If your doctor says you should be taking it, I would start with 1000mcg. Make sure you get methylcobalamin in a sublingual. I use Jarrow, and have used Country Life, which is very good too. I started at 1000mcg, then went to 3000mcg, and now I take 5000mcg. I have neuropathy, and found the B12 has helped significantly slowed the progression of the neuropathy. While taking the 3000mcg, my B12 level dropped 200 pts, so I switched to the 5000mcg. The best B12's, usually can not be found in the store. I shop at www.iherb.com

Thanks! I've been taking 500mcg... I'll have to think about uping the dose.

Hey,

Where is cyanocobalamin supposed to be found naturally?

--it isn't, to my knowledge.

Cyanocobalamin is a commercial preparation of B12; it is not the form in which B12 is naturally found in foodstuffs. The process of creating it involves bacterial fermentation and activated charcoal; it si added to make the cobalamin more chemically stable in air (for increased shelf life).

See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanocobalamin

The reason 200 mcg or 500 mcg are not good doses: If a person malabsorbs severely, they will get very little or nothing from those doses. If a person can absorb normally from B12 in supplement form, but does not have enough stomach acid to break B12 out of food, they would get more from 20 mcg than some would get from 1000.

To be reasonably sure of getting enough B12, 1000 mcg (or more) is best. It is safe, so thank goodness the larger dose is not a problem.

And as Glenn posted, methylcobalamin is a better bet when available.

The repair process can continue for several years.

rose