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Series Code: HHJ
Program Code: HHJ000004S
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00:01 Music...
00:15 Welcome to our Program today. 00:18 Our topic today is going to be Vitamin B12... 00:23 Vitamin B12 is the largest of all the vitamins... 00:27 absolutely essential for life 00:30 and Vitamin B12 is not made in the human body 00:35 and so, we must obtain it from other sources in our diet 00:41 and today we're going to look at some of the fascinating 00:46 Biology, Chemistry and Science 00:48 and medicine around Vitamin B12 metabolism 00:52 and it's my prayer that as we look at all of this information, 00:57 as we look at the light that God has shed upon this topic, 01:02 that we will be enlightened and wise 01:05 with the wisdom that He would give us 01:07 that we may make the best use of our bodies... 01:11 our lives... as we go forward to the issues of the last days. 01:16 So, we'll begin here 01:21 and I'm going to begin... 01:23 I want our objective to be really clear 01:27 and so, I'm going to move ahead here 01:31 and we're going to start off 01:33 and I'm going to put up here... 01:35 pause... 01:38 there we are. 01:40 We're going to start with the very last slide in the lecture. 01:46 So, this is our final concluding slide of the lecture... 01:50 I want the objective to be clear. 01:52 If you're someone who takes notes, 01:54 here's... here's the notes you want to take 01:57 for the lecture right here. 01:58 We're going to conclude with the recommendation 02:02 of taking Vitamin B12 supplements 02:05 in the form of Methylcobalamin... 02:07 it comes in different forms... 02:09 this large molecule has different groups attached to it 02:13 we'll talk about... 02:15 but of all the different forms out there, 02:17 Methylcobalamin is the best form 02:19 and that's pretty generally recognized 02:21 in most supplements you see on the market shelf today 02:24 will be Methylcobalamin now 02:27 and so you won't have a hard time finding that. 02:30 5,000 micrograms is a common dose... 02:35 5,000 micrograms is the same as 5 milligrams 02:39 but they all want to seem to put it in micrograms 02:41 and so, this is a way you'll see it out there. 02:44 It comes in quick-dissolve tablets 02:49 that dissolve in your mouth 02:50 or that you chew up in your mouth... 02:53 this is very important and we'll talk about why that is. 02:57 These are much better than ones that come in a capsule 03:01 mixed up with other things that you swallow and don't dissolve 03:04 till they get to your stomach. 03:05 Pause... 03:07 Um... it's highly recommended 03:09 if you're on a plant-based diet. 03:12 You know in all of our lectures and health presentations, 03:16 we've talked about the benefits of a plant-based diet 03:19 but one of the disadvantages of a plant-based diet 03:23 is that it is not a good source of Vitamin B12 03:27 and so, we're going to be recommending 03:31 the supplementation of Vitamin B12. 03:34 This particular package here comes from Costco 03:39 for about 20 bucks here... 03:40 you get enough to last two or three people 03:43 for an entire year. 03:44 So, it's very inexpensive... 03:46 readily available from many distributors. 03:50 So, let's take a closer look here at this molecule... 03:56 this large molecule... 03:59 most vitamins are small-little molecules 04:01 that fit in various places... 04:04 their co-factors are... 04:06 nutrients are used as building blocks 04:08 but this particular one is a gigantic molecule. 04:12 There is a flat... plainer ring right here 04:17 with a Cobalt molecule right in the very center of that. 04:21 Cobalt has six bonding positions on it... 04:24 four of them are on the perfect join with nitrogen 04:27 here of part of this large flat ring-like service 04:30 and then this has a little tail... 04:33 the tail is attached around here 04:35 and here the tail attaches 04:39 right on the bottom of this. 04:43 So, you've got the four coming in from the sides... 04:46 the tail reaches around the holes of the fifth one, 04:48 and that leaves the last ones sticking up here. 04:52 This is going to be the active site... 04:54 this is where we will attach and dis-attach other molecules 04:58 that can be held and yet are held loosely enough 05:01 that we can take them off and use them 05:03 in various processes in the body. 05:06 The empty form has just a hydroxyl there... 05:10 but the Methylcobalamin which we take 05:13 has a Methyl group right here 05:15 but the body can also put Adenosine 05:19 and, you know, other molecules here if needed 05:22 to use them in this tool 05:24 and they can interchange them. 05:26 Pause... 05:30 Vitamin B12 is absolutely essential 05:35 to every single cell in your body. 05:39 There is no cell in your body 05:41 that can carry on its life functions 05:44 without a good supply of Vitamin B12. 05:47 No matter what cell it is or what it's doing, 05:50 that cell is going to need Vitamin B12 05:53 and Vitamin B12 is something we call a co-factor. 06:02 Now, you know in your body, 06:04 there are lot of different functional proteins 06:09 we often refer to these as enzymes. 06:11 They are large protein molecules that do various 06:15 chemical reactions... chemical functions 06:19 at very high speeds 06:21 and build whatever it is your body needs... 06:24 carry on whatever energy reaction... 06:26 whatever needs to be done to carry on the life function 06:30 is done by these proteins. 06:31 Vitamin B12 is a co-factor... it is used. 06:37 Here you'll see a representation of a large enzyme... 06:43 a protein molecule that has a certain job to do 06:45 and right here is an active site 06:49 where it holds on to and takes a vitamin B12 molecule. 06:54 If you think of it like a mechanic... 06:57 this is a mechanic 06:59 but he needs a certain tool to do the particular job 07:03 that he's assigned on the assembly line that he's on 07:06 and in many cases with Vitamin B12... 07:09 that is adding a Methyl group to some other molecule 07:12 that's being built in this assembly line 07:15 and so, to do it, he needs a Vitamin B12 07:18 a one... the Methylcobalamin 07:21 that's got a Methyl group right here... 07:22 he will grab that here 07:24 and then he will use that to stick a Methyl group 07:28 onto another molecule that is being built 07:31 or used there 07:32 and then he will drop the tool, pick up another one 07:38 and use it for the next molecule 07:40 as they keep going by the assembly line 07:43 and they can do this very rapidly in nano-second speed. 