Then you can wait during the day.... 3 to 4 hours after eating...and try it before the next meal. (no snacks before). And wait about an hour. Take with a little water--like 4 ounces or so.

Food present in the intestine, will block absorption. You can take it during the day, but just time it so there is less food around likely. Fiber in the food is the worst factor. But volume is also a big factor. Food binds and holds the B12 away from the lining of the intestine and prevents passive absorption.

Sublingual use is really not efficient. I wouldn't count on it. People with intact intrinsic factor in the stomach do better, with absorption too. But that is very difficult to predict.
The B12 molecule is huge and water soluble, which are 2 chemical factors going against mouth absorption. Also the mouth is a very small area and many drugs just don't pass thru the membranes of the mouth easily. It can take a LONG time and daily use then tends to cause mouth irritation. Most of the B12 is dissolved in the saliva and is swallowed.

Welcome lisacoll.

Thank you for the reply mrsD.

Since B12 is a safe supplement to use, would increasing the dosage (mg) help to have more absorption even if food was present in the intestines?


Lisa

Not really.... The studies were done up to 1mg a day...orally.

The max absorption from that was 13mcg measured. It is thought that increasing the dose is only going to lead to minor improvements. The author suggested a "ceiling" absorption factor because of how this graph worked out. Maybe 5mg would yield up to 20mcg is my guess.

Here is the table showing:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...able/T1/#TF1-4
you might have to go there more than once...as PubMed is a bit touchy to link to today.

We are talking minute here....very tiny amounts of a difficult to absorb molecule. The studies on drugs in microgram quantities also show food impairs them. Hence thyroid and digoxin medications get a pharmacy sticker now, to take on an empty stomach.

You just have to accept the science on this. We are lucky someone did this study so that we can understand it better. Instead of people taking B12 and failing because of the food factor, when in fact it can work orally saving you the invasive and more expensive injections.