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26.12.2024

So little vitamin B12 is present in spirulina and chlorella

Supplements with chlorella and spirulina have many positive effects on health, but they are not reliable sources of vitamin B12. When it comes to vitamin B12, spirulina is especially useless.

Study
Researchers from the Austrian University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences purchased 57 supplements containing dried edible algae. In almost all cases, the supplements contained chlorella or spirulina. The Austrians used UHPLC-PDA to determine how much vitamin B12 and pseudo-vitamin B12 were present in the supplements.

Most of the vitamin B12 in the omnivorous diet is made by bacteria in the intestines of farm animals. You mainly find this vitamin B12 in meat. Cyanobacteria such as chlorella and spirulina also make vitamin B12 - but also all kinds of analogues of that vitamin that humans cannot absorb. Chemists call these analogues 'pseudo-vitamin B12'.

Some vegetarians and vegans use supplements with chlorella and spirulina as a source of vitamin B12. The Austrian study, which was published in the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis in 2022, is particularly interesting for this group.

Results
The results of the analyses are shown in the table below. Click on it for a larger version.

What the results may imply is summarized in the table below. Let's assume that you need 3 micrograms of vitamin B12 daily and want to get that from chlorella preparations. We also assume that you consume 4 grams of dried algae daily - which is the average intake that supplement makers recommend.

There was not a single product with spirulina that could provide 3 micrograms of vitamin B12. Only a quarter of the products with chlorella contained sufficient vitamin B12 per average daily dose.

In theory, vegans could get their vitamin B12 from chlorella - if they knew which products to choose. The information that manufacturers put on their products is often unreliable, the Austrians discovered.

Forgotten factor
In vitro research suggests that some forms of pseudo-vitamin B12 can interfere with the bioavailable forms of vitamin B12 and reduce their effectiveness. [Molecules. 2020 Jul 17;25(14):3268.] So perhaps pseudo-vitamin B12 is also anti-vitamin B12.

Source:
Journal of Food Composition and Analysis 109 (2022) 104464.

More:
Algae and mushrooms not a full alternative for vitamin B12 supplements 01.08.2016

Archives:
Vitamin B
Spirulina
Chlorella
Vitamins
Algae

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