07:46 The B12 that's dropped off here now 07:51 can actually be recycled 07:53 and we can stick another Methyl group on it use it again 07:57 but we need an ongoing supply of these 07:59 for many different functions in the body. 08:02 That's the tool the mechanic uses 08:05 and it has to keep being loaded up with the Methyl's 08:08 and use it to stick them on to the various molecules 08:12 that are being built or changed or modified 08:15 in various ways there. 08:18 One of the very important places where it is used 08:24 is DNA synthesis and regulation. 08:28 The code of life... 08:30 the code that has the pattern for building everything 08:33 we need to replicate this 08:35 and every time a cell divides 08:38 and we need a large amount of Vitamin B12 to do this. 08:44 Red blood cells... 08:47 during the time of this lecture right now, 08:51 we will build in your body millions of red blood cells 08:57 Every one of those in its division 09:00 must uncoil the DNA... 09:02 make a duplicate copy of it... 09:05 coil it back up 09:07 divide in into two 09:08 and then we get a cell division 09:10 and we're doing this millions of times over the next hour 09:14 just to make the red blood cells that you need to make 09:18 in the next hour 09:19 and all cell growth in your body 09:22 whether you're dividing liver cells 09:25 or microbial cells 09:27 or whatever cells it is, 09:29 we need to have the Vitamin B12 09:32 to manage the DNA division there in those cells 09:36 so, absolutely essential there. 09:39 Here's a picture... 09:42 here you can see of the red blood cells... 09:46 these are normal healthy red blood cells 09:49 here the little bi-concave shape... 09:51 there's lots of them in there filling your blood. 09:53 We need the B12 to make that. 09:56 This picture is a picture of the... 10:01 something called Megaloblastic Anemia 10:05 it's part of Pernicious Anemia. 10:08 This is a Vitamin B12 deficiency 10:10 and you'll notice 10:12 instead of all being the same little perfect shapes, 10:14 there are some enlarged ones that are not the right shape 10:18 and overall there is much fewer being made. 10:22 It's an Anemia... there's not nearly enough around 10:24 and because of their shape differences and stuff, 10:27 they're not carrying oxygen properly 10:30 and so, we have this condition right here... 10:34 one of the early signs that the body does not have 10:38 enough B12... we're becoming anemic 10:41 and this Megaloblastic Anemia is the finding there 10:47 that gives us a clue that something is wrong. 10:50 In the Nervous System, 10:54 the neurons which send through the electrical impulses... 10:58 sensations come in... 11:00 motor things come out. 11:01 Through these neurons, 11:03 we carry on the various electrical circuits for thought. 11:07 Everything we think... 11:09 our emotions... our feelings... our logic... 11:12 planning... 11:13 the delicate nerves of the mind 11:17 are the only channel through which God communicates with man. 11:20 We need these working properly 11:23 and so, as they travel along here, 11:26 they have the special coating here... 11:27 it's called a Myelin Sheath. 11:29 There are special cells in the brain... 11:31 the legal Dendron stripes... 11:32 they reach out and they actually wrap this membrane... 11:36 you can see it right here... 11:37 this is a neuron going through the center right here 11:40 like we took a cross section right here 11:42 so, if we take a cross section there, 11:44 we've got these layers of membrane 11:46 just wrapped around there 11:48 and because of this insulating protecting... supporting 11:52 on this right here... the electrical impulse 11:55 instead of traveling at the normal speed 11:57 like it would down one of these little short branches here, 12:01 it travels at high speed jumping from node to node 12:04 and because of the high-speed transmission 12:07 made possible by the Myelin Sheath, 12:09 ordinary thought is possible. 12:13 If we start to lose the Myelin Sheath, 12:16 it will slow down these neurons, 12:18 we start losing memory... 12:21 confusion... 12:22 and as the circuits can't travel at the right speed, 12:26 eventually a Dementia settles in 12:28 and eventually a death. 12:30 We must have well-Myelinated neurons 12:34 for clear accurate thought 12:36 and so, Vitamin B12 is absolutely essential 12:43 in the forming of this Myelin Sheath around here 12:48 so, we'll find one of the signs of Vitamin B12 deficiency 12:55 are various degrees of neurodegeneration, 12:58 emotional and functional and cognitive decline 13:04 become part of that 13:05 and unfortunately it seems the cognitive degeneration 13:10 associated with the B12 Deficiency 13:12 is a permanent damage... 13:14 it's not an easily reversible one. 13:17 It's one we want to prevent 13:19 rather than try to treat after we have created the problem. 13:25 Vitamin B12 is essential for production of energy body... 13:31 energy in your body. 13:33 The Mitochondria's... there's little organelles... 13:37 they've got this little divisions right here 13:39 inside of here your fuel... 13:41 whether it's glucose or fatty acids 13:45 or whatever we're going to be burning for fuel at the moment 13:48 goes into here... 13:49 it's broken down in these complex enzyme pathways here 13:54 to pull... extract all of the energy out of it. 13:57 We need Vitamin B12 inside of there 14:00 to help get the energy out of the food that we're eating 14:05 and we're using. 14:07 Pause... 14:09 So, where do we get Vitamin B12? 14:13 It's necessary for all animal life 14:14 and yet not a single animal on our planet 14:18 is created with the enzymes to build a Vitamin B12 molecule 14:25 and as we look around, all of the greenery... 14:30 all of the vegetable life whether it's the grass... 14:32 the trees... the other plants... 14:34 none of the plant sources have the enzyme pathways 14:39 to build Vitamin B12 14:41 and so, where do we get the Vitamin B12 if... 14:46 you know, how many of the animals are on a vegetarian diet 14:50 like God recommends for us as well 14:54 and there's no Vitamin B12 in the greenery. 14:58 Where do they get all of their Vitamin B12? 