Vitamin B12, whose level in the body declines with age, plays a key role in tissue repair and can contribute to maintaining good health at advanced ages, according to research by the Barcelona Biomedical Research Institute (IRB) that is featured today in Nature Metabolism. Research confirms the importance of maintaining adequate intake of vitamin B12, which can be obtained from animal foods and vitamin supplements.
In experiments with mice and cell cultures, researchers have discovered that tissue regeneration consumes a large amount of vitamin B12. They have also shown that the availability of vitamin B12 is a limiting factor for this regeneration, so that the repair of damaged tissue is slower and may be incomplete when there is a deficiency of the vitamin. Finally, they have proven that a vitamin B12 supplement accelerates and improves this repair.
Since the basic mechanisms of tissue regeneration are the same in different mammalian species, the results obtained in mice inform the regeneration mechanisms of the human body.
“These results are promising for regenerative medicine and have the potential to benefit people through better nutrition,” declares Manuel Serrano, researcher at the IRB and the company Altos Labs, who has led the project.
Previous research had shown that vitamin B12 is involved in DNA synthesis; which is essential for the proper functioning of the nervous system, since it participates in the synthesis of myelin; and it is also necessary for the maturation of red blood cells in the bone marrow, which is why a deficiency of the vitamin can cause anemia. The IRB research is the first to establish its role in the regeneration of damaged tissues.
Vitamin B12, also called cobalamin, is found in foods of animal origin. Those that provide the greatest amount include, from most to least, beef liver, clams, salmon, fresh tuna and beef, according to a list from the US National Institutes of Health. Dairy products , eggs and chicken also provide vitamin B12 but in smaller quantities.
Since the ability to absorb vitamin B12 from food decreases with age, some older people have a low level despite having a healthy diet, so it is common for them to be recommended supplements of the nutrient.
Following the discovery that tissue regeneration requires a large amount of vitamin B12, and taking into account that the need to repair damaged tissues increases with age, higher doses of the vitamin than current recommendations in people could be advisable. older, assesses Marta Kovatcheva, first author of the research. But it is something that “would have to be studied in a controlled manner, with doctors and clinical trials,” warns the researcher. “Our study opens up many questions that may have clinical applications, but that we have to explore.”
As it is a water-soluble vitamin, the excess amount is excreted with urine, so the risk of toxicity from excessive consumption is considered negligible (unlike what happens with fat-soluble vitamins, which accumulate in fatty tissues, so excessive consumption can be counterproductive).
One of the questions that now arises is whether “administering vitamin B12 during the repair period of an injury can improve recovery,” the researchers write in Nature Metabolism. In search of an answer, they have given vitamin B12 supplements to mice with ulcerative colitis - an inflammatory disease of the colon. The experiment shows that the vitamin shortens the recovery time after an outbreak and improves the regeneration of damaged tissue.
The organs in which the same biological repair mechanisms are involved, and in which vitamin B12 supplements could therefore be beneficial, "include the pancreas, muscles, eyes, skin, liver and heart," they point out. the researchers.
Another question that now arises is to what extent vitamin B12 can have an antiaging effect. Research indicates that vitamin deficiency promotes aging by preventing correct tissue repair. But it does not indicate whether supplements of the vitamin can not only stop it but even reverse it. “We are at the very beginning of understanding these processes,” declares Marta Kovatcheva. “There is data indicating anti-aging effects, even from our laboratory. But we will need more studies to fully understand the ability to promote these effects.”
For now, researchers have already deciphered how vitamin B12 contributes to the repair of damaged tissues. According to the results presented in Nature Metabolism, vitamin B12 participates in the production of the amino acid methionine. Methionine, in turn, is essential for regulating which genes are turned on and off in the DNA of cells (in a process called methylation).
Regenerating a damaged organ requires precisely changing the genes that are activated in the cells so that they generate the appropriate tissue. It requires, therefore, a large amount of methionine. If there is not enough vitamin B12, not enough methionine is made to properly regulate all the affected genes. The consequence is that not all genes are well regulated, so they do not produce the necessary proteins in adequate quantities, and the resulting tissue is defective. From a biological point of view, “this connection between B12 and epigenetics [or gene regulation] is one of the newest aspects of the work,” highlights Manuel Serrano.
