored in a room containing grains or products made from grains. The work must also stop on the Sabbath, so observant Jews must be the winemakers. 

 I'll be doing a live webinar on Men's Health this Thursday at 5 PM Pacific time (7 PM Central)...

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAtceyrpjgoGtOf_1bY_JfM0BuSbJJazl_C#/registration

 Neil will be on the radio Sunday morning 3/19/2023. It's Al Forman's Sav-A-Lot Nutrition Hour at 11am ET, 10 Central on WWNN radio 1470 AM; 95.3 FM in South Florida. Go to https://trueoldiesfla.com/podcasts/sav-a-lot-nutrition Listen live there, too; click on the Listen Live button under the station 95.3 FM at the top right of that page.

Also Neil's previous interviews with Al are available to listen or download as a podcast: https://sav-a-lotnutritioncenters.com/?s=Levin&lang=en