15:02 There's only one place that you can get Vitamin B12 15:07 and that's in Microbes... Bacteria's. 15:12 God created these Bacteria with the enzyme pathways 15:16 and most all Bacteria's have the enzyme pathways 15:20 to build Vitamin B12 15:23 and so, the source of Vitamin B12 for all animal life, 15:29 comes from the various Bacteria's in the environment here. 15:35 Pause... 15:37 So, how do we get the Bacteria... the Vitamin B12 15:44 from the Bacteria into the human body? 15:47 You know, 15:52 imagine some deer that are living here, 15:54 where are they going to get their Vitamin B12? 15:57 Well, if we look at this meadow right here, 16:01 if you went out and examined 16:03 the top five inches of soil in that meadow, 16:07 you would find that that was just full of Bacteria 16:12 just teaming with life... 16:14 full of Vitamin B12 there... 16:15 and it's on the plants and stuff as they eat it there 16:20 as the... 16:23 pause... 16:26 deer... as they graze upon the meadow, 16:29 they're eating that right there... 16:31 as they eat it and process it, 16:33 their fecal droppings fall on the meadow 16:36 and, of course, this fecal material is just full 16:40 of more fresh microbial life... full of Vitamin B12. 16:43 As the rain comes... 16:45 as the water runs across this meadow here, 16:49 it runs into the streams... 16:51 the steams are full of the Bacteria 16:54 and the Vitamin B12 16:59 and so the deer and the other creatures... 17:02 as they drink from the stream, 17:04 again are getting all of the Vitamin B12 that they need 17:08 and so, in nature, this doesn't seem to be a problem. 17:12 Well, can we get our Vitamin B12 this way? 17:17 We probably could in a perfect world... 17:19 the world's not so perfect now. 17:23 There's a lot of bad Bacteria's and viruses and parasites 17:30 and things to be really harmful to the human body 17:34 that are going to be found in a contaminated water source 17:40 so, while it would be a good source of B12, 17:43 contaminated water is not really a good place to obtain 17:50 our Vitamin B12 today. 17:52 Pause... 17:55 So, where else? 17:57 What about the non-vegetarian animals? 17:59 Where do they get their B12? 18:01 Well, the lion... he can eat the deer 18:04 that drank the contaminated water 18:08 and eat from the things 18:11 and the meat is full of Vitamin B12... 18:15 especially the liver... the liver stores Vitamin B12 18:19 and as the lion eats the deer, he gets the B12 he needs. 18:22 Can we do that? 18:24 Yeah, we can go ahead and eat the deer as well 18:27 and many of the other creatures... 18:30 all meat sources are good sources of Vitamin B12, 18:35 and throughout the last few millennium here on Planet Earth, 18:41 the human race has got its Vitamin B12 18:45 primarily from the animal sources here. 18:49 In the last days of this earth's history, 18:53 though we're really seeing the tremendous amount 18:56 of disease in animals 18:57 and the unhealthy aspects of an animal-based diet 19:01 and look to the benefits of a plant-based diet 19:05 and plant-based diet... 19:09 particularly if you wash your food 19:11 and I recommend washing your food... 19:13 food that's not washed may be contaminated with E. coli 19:18 that are toxic with salmonella. 19:20 There's other parasites and eggs and worms 19:23 and things that can be on contaminated food 19:26 and you really don't want to 19:28 bring all of these disease sources into your body. 19:32 So, what's... what's our option? 19:35 Well, that brings us right back to 19:38 where we said we were going to end this lecture... 19:41 and this isn't the end... 19:43 we've got a lot more fascinating stuff to share, 19:45 well, we come down to... today there are readily available 19:50 simple supplementary sources to add Vitamin B12 to our diet. 19:56 We talked about the complexity of this... 20:02 this large molecule... 20:05 because of its large size and complexity 20:08 is vulnerable to destruction in the human body 20:11 and so, God has designed... 20:13 designed a rather complex mechanism 20:18 to protect Vitamin B12 20:20 and to get it into the human body 20:23 and it starts right in the mouth here. 20:26 When you take in... 20:30 dissolve your Vitamin B12 tablet 20:34 in your mouth right here and mix it with saliva, 20:37 in that saliva... there is this special protein... 20:42 here's a diagrammatic shape of this Transcobalamine... 20:46 it's actually a Cobalamine transporter... 20:51 its job is to transport Vitamin B12 20:54 and if you look at it, 20:56 they are sort of two halves to it here that are connected... 20:59 it's like hinge... like a little clam shell 21:02 and the Vitamin B12 goes right in the center 21:05 and when it clicks into place... the clam shell slams shut 21:09 and you've got this protective shell 21:11 around the Vitamin B12 21:13 so that when you swallow this Complex now 21:16 and it goes down into the stomach 21:19 into this tank of concentrated hydrochloric acid 21:23 proteolytic enzymes... 21:24 that Vitamin B12 is totally safe 21:27 and protected inside that little clam shell there. 21:31 Isn't that neat? 21:32 Pause... 21:34 When we get to the stomach, 21:36 there's a whole 'nother process going on here. 21:41 Pause... 21:45 There is another lower protein here... 21:48 another clamshell-shaped protein 21:51 called "Intrinsic Factor" that is made in the stomach. 21:54 If you look at the stomach lining right here, 21:57 we can take a close-up of this one piece right here... 22:00 you see, your stomach is lined with these little glands... 22:04 little tubular glands lined with secreting cells... 22:07 these are the cells that make and secrete the concentrated 22:11 hydrochloric acid into the stomach... 22:12 they secrete the proteolytic enzymes into the stomach 22:16 and they also make and secrete 22:18 "Intrinsic Factor" into the stomach. 22:21 So, say you had just eaten the flesh of a deer 22:25 full of Vitamin B12, 22:27 when the meat hits the stomach right here, 22:29 all of those acids and enzymes just start tearing 22:32 and ripping it apart 22:34 and in the process, they're releasing all the B12 22:37 in those cells... 22:38 and now this Intrinsic Factor... 22:41 immediately clams shut... starts snapping it up 22:44 before it can be damaged 22:46 and has it protected. 