is this generally true for all supplements? that they can all bind to food and not be absorbed

No, B12 is unique. This is because B12 is a huge molecule, and is not very well absorbed without intrinsic factor (which is secreted by the stomach lining). Our dietary requirement RDA is 2-4micrograms a day(a minute amount). There are some other supplements that have some food warnings, acetyl carnitine, alpha lipoic acid, for example.

B12 remains a critical for life nutrient. You will die without it. There is a special carrier for it in the small intestine called transcobalamin which takes it from intrinsic factor into the blood stream and carries it all around the body. Before it was discovered, pernicious anemia, was fairly common and fatal. (lack of intrinsic factor). This is why I doubt sublingual is effective-- no transcobalamin in your mouth.

The vast majority of nutrients can be taken with food. Oils, like Vit E, and Omega-3's do best when taken with food.

Mark, can you please help me with my regimen as I am slightly confused as to when to take what. I currently take a fish oil supplement after my lunch, a turmeric suppliment at about 4pm and a b12 suppliment (mecobalamin 1.5 mg, alpha lipoic acid 100 mg, folic acid 1.5 mg, pyridoxine hydrochloride 3mg ) at about 6 pm but not empty stomach. I will add a high potency fish oil soon to my regimen. Is b12/to be taken empty stomach in the morning ? I have been taking b12 in the evening since a couple of months. Please guide . others' opinion will be much appreciated. thanks

As I said in the post you quoted, I take the whole regimen at the same time, usually after lunch. I would never get everything taken if I split it up throughout the day.

You should also be taking the rest of the B vitamins, Vit C, E, D3, magnesium w/ calcium, etc. The anti-oxidants are important.

Thank you for the reply Mark. I have been reading in the vitamin sticky that B12 should be taken empty stomach in the morning . is it OK if I take B12 along with the entire regimen after lunch ?

Also I currently take about 1250mg of EPA/DHA per capsule once a day. I am thinking to take one more fish oil capsule after dinner. Is one sufficient or I should increase it to two ?

The best way is to take the B-12 on an empty stomach like first in the morning. But, if splitting things up causes a risk of forgetting to take everything, I suggest taking them all at once.

My injury was head injury and stroke. So probably brain damage, cerebral ischemia, maybe blood clot. It took me 7 years to try to get my reading level up high enough and math ability etc.

PROBLEMSn/off in brain creating a dizzy effect, probably cerebral ischemia ;24 hours a day, seven days a week. Depression,
memory problems, concentration, weakened immune system.

My problems will be different from other peoples, so what works for me may not work for everyone.

My list in order of strongest to weakest effects.(I tried approx 1500 to 3000 substances over last 23 years, so won't list stuff that is NON effective)
--------------------------------------------------------------
ASTRAGALUS: Does not reduce dizzy effect or have cognitive boost, but most importantly it seemed to rebuild my immune
system, literally and then was able to take Ginkgo. Strongest immune booster I've ever tried(dessicated cow thymus was also
a very strong immune booster but became banned here in Canada for some unknown reason.) Reishi, maitake, shitake mushrooms
are second strongest immune booster tried.

IODINE:this is controversal substance to ingest. Research it yourself. I think United Nations limit is 1100 mcg a day.
In Japan they consume about 35 times the limit but have a lesser incidence of hyperthyroidisim, which doesn't make sense?
I consume 2400mcg a day at night on empty stomache.

SELENIUM AND VITAMIN E: I consume 200 mcg and about 400 ui of vitamin E in morning. Why? well its the yin and yang of
Iodine. You can't take it at the same time as Iodine but atleast several hours apart. Basically if you start taking Iodine
it will deplete your body of selenium and vitamin E so your body will result if deficiency, same with selenium by itself, if
you take selenium it depletes your body of Iodine.
I accidently stumbled upon Iodine you might say. I have a weakened immune system after head injury/stroke. This resulted
in a much worse case of Electrosensitivity. I could only sit in front of my computer LCD for maximum of 45 minutes before
glands under my chin would swell up and I would get a fever and sick. Now because of Iodine and Astragalus I work on
computer for a few hours at a time, almost completely cured my Electrosensitivity. I got the Iodine idea from someone on the
net who had Electrosensitivity.

Its been quite miraculous for me atleast. For some unknown reason I don't fully understand, it had a major cognitive boost and I could hear more than one sound around me. My vision also improved for some unknown reason.
Or maybe my dizziness was less? I don't consume more than 2400mcg, I tried it but got the jitters, so I cut it back.

GINKGO: I first tried this seven years after my stroke but had bad reaction. My tongue swelled up and had muscle spasms in
my eyes so bad I couldn't even see. I wrote several letters to herbal companies but they said they never heard of such a
reaction. I could have taken a bath in Ginkgo but would not have had a allergic reaction, so I believe it was related to
some cerebral ischemia/blood clot problem. I tried Ginkgo again 15 years later and noticed I could almost tolerate it.
But had to wait 22 years before being able to ingest it on a daily basis. I take 100mg a day now, and it works wonders
for me, literally wonders I would say. Reduces my dizzy effect and has cognitive boost. micro-vasodilator, that reaches the
brain, may also send signal thru nervous system.

COENZYME Q10: it reduces dizzy effect for me alot, plus it has positive effect overall on health.(strengthens pulse without
increasing pulse rate)

GOTU KOLA: slight sedative effect, so I recommend taking before bed. Reduces dizzy effect, memory boost. Strengthens vascular system basically.

NAG: a type of glucosamine. N. A. glucosamine. I took it for my irritable bowel syndrome but noticed it reduced my
dizzy effect and had cognitive boost as well for some unknown reason. It cures IBS but was too expensive to take on
regular basis.

