Best Science Medicine Podcast - BS without the BS
Oct 11, 2026 · 19 min · 10 segments
In episode 630, Jamie and James invite Karenn Chan back to the podcast and we go over all the evidence to answer the question, is giving oral vitamin B12 as effective as intramuscular vitamin B12?…
Karenn ChanGuestJames McCormackHost
Jamie FalkHost
And the total number of patients that were studied in these RCTs, these three RCTs was 153 patients with vitamin B12 deficiency.
I'd say one milligram was like the more common dosage versus one milligram of injection, which is quite standard every month.
Sometimes the patients actually got weekly injections of the vitamin B12, which is kind of different from clinical practice and the normal monthly.
And so what did they, they obviously followed people for a while and what did they find?
Yeah, so after about three or four months, they kind of rechecked everybody's vitamin B12 and they looked at some of them, the hemoglobin at the end because vitamin B12 deficiency is oftentimes related, or sorry, associated with anemia, although not always.
And so they wanted to make sure, were these patients still in movement? And then they wanted to know too, because vitamin B12 deficiency can be quite severe.
And just like a little anecdote here, as I was a learner, my first case of vitamin B12 deficiency was somebody who presented like they had a stroke.
And the total number of patients that were studied in these RCTs, these three RCTs was 153 patients with vitamin B12 deficiency.
I'd say one milligram was like the more common dosage versus one milligram of injection, which is quite standard every month.
Sometimes the patients actually got weekly injections of the vitamin B12, which is kind of different from clinical practice and the normal monthly.
And so what did they, they obviously followed people for a while and what did they find?
Yeah, so after about three or four months, they kind of rechecked everybody's vitamin B12 and they looked at some of them, the hemoglobin at the end because vitamin B12 deficiency is oftentimes related, or sorry, associated with anemia, although not always.
And so they wanted to make sure, were these patients still in movement? And then they wanted to know too, because vitamin B12 deficiency can be quite severe.
And just like a little anecdote here, as I was a learner, my first case of vitamin B12 deficiency was somebody who presented like they had a stroke.
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