22:47 So, now we've got the Vitamin B12 22:51 that came out in the stomach protected here... 22:53 we've got the ones that were free in the mouth protected 22:57 and now it moves on to the stomach... 22:59 from the stomach to the next part of the intestine here 23:04 and at this point, the pancreas is dumping out 23:10 powerful alkaline solutions here 23:13 to neutralize all the acid... 23:15 this job is done... 23:17 these enzymes are degraded and destroyed 23:20 and the acid has gotten rid of... 23:22 and a whole new set of digestive enzymes 23:25 is released here from the pancreas 23:27 into the small intestines 23:29 and at this point, the ones that came in the mouth, 23:34 the little clamshell... the Transcobalamin... 23:37 it gets dissolved away... 23:39 the little clamshell dissolves away releasing its B12 23:43 and extra Intrinsic Factor which was in the stomach 23:47 and didn't pick up something here 23:48 is down here now 23:50 and it will snap that up. 23:52 So, at this point now, all of the B12... 23:55 the ones in the mouth that was protected through the stomach 23:58 or the ones that were protected by Intrinsic Factor here... 24:01 now they're all picked up... 24:03 they're all snapped up inside of the Intrinsic Factor 24:07 right here... nice and safe right there. 24:09 The Intrinsic Factor is really important 24:12 not only to continue to protect it, 24:14 but the Intrinsic Factor has special connectors 24:20 that are going to attach to receptors 24:22 and allow us to absorb. 24:24 This is a large molecule... 24:25 it can't just pass through a cell wall 24:28 like many smaller molecules... 24:29 it needs a special receptor mechanism 24:32 to take it into the cell right here 24:35 and so we have it now all bound up here... 24:38 it's moving on down through the small intestines 24:41 and when we get to the very last part of the small intestines 24:45 here... the terminal ileum just before we go into the colon, 24:49 this is where we absorb our Vitamin B12. 24:53 It's the only place in the body where we can actually take it 24:55 from the gut and take it into the body 24:59 and get it into the bloodstream 25:00 so it can go to the rest of the body there. 25:04 Pause. 25:07 Here is a picture of the lining of our... 25:11 last part of our ileum there 25:14 where we're going to absorb the B12 25:17 and you'll notice these columnar cells... 25:19 there's a cell, there's a cell... 25:21 there's a cell... 25:22 they're all stacked up like this. 25:24 On the side facing the gut here 25:26 where our digested food is passing by... 25:28 where we want to absorb... 25:29 there's all this increased surface area. 25:31 At the base of all of these little microvilli here, 25:35 there is a... little receptors here. 25:40 These little receptors are made with things 25:43 just to catch Intrinsic Factor 25:46 with... of course, there's Vitamin B12 inside. 25:50 Here is a picture... 25:53 it kind of switched colors on us here... 25:55 this green molecule in this picture 25:58 is the Intrinsic Factor with the B12... 26:01 it shows... it snaps here and matches perfectly 26:04 with this special receptor protein here 26:09 that's made just to catch the Intrinsic Factor 26:13 and once it catches the Intrinsic Factor, 26:16 then this whole complex is taken into the cell 26:19 again with the Vitamin B12 carefully stored inside of it. 26:23 So, here we see the gut wall here... 26:28 the lining near closer here... 26:30 the Intrinsic Factor out there... 26:31 this is inside the body... 26:33 this would be like the blood stream here 26:35 where we're going to transport it to the rest of the body. 26:39 Here we will... we've kind of enlarged one of the cells here 26:43 so we can see one of these cells... 26:45 with the little villi out here... 26:48 and now here... they put in blue right here... 26:52 this is like the little receptors 26:54 for the Intrinsic Factor. 26:56 Here they've got the Intrinsic Factor 26:58 with this Vitamin B12 in the center... 27:00 it comes down... snaps into place right here... 27:03 once it captures that, 27:05 it is just swallowed up... taken inside... 27:08 makes this like a little vacuole membrane around it 27:12 and now we've got this little sac in here 27:14 and inside there, we've got the... 27:16 these... these are cut off and separated 27:19 and they can actually be recycled back out to the surface 27:22 so they can capture another one. 27:24 The Intrinsic Factor with the Vitamin B12 in it, 27:29 this becomes a liposome... comes in there 27:33 and it starts digesting 27:34 and it breaks up the Intrinsic Factor now... 27:36 it's digested away 27:37 and the various amino acids will be recycled. 27:40 The Vitamin B12 is now inside the cell 27:43 and it's released free inside the cell. 27:46 Of course, it can use it for its own purposes 27:50 because it needs some Vitamin B12 27:52 but as a gut cell, it's job is to absorb 27:54 and pass it on to the rest of the body 27:57 and so much of it will be taken out here 27:59 and when the special cells... the receptor proteins here 28:02 that will actually excrete it out into your bloodstream 28:05 and you actually make new transporter molecules 28:12 they're transporter... 28:14 and they're similar to the ones in the mouth... 28:15 the little clamshells... 28:17 they will come out... are secreted as well... 28:19 they will snap it up again inside the little clamshell 28:23 and in this form... it is carried through the bloodstream. 28:26 Pause... 28:29 Here we show another cell in the body... 28:32 has little receptors out here for it 28:35 and it can take these transporter protein with its B12 28:40 pull it into the body... 28:41 again this little receptor can be recycled and used again... 28:45 will digest away the transporter protein 28:48 and we've got free Vitamin B12 inside of here. 28:51 If this is a liver, 28:53 we can store up to five years' worth of Vitamin B12 28:57 in the liver... 28:59 very important fact 29:01 for the times when we may not be able to get it 29:06 so, if we have been building up 29:07 and have a regular good supply... 29:09 if for some reason, you should not be able to get the supply, 29:13 remember you do have reserves. 29:15 It's not a minute-by-minute supply... it really... 29:18 you can store up to five years' worth of Vitamin B12 29:22 in your liver for use of the body 29:24 and remember the body tends to recycle and use it as well. 29:28 Pause... 