Vitamin B12 (WBC)
Vitamin B12 is an important coenzyme when in its active form of methylcobalamin. B12 facilitates the metabolism of folic acid through its primary role as a methyl donor. B12 requires intrinsic factor for absorption, which is calcium dependent. The role of vitamin B12 in the production of some neurotransmitters may also be evidenced by mood imbalance in susceptible individuals.
All Your Lab Results.
One Simple Dashboard.
Import, Track, and Share Your Lab Results Easily
Import, Track, and Share Your Lab Results
Import lab results from multiple providers, track changes over time, customize your reference ranges, and get clear explanations for each result. Everything is stored securely, exportable in one organized file, and shareable with your doctor—or anyone you choose.
Cancel or upgrade anytime
What does it mean if your Vitamin B12 (WBC) result is too low?
How it gets depleted:
Age is a risk factor for deficiency of B12 due to a natural decline in intrinsic factor. Chronic use of PPIs may reduce HCl and lead to sub-clinical deficiencies. Some genetic SNPs (such as MTHFR) may lead to deficiencies in active B12 (methylcobalamin).
Clinical manifestations of depletion:
Deficiency of B12 can appear as pernicious anemia, usually due to lack of intrinsic factor. Another form of anemia associated with B12 deficiency is megoblastic anemia, when folate is in excess and insufficient B12 is present, which creates a ‘folate trap.’ Another symptom of B12 deficiency is dementia due to degeneration of myelin. In B12 deficiency, methylmalonyl CoA will be metabolized to methylmalonic acid (MMA), which is why MMA is considered the definitive marker for B12 deficiency. Achlorhydria (insufficient stomach acid) can lead to B12 deficiency because HCl is required to cleave B12 from intrinsic factor.
Food sources:
Vitamin B12 is synthesized by bacteria and exists in all animal foods. Vitamin B12 is only available from animal sources. The B12 synthesized by gut bacteria may not be a significant source for humans, as it is not absorbed in the colon.
Supplement options:
- The RDA for B12 is 6 mcg/day.
- Consider the upper limit of folate supplementation as a factor for the supplementation of B12, due to potential for folate trap.
- Vitamin B12 is extremely safe. No toxicity from high doses of vitamin B12 has ever been reported.
- Intramuscular injections are often used, particularly in the elderly to bypass intrinsic factor.
- Humans store large amounts of B12 in the liver so larger doses can be given at 6 month intervals.
- Supplementation is highly encouraged on a vegan diet. Due to high storage capacity in the liver, it may take years to deplete the body of B12 after adopting a vegan diet.
- Consider MTHFR genetic, and methyl cobalamin supplementation, particularly with hyperhomocysteinemia.
- Methylcobalamin is the recommended form of supplementation, but may be poorly absorbed in people taking antacids or those with very poor absorption (celiac, intestinal permeability, etc).
- Cyanocobalamin is not recommended for patients with MTHFR mutations.
- Hydroxocobalamin is recommended for patients with autoimmune diseases and elevated nitric oxide levels.
- Glutathione is also required for methylcobalamin to be bound for transport adequately.
- Vitamin B12 supplementation may help manage anemia, asthma, fatigue, hepatitis, dementia, epilepsy, depression, psychosis, irritability, ataxia, numbness, tingling, neuropathy, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, tinnitus, and infertility.
- Supplemental B12 is commonly given in 1000 to 5000 mcg doses.
Laboratories
Bring All Your Lab Results Together — In One Place
We accept reports from any lab, so you can easily collect and organize all your health information in one secure spot.
Pricing Table
Gather Your Lab History — and Finally Make Sense of It
Finally, Your Lab Results Organized and Clear
Personal plans
$79/ year
Advanced Plan
Access your lab reports, explanations, and tracking tools.
- Import lab results from any provider
- Track all results with visual tools
- Customize your reference ranges
- Export your full lab history anytime
- Share results securely with anyone
- Receive 5 reports entered for you
- Cancel or upgrade anytime
$250/ once
Unlimited Account
Pay once, access everything—no monthly fees, no limits.
- Import lab results from any provider
- Track all results with visual tools
- Customize your reference ranges
- Export your full lab history anytime
- Share results securely with anyone
- Receive 10 reports entered for you
- No subscriptions. No extra fees.
$45/ month
Pro Monthly
Designed for professionals managing their clients' lab reports
- Import lab results from any provider
- Track lab results for multiple clients
- Customize reference ranges per client
- Export lab histories and reports
- Begin with first report entered by us
- Cancel or upgrade anytime
About membership
What's included in a Healthmatters membership
Import Lab Results from Any Source
See Your Health Timeline
Understand What Your Results Mean
Visualize Your Results
Data Entry Service for Your Reports
Securely Share With Anyone You Trust
Let Your Lab Results Tell the Full Story
Once your results are in one place, see the bigger picture — track trends over time, compare data side by side, export your full history, and share securely with anyone you trust.
Bring all your results together to compare, track progress, export your history, and share securely.
What Healthmatters Members Are Saying
Frequently asked questions
Healthmatters is a personal health dashboard that helps you organize and understand your lab results. It collects and displays your medical test data from any lab in one secure, easy-to-use platform.
- Individuals who want to track and understand their health over time.
- Health professionals, such as doctors, nutritionists, and wellness coaches, need to manage and interpret lab data for their clients.
With a Healthmatters account, you can:
- Upload lab reports from any lab
- View your data in interactive graphs, tables, and timelines
- Track trends and monitor changes over time
- Customize your reference ranges
- Export and share your full lab history
- Access your results anytime, from any device
Professionals can also analyze client data more efficiently and save time managing lab reports.
Healthmatters.io personal account provides in-depth research on 10000+ biomarkers, including information and suggestions for test panels such as, but not limited to:
- The GI Effects® Comprehensive Stool Profile,
- GI-MAP,
- The NutrEval FMV®,
- The ION Profile,
- Amino Acids Profile,
- Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones (DUTCH),
- Organic Acids Test,
- Organix Comprehensive Profile,
- Toxic Metals,
- Complete Blood Count (CBC),
- Metabolic panel,
- Thyroid panel,
- Lipid Panel,
- Urinalysis,
- And many, many more.
You can combine all test reports inside your Healthmatters account and keep them in one place. It gives you an excellent overview of all your health data. Once you retest, you can add new results and compare them.
If you are still determining whether Healthmatters support your lab results, the rule is that if you can test it, you can upload it to Healthmatters.
We implement proven measures to keep your data safe.
At HealthMatters, we're committed to maintaining the security and confidentiality of your personal information. We've put industry-leading security standards in place to help protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of the information under our control. We use procedural, physical, and electronic security methods designed to prevent unauthorized people from getting access to this information. Our internal code of conduct adds additional privacy protection. All data is backed up multiple times a day and encrypted using SSL certificates. See our Privacy Policy for more details.