DONG QUAI: I took this originally to see if had an effect on hair loss, but noticed it reduced my dizziness and had
cognitive and hearing effect boost. My dizzy effect is more like on/off switch in my head, but dong quai almost improved
my brain and hearing flow so it was more constant. Before music was on/off, then with dong quai I could hear music for first
time in 20 years as one single sound or piece of music,not in chunks like before. I stayed up all night listening to music, I was so excited! This is another herb to take in cycles(ie. take for two weeks then stop for a week)(Not sure why dong quai
worked, it may contain iron, it boosts red blood cell count, rebalances hormone levels.

**(I tried individual B vitamins but didn't find much improvement in dizziness or cognitive boost, I had severe
reaction to B5, all three forms, from several companies. I wrote letter to a number of companies including Earl Mindel
He said he's never heard of such strange reaction.(my arms became like petrified wood, very strange) I suspect it
had something to do with cerebral ischemia.

VINPOCETINE: I DON'T RECOMMEND THIS ONE; I believe in the power of herbs but this one maybe dangerous. The negative
effects far outweighed the positive ones for me. I will go as far as saying maybe it should be banned. Yes it reduced
my dizzy effect had cognitive boost ,but had major negative effects, major! Extreme depression, really bad! and greatly
weakened immune system effect. I tried vinpocetine several times to make sure and it was like a nightmare, so I will never
use that stuff again, thats for sure!

OMEGA 3: slight cognitve boost for me. I experimented with this to repair tendons and joints faster but noticed it had
cognitive boost slightly, not as much as Ginkgo or Iodine but some.

B12: I experimented with this for about year and a half but only noticed energy boost. I'm going to retry it now and see if
has any cognitive effects.

---------------------------DEPRESSION:
I have a depression problem as well. I can't take pharmaceuticals because of weird severe reactions, almost killed me.

Doctors never saw such reactions so don't know why. I suspect its my cerebral ischemia problem. I prefer herbs anyways.

DEPRESSION: from strongest to weakest I've ever tried.
-----------------------------------------------------------
MELATONIN: whoever discovered this should win the Noble prize. Its light reactive, WARNING: DO NOT TAKE IN DAY TIME, WILL
INCREASE DEPRESSION INSTEAD. If taken correctly works wonders, literally for depression. If taken incorrectly does
opposite. Several people I've known or read about took it in day time and had severe negative reactions, even after
telling them specifically NOT to take it in the day time!(NOBODY LISTENS) Also it has to be taken in cycles.
take for two weeks then stop for about four days, then two week cycle again. take 15 min before bed, and don't fight
the sleep inducing effects but go directly to bed. Rejuvinates health somehow. I slept like I never slept in 20 years!

Phenylalanine:you have to research this yourself, but makes almost a sunny day. Strongest anti depressant ever tried
next to Melatonin.

BEE POLLEN: Don't take if your allergic to bee's. Had strong anti depressant effect.

TAURINE: another anti depressant effect.

TYROSINE: may have antidepressant effect, too long ago to remember.

SAINT JOHNS WORT: had no effect on me at all.

**STAY AWAY FROM choline like substances like phosphatydalcholine types, phosphasterycholine types of things. Had severe
depression reaction from any of these, magnified my depression a great deal**

Wow, Interesting list. It looks like you track short term benefit. The vitamin and supplements regimen can often take weeks to see an improvement. Some see a more immediate benefit but it is not to be expected.

Have you ever tried L-Tryptophan, 5-HTP, L-Theanine or such for your depression symptoms ? I use them to replace an SSRI and find they work better than an SSRI without any noticeable side-effects.

What is Electrosensitivity ? Is that just due to screen time and visual processing ? Your symptoms are hard to relate ?

For some, the choline supplements have been life savers. Every brain is different. I did not see any improvement either.

I didn't try my regimen for a few days but for sometimes years for some.
I can't try some for years or months if a few days are too dangerous?
That doesn't make any sense. I think you need to reread what I wrote.

B12 I tried for a year and a half. I believe that should be long enough to see
if there was any positive effect. I can barely afford to take the local city bus, so all this experimentation was at the limits of my budgets.

I can't seem to edit my post so I will add this;
I take liquid tincture sea kelp as my iodine source. I'm aware of several types
of Iodine and many are NOT ingestible but only topical outside application. So
be careful of what type you try.

I said Iodine improved my hearing and vision. Well more accurately, it improved my awareness of sounds and improved my awareness of my visual field. So I don't think my actual ears and eyes improved.

I'm so happy that I found this informative web site. I recently c/t off of taking 5 mg of Valium on 1-1-2015 (which I used as a sleep aide). I am feeling better however I know that I need to start taking some vitamins for my brain since my Gaba is re-attaching and my Glutamate is cutting back. I have been exercising for the past 23 years, and I eat very healthy. I've been on a low carb, low sugar, low fat diet for years and I am in very good shape. My Vitamin D count was 38 in December. I am currently taking a Vitamin D oil (2 drops a day). I would like to get some information what is the best Omega 3 vitamin to take? There are so many brands it's all so overwhelming. I also know that I need to start taking B-12 and B-50 and Calcium with Magnesium. Can you please recommend some brands? Please keep in mind that my CNS is very fragile at this point and I need to start slowly and experiment. It's amazing that nobody really knows all about the withdrawal symptoms and the terrible side effects that one can experience when coming off a benzo. Even the psch doctors do not know the proper information. I did read that taking magnesium before bed time can help with sleep, however when I tried one 150 mg two weeks ago I felt sick. I know that magnesium effects the GABA. Any information that you might have would be so helpful. THANK YOU!!