29:31 Dr. Castle got the Nobel Prize back in 1934 29:37 for discovering Intrinsic Factor 29:39 and he's the one that discovered that 29:41 and the first of our knowledge 29:43 about this complex pathway right here. 29:45 You will find that 29:51 he had a rather unique method... 29:53 this is before much of our modern science thinks 29:56 back in 1934 29:58 and he had these patients with Pernicious Anemia... 30:01 this Vitamin B12 deficiency 30:04 and he would feed them liver which was full of Vitamin B12 30:07 and it didn't help 30:08 because they weren't having... 30:10 didn't have Intrinsic Factor 30:11 but, of course, nobody even knew there was an Intrinsic Factor 30:13 and he took... 30:15 every morning he would get up and take about 300 grams 30:19 of beef... raw beef and eat it. 30:22 He would wait an hour for it to start digesting really good 30:27 and then he would force himself to regurgitate up this beef 30:32 and the... you know, this partially-digested beef 30:36 and all the stomach juices with it... 30:38 he then would strain it out 30:40 and get just the liquid out of there 30:42 and then he would give this liquid to the patients 30:45 with Pernicious Anemia to drink 30:47 along with giving them their meal of liver that had B12 in it 30:52 and guess what? 30:54 He was able to cure the Pernicious Anemia in all of them 30:57 with this method which he created 31:00 showing that the stomach was making something that we needed 31:04 to absorb the Vitamin B12 31:06 and apparently these patients were defective in doing that. 31:11 Pause... 31:14 So, here is one of the forms of Vitamin B12 in the body 31:18 and this particular one... 31:19 instead of putting a Methyl group there, 31:21 it has an Adenosine molecule here 31:23 and again it's used in one of the functions right here. 31:27 We're going to take just a few minutes 31:30 to look briefly at some of the things... 31:33 the problems that go wrong when we don't have B12... 31:36 some of the important pathways that's needed for 31:39 what goes wrong when we don't have the B12 31:42 for these pathways. 31:43 Something called MMA... Methylmalonyl-CoA 31:47 this particular molecule is a very toxic byproduct 31:52 that's leftover when you burn fat. 31:55 Fat comes in these long fatty acid molecules 31:59 and when you burn fat... maybe you're fasting... 32:03 exercising a lot 32:05 and you're burning off 32:06 and you're burning up these fatty molecules, 32:08 it chops up these long hydrocarbon tails... 32:10 but when it gets done here, there's a piece left over here, 32:13 we end up with this. 32:15 This is toxic... and we really have to get rid of it 32:19 but we don't have a normal way to get rid of it 32:23 or I should say, "We do... " 32:24 it's a way that uses Vitamin B12. 32:27 Here you can see this particular enzyme 32:31 whose job is to take the MMA 32:34 and convert it into Succinyl-CoA... 32:37 it has to have this B12... 32:40 you know, the Adenosyl version of B12 to do it 32:43 and with the B12 there, 32:45 it can take the MMA... 32:47 turn it into Succinyl-CoA. 32:49 Now, in your Mitochondria, 32:51 you may remember studying the Krebs Cycle... 32:54 sometimes called the Citric Acid Cycle... 32:57 this is where we take Glucose... start breaking it down in pieces 33:02 and we go through this circle right here... 33:04 we just keep pouring more in 33:06 and it runs through the cycle in the process... 33:09 it's all burned up and we end up with water... 33:11 Carbon dioxide and lots of energy. 33:14 Well, notice, one of the steps here is the Succcinyl-CoA 33:18 so, the Succinyl-CoA we just made from the MMA 33:23 goes right into here and is burned up 33:26 so, now we totally get rid of the toxic MMA from the body 33:30 and burn it up in the Mitochondria here 33:33 but again, one of the important needs 33:36 for Vitamin B12 in the body... 33:38 if you don't have the B12, this will build up... 33:41 you can actually do a blood test 33:42 and show if fat level is increasing. 33:44 We can presume that you may be deficient in Vitamin B12. 33:49 Homocysteine is another toxic amino acid 33:56 that can build up in the body. 33:58 Doctors will sometimes measure your Homocysteine level... 34:03 Homocysteine can be toxic to the Endothelium. 34:11 That's the lining of your blood vessels 34:13 and it starts damaging that... we start breaking that down... 34:17 that is one of the risk factors to Arteriosclerosis 34:22 developing the plaques in the artery walls 34:26 and progressing to heart attacks and stokes... 34:29 the number one cause of death and disability in this country. 34:32 Homocysteine is one of the bad players in that process. 34:37 Where does the Homocysteine come? 34:39 Methionine is an important amino acid. 34:44 You'll notice the Sulfur groups here on both of them. 34:48 This one has a Methyl group attached to the Sulfur group 34:51 and your body actually uses Methionine 34:54 with a Methyl group there to add Methyl 34:57 to many important processes that we need 35:01 and so we'll take the Methionine... 35:03 use it to methylate something. 35:05 When we use it to methylate something 35:07 that takes the Methyl off of it 35:10 and we end up with Homocysteine 35:12 so in this diagram here, you'll see the Methionine 35:15 it methylates something that ends up as Homocysteine. 35:18 The good news is, we can take the Homocysteine... 35:22 stick a Methyl group back on it and make it back into Methionine 35:27 and how do we do that? 35:28 Vitamin B12... Methylcobalamin... 35:32 it's got a Methyl group up in the right spot 35:34 and these particular enzymes here 35:37 can actually take the Vitamin B12 35:40 that's been methylated... 35:41 transfer the Methyl over here to the Homocysteine... 35:45 make it back into Methionine... 35:46 keep this Homocysteine down to a level where it's not toxic 35:50 and supply plenty of Methionine 35:52 to continue on the various things 35:54 that need to be methylated in the body. 35:57 If your Homocysteine level is elevated, 35:59 that can well be a sign that you are not having enough 36:04 Vitamin B12 in your body. 36:07 DNA... we mentioned how important DNA is for life. 36:15 How much DNA is in your body? 36:17 If you took every cell and peeled the DNA out of it 36:21 and stretched it out end to end 36:23 and did that for every cell in your body, 36:26 it would reach all the way from Planet Earth... 