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Vitamin B12 deficiency arises mainly due to malabsorption
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Researchers Anura V. Kurpad (left) and Sarita Devi from St. John’s Research Institute who have developed a new test to measure Vitamin B12 absorption.
Vitamin B12 deficiency arises mainly due to malabsorption
A team of researchers from St. John’s Research Institute (SJRI) has developed a new test to measure vitamin B12 absorption in humans with stable 13C isotopes. Earlier, this was possible only using the radio-isotopes-based Schilling test.
This major clinical development has been published in
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Vitamin B12 deficiency, that is widespread in India, is linked to many poor health outcomes. It is mainly due to a low intake of animal source foods or malabsorption. The problem lies in measuring whether it is well absorbed from the diet or from remedial supplements. Unless the absorption is known, it is very hard to design the appropriate dose to re