36:30 93 million miles to the sun 36:32 and back again, and back again... 36:35 and back again 36:36 three-and-a-half times we would make that trip 36:38 just with the DNA... 36:40 this thin thread bound together strongly 36:43 so it doesn't break 36:44 is how much DNA is all coiled up carefully 36:48 inside of your cells. 36:49 But of course the real challenge is, 36:51 "How do you get that much thread 36:53 stuffed in that small of a place 36:56 without making a tangled mess that you can't untangle? 36:59 Well, God knew what He was doing 37:01 and so he designed this DNA right here 37:07 with special little spools 37:10 and each little spool gets it wrapped around 37:13 and each of these little spools now 37:17 has coiled up a piece of it... 37:19 then He takes these little spools 37:21 and coils them up into a coil 37:24 and then He takes this coiled coil 37:26 and makes it into these super coils here 37:28 and these super coils... 37:30 He winds up and actually to make these probes here 37:34 so, we can take a huge amount of this DNA thread... 37:38 all... each little intricate coating 37:40 for certain Amino Acids and things here... 37:42 all of that and put it up in a form... 37:45 in this form, we can now divide the cell 37:48 and send half of it with each new cell there. 37:51 Every time... when we divide two cells 37:55 to make new cells, 37:57 we've got to uncoil... 37:58 every inch of this has got to be uncoiled 38:01 and you have to make a duplicate copy of it 38:05 and then each of the duplicate copies 38:07 has to be individually coiled up. 38:08 So, these little coiling process is absolutely essential 38:14 for carrying on the function of life. 38:17 Here is a closer look at those... 38:19 some of those little coils here... 38:22 there's little spools that winded up. 38:24 Here you can see one of them right here, 38:26 it's actually several pieces that come together... 38:28 here you can see a little coil of the DNA... 38:31 just written... this little tube around it right here, 38:33 and you'll notice, 38:35 each of these little sub units that makes up this spool, 38:41 has little tails coming out of it... 38:43 little Amino Acid tails... 38:45 these are all protein structures 38:47 and these little amino acid tails 38:49 have places where you can stick on other groups 38:53 and you can take... 38:55 and you can Methylate some of these... 38:58 certain sites on there... 38:59 and as you Methylate certain sites, 39:01 these little tails are like switches 39:04 and so it turns on the coiling mechanism 39:07 and causes it to coil up its piece of DNA. 39:10 You can take the Methyl groups off 39:13 and put sealed groups on it 39:16 and it actually makes it uncoil the DNA 39:18 and takes the DNA off of it. 39:20 So, this is how you just make it coil and uncoil. 39:24 Well, if all the coiling and uncoiling that's going on 39:28 to duplicate every time you divide a cell, 39:32 you see how much Vitamin B12... 39:34 because we need Vitamin B12 for all of this Methylation here 39:38 is Vitamin B12 dependent. 39:41 So, to coil up your DNA every time you've unwound it 39:45 needs a good supply of Vitamin B12 39:48 and, of course, just to keep the right parts of it 39:51 coiled and uncoiled there. 39:54 Pause... 39:57 Quick look at Pernicious Anemia... 40:00 the name for the complex set of symptoms that's caused by 40:04 Vitamin B12 deficiency. 40:06 We talked about the Megaloblastic Anemia here 40:09 where we can't make enough blood cells 40:12 of the right shape and size. 40:14 We talked about the loss of energy... 40:17 tissues... they often get a red tongue 40:20 with cracks and stuff as it goes along... 40:23 and because of the effect of the myelination process, 40:27 we're going to see the various cognitive effects of it there. 40:33 Just a quick look at some of these symptoms... 40:37 you'll notice they're fairly often... 40:40 they generalize symptoms that could be attributed 40:44 to a lot of different things 40:45 and not everybody gets every symptom... 40:48 you might get two or three symptoms there... 40:50 a couple here... 40:51 and it wouldn't be till extremely late stages 40:53 that you would be getting most of those... 40:56 brain fog... fatigue... 40:58 memory loss... anxiety... 41:00 difficulty concentrating... 41:02 depression... paranoia... irritability... dizziness... 41:05 numbness and tingling of the hands and feet... 41:08 difficulty balance... 41:09 decreased motor skills... 41:11 gait disturbances... 41:12 that sore burning red tongue... 41:15 eye twitches... muscle spasms... 41:17 muscle weakness... 41:18 vision problems... 41:20 shortness of breath... 41:21 irregular heartbeat... 41:23 diarrhea. 41:24 Pause... 41:26 Those are the types of symptoms. 41:28 They're often a very slow and gradual onset 41:33 and not frequently noticed. 41:38 You attribute... "Well, we're just getting older... " 41:42 "Yeah, I'm just more tired, it's part of my aging... " 41:46 and don't really attribute it to that. 41:50 Often, they're diagnosed as some Psychiatric disorder... 41:55 the fatigue... memory loss... 41:57 anxiety... depression... paranoia... 41:59 there can be aggressiveness... 42:01 hallucinations... 42:02 there can be... 42:04 and they'll prescribed various Psychiatric drugs 42:06 without finding out what it is there. 42:09 Two groups of vegans that are at particular risk... 42:16 long-term vegetarians who avoid supplements. 42:21 There's a lot of alternative ideas about that... 42:25 the bottom line is they don't pan out very well... 42:29 breast-fed infants of vegan mothers 42:34 who have a low B12 intake. 42:36 The developing human brain is very, very dependent 42:41 upon Vitamin B12. 42:43 If you can think of all the cell division that has to go on 42:46 in a growing-developing brain 42:48 as well as every other organ of the body, 42:52 the absolute essentialness of B12 in the breast milk 42:57 from the mother having adequate B12 43:00 is absolutely essential there. 43:03 Pause... 43:07 Medical literature unfortunately is full of case studies 43:10 of vegans of all ages... infants, children, adults 43:13 and elderly who have sustained serious bodily damage 43:17 from B12 deficiencies. 43:19 It's not something we can ignore... 43:24 it's something that we want to be aware of... 43:28 plan ahead and be able to prevent 43:33 and like I mentioned... we want to prevent it 43:36 because many of the effects, particularly the cognitive... 43:40 the brain changes appear to be permanent. 43:43 In other words, coming back and giving B12 after the fact 43:46 might stop it from getting worse 43:48 but won't undo the damage that was done. 43:52 Pause... 43:54 Many long-term vegans who do not supplement 43:57 appear to suffer no ill effects 43:59 by actually having elevated Homocysteine level 44:02 or some very subtle neurologic dysfunction 44:06 that they're not aware of. 44:07 These are very slow... gradual... 44:10 remember the liver is storing 44:12 maybe up to five years of Vitamin B12 there 44:15 and as it gradually depletes over time, 44:19 there can be very mild, gradual symptoms right there. 44:23 We don't have to live in confusion about that though 44:27 blood tests can give us a very clear picture 44:32 of where you are at with your B12. 44:34 If you're taking notes, this is the one... 44:37 2nd page I would take notes on here 44:39 these are the what I could call, 44:42 "The comfortable levels. " 44:44 These are levels... if you do a... 44:46 and Vitamin B12 level is readily done... 44:48 any doctor can do it... they run it in all the Labs... 44:51 your doctor should be checking it 44:53 if she knows you're a vegetarian. 44:56 It should be greater than 500... 44:59 B12 greater than 500 is good. 45:02 Homocysteine... most doctors are now including 45:06 Homocysteine levels when they do a complete physical 45:09 and work-up there... 45:11 it's one of the major risk factors for heart disease 45:14 the number 1 cause of death. 45:15 Your Homocysteine level should be less than 10, 45:19 if it's more than 10, I would be concerned 45:23 that B12 may be the issue. 45:25 The MMA... that toxic product we mentioned 45:28 can be tested but it's much less frequently done so. 45:32 The MCV... the Mean Corpuscular Volume 45:36 size of your red blood cells is part of every CBC... 45:40 the complete blood count 45:42 where you get Hemoglobin... Hematocrit... 45:43 the various white cell counts... 45:45 it will have an MCV as one of the values on there. 45:49 It should be less than 98. 45:51 Remember the pictures of the enlarged red blood cells... 45:55 if that Mean Corpuscular Volume... 45:56 the average size of those cells is getting too big... 45:58 if it's a 100... a 105... a 108... a 110... 46:03 you know, there is something wrong going on 46:07 and it very well could be this Megaloblastic Anemia 46:11 from the B12... 46:13 so, between your CBC... your Homocysteine level 46:15 and your B12 level, 46:17 you can look at... 46:18 if your levels are in those... you're safe... 46:19 you've got good... you're covered... 46:22 everything is okay. 46:23 If some of those are off, 46:24 we need to be looking at what's the cause... 46:27 what's the problem. 46:28 Supplementation... 46:30 I want to just very briefly look at 46:32 Intrinsic Factor Deficiency... 46:34 there are situations where 46:37 even if you take all of the right amount of B12 46:40 in your diet, 46:41 you could still be deficient 46:43 if your stomach was not making Intrinsic Factor 46:46 and there are some things we can do that can cause that. 46:50 Today we have a huge amount of stomach-acid-blocking drugs 46:54 the Hydrogen Blockers and the Proton Pump Inhibitors 47:01 the H Blockers... the Histamine Blockers. 47:03 Tagamet... Pepcid... Zantac... 47:06 Prilosec... Protonix... Nexium... 47:08 you may recognize some of those... 47:11 those... they shut down the production of acid... 47:14 they also shut down the production of Intrinsic Factor. 47:17 Pause... 47:19 Gastric Bypass Surgeries of various types 47:23 can remove much of the stomach... 47:25 bypass much of the stomach... 47:26 and again cut out the Vitamin B12. 47:30 By the way, if you have one of these 47:33 Intrinsic-Factor deficiencies, what can we do about it? 47:36 Well, it's very simple, you can get a B12 shot 47:39 and doctors for years may have been realizing 47:42 that many older people need B12 shots... 47:45 sometimes, just with age-related atrophy... 47:47 the lining of the stomach is not producing Intrinsic Factor 47:51 like it should and you get a B12 shot... 47:54 now, we've bypassed all of this absorption mechanism... 47:58 it's absorbed directly... 48:00 it's already in the body 48:01 and it can go out into the bloodstream 48:03 and be transported to the cells that need it 48:07 so, we can bypass the Intrinsic Factor deficiencies. 48:12 Metformin... Diabetics... this is one of the common drugs, 48:16 Metformin can lead to an Intrinsic Factor deficiency... 48:21 there are some genetic deficiencies that... 48:26 genetic... you know, mutations... 48:28 that can lead to deficiencies in it... 48:32 some dietary sources... 48:36 Clams... 84 micrograms... 48:40 why would clams be such an excellent source of Vitamin B12? 48:45 What do clams eat? 48:46 They sit on the bottom 48:48 and they strain out the various fecal material 48:51 that settles to the bottom of the bay 48:53 and so, you would expect that they would be full of B12. 48:57 Liver is a very high source again because 49:02 the Liver stores Vitamin B12 so, we can expect that. 49:06 Today, they are now putting some B12 in certain cereals... 49:10 to make... you know, 49:11 they put in all those various vitamins... 49:13 they will add some Vitamin B12 to cereals... 49:15 here we see some fish on there... 49:18 has some cheeseburger 49:20 for all that beef and the cheese in the cheeseburger, 49:23 we got two micrograms out of it. 49:25 Milk... one microgram... 49:27 egg... zero point six micrograms in an egg. 49:32 I know a lot of people say, 49:34 "Well, I'm eating eggs, 49:35 therefore, I've got a good source of Vitamin B12. 49:38 Eggs are actually a very poor source of Vitamin B12. 49:42 If you're counting on Eggs to get your Vitamin B12, 49:46 you really need to have those blood tests done 49:48 because you could easily be moving into 49:50 that deficiency range... 49:52 even chickens are a poor source of B12. 49:57 Some people... they say, 49:59 "Well, I have a lot of the different fermented foods. 50:03 Tempeh... Natto... the Miso... 50:06 you know, all these different fermented foods, 50:10 they've got Bacteria... they've got B12 in them... 50:14 and what we find when we actually study them out, 50:16 we find that they're actually probably very poor 50:19 sources of B12 50:24 and you really can't count on them to supply the B12. 50:28 You're going to need to actually take the B12 supplements 50:32 and if you have an Intrinsic Factor issue, 50:35 take the B12 shots... 50:36 that's really the only way. 50:39 One interesting aspect is that of Spirulina Blue-Green Algae 50:46 that's often recommended as a dietary supplement 50:48 and it has Vitamin B12 in it 50:52 but of the B12 that's in it, only about 15% here 50:58 is actually true Vitamin B12 that we can use... 51:03 the rest of it is actually a Pseudo vitamin B12 51:08 and as this tail comes around here, 51:11 you'll notice the molecule is just a little bit different 51:13 so, when the mechanic picks up the tool 51:16 and goes to use it, what does he find out? 51:21 Well, he's got this tool and it feels right 51:24 and he holds on to it but it doesn't do the job 51:28 because this is different... 51:30 it can't release the... the... 51:32 the piece up here that it needs to 51:35 and so, as a result, it doesn't work. 51:38 So, we basically block up all these mechanics... 51:41 they're sitting around holding pseudo B12 51:43 and they're not working... they're not doing their job. 51:48 So, I would not include any of these blue-green algae 51:52 supplements as an adjunct to your diet 51:56 because of the pseudo B12 contents 51:59 you're going to find in them so, a warning there. 52:02 Pause... 52:05 So, now we come full circle here to our conclusion... 52:11 you know, as we think about 52:13 everything that God has done for us 52:17 and created in our... to study our nutrition 52:22 and throughout the course of history on this earth, 52:26 particularly after the flood, 52:29 introduction of the clean animals as a source of food 52:35 that was recommended and has been used and... 52:39 you know, why didn't Jesus promote a vegetarian diet 52:42 when He was there 52:44 if a vegetarian diet was so much better? 52:46 We can move with this particular piece... 52:49 with a little bit of insight into maybe one of the reasons 52:54 why meat eating has been part of the human diet 52:59 for most of our time here 53:02 particularly since the flood right here, 53:06 we have needed to have Vitamin B12 53:10 and there's really not a good source elsewhere to get it. 53:14 Pause... 53:17 If we don't supplement, we're not going to have it 53:19 on a plant-based diet. 53:21 But today, at this last sliver of earth's history right now 53:29 Science... the latest come in Science 53:32 and now, "Vitamin B12 is readily available here. " 53:37 It's readily available in such a form 53:40 that it... you know... anyone can get it... 53:45 it's very inexpensive 53:47 and would highly, highly recommend it for all of us 53:53 pause... 53:57 and so, we come to where we started right here 54:01 taking the Methylcobalamin supplements 54:05 you know, several times a week would probably be adequate. 54:09 I just take one every day... that way you don't forget them, 54:13 they're easy to take... they're very inexpensive 54:15 and regardless of what's happening, 54:17 you're always putting in that continuous supply of B12... 54:21 building up the supply in your liver 54:23 and continuing to make that available on a regular basis 54:30 for all of these processes 54:32 and I'd like to emphasize the fact that 54:37 the damage from the deficiencies 54:40 particularly the neurological damage 54:42 does not seem to be reversible with re-supplementation 54:49 once the damage has incurred 54:51 and the fact that it is such a subtle 54:54 and very... how shall I say 54:59 difficult to notice 55:01 and easily to give another explanation to. 55:05 It's easy to explain that this could be due to, you know, aging 55:12 and it could be due to just some chronic fatigue. 55:16 There's a lot of things that you could blame it on 55:19 and attribute it to and not notice it 55:23 and just let it go. 55:25 I've read many stories... 55:30 one was the individual who was... 55:33 he was actually the owner of a health-food store 55:35 and he lived a healthy plant-based diet and stuff and 55:40 he gradually deteriorated... 55:43 was becoming... you know, Dementia set in 55:46 and he got to the point where he couldn't function and stuff 55:49 really very sad case 55:50 and at some point there far along... 55:54 they did a work up and found 55:56 he was extremely Vitamin-B12 deficient 55:58 and we realize that at that point 56:01 that all of his symptoms were due 56:05 to the Vitamin B12 Deficiency 56:09 but it was too late to recover the damage... 56:13 it was too late to turn it around... 56:15 it was too late to bring back the mind that had been lost... 56:20 the cognitive functioning that had been lost. 56:23 Pause... 56:24 Um, you know, 56:26 there are lot of factors that contribute to Alzheimer's 56:30 and the various dementias and various breakdowns 56:34 and I don't want to conclude 56:36 that everything is a B12 deficiency 56:38 but the B12 Deficiency is a very avoidable one 56:42 and a very high-risk one for all of us 56:46 who are on a plant-based diet 56:49 and so, how do you know for sure? 56:52 What did we say? The blood test, yeah... 56:56 your doctor can run the test... just remind and say, 57:00 "Hey, if you're on a plant-based diet, 57:01 I want to be sure I'm not B12 deficiency... " 57:03 and what are the tests he needs to do? 57:05 A B12 level... you want it greater than 500... 57:10 your regular CBC... they're going to run that all the time, 57:15 your MCV... your Mean Corpuscle Volume, 57:19 you want it less than 98... 57:20 if it's over a 100, there's a problem. 57:23 It's probably easier to remember the 100... 57:27 if it's over a 100... you're in trouble... 57:28 and then the Homocysteine level... 57:31 you want your Homocysteine level less than 10. 57:34 Those are going to be the factors 57:36 that are going to allow you to know if you've got a problem 57:39 or if you don't 57:40 and then of course, if you've got a problem, 57:43 there's the supplementation 57:45 or they can test for the Intrinsic Factor 57:51 to see if it's being absorbed 57:52 and the doctor may well... 57:54 want to put you on Vitamin B12 shots 57:57 so, that's our wisdom for this particular part of the program, 58:02 may God bless you all 58:04 as you continue your service for Him. |
Revised 2021-02-01