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I am a certified nutritionist and personal trainer who has researched B12 thoroughly, because my sister was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and B12 deficiency has been linked to MS and symptoms that mimic MS. To answer how much B12 is too much, you must first understand what "B12" really is and how much is actually enough.

1. What is vitamin B12?

Vitamin B12 refers to a group of chemically similar compounds called cobalamins.

- cyanocobalamin

- hydroxocobalamin

- methylcobalamin

- adenosylcobalamin

Molecularly, cobalamin is a cobalt ion with six coordinate sites around it. Four of these sites are in a corrin ring. (Corrin rings are beyond the scope of this article.) The fifth site is taken by dimethylbenzimidazole. And the final site determines which specific form of cobalamin you are getting. If a cyanide molecule is there, then it is cyanocobalamin. If it is a water molecule, then you get hydroxocobalamin.etc.

Bacteria are the only things on this planet that can produce cobalamins. These bacteria live in the guts of animals, producing cobalamin. The cobalamin in the animals is diffused through their systems and their eggs. Humans obtain cobalamin by eating the animals/eggs. Our body has enzymes which convert the cobalimin to one of the two forms that our body actually uses - methylcobalamin or adenosylcobalamin. Unused B12 can be stored in various body tissues, mainly the liver, and some will be processed out of course.

Cobalamin does not occur in plants, so logic and studies dictate that strict vegans are more likely to become deficient in B12.

The form of cobalamin found in vitamins and sprayed on B-12 fortified foods is cyanocobalamin. Cyanocobalamin does not occur in nature, but rather when scientists use bacteria to produce cobalamins, they use cyanide to isolate the cobalamins, and the cyanide molecule fits snugly into that open sixth slot, forming cyanocobalamin. When you ingest the cyanocobalamin, your body switches out that pesky cyanide molecule with a water molecule creating hydroxyocobalamin and... well, cyanide. Later the hydroxocobalamin is converted to methylcobalamin or adenosylcobalamin. This results in small levels of cyanide in your system- which everyone agrees, isn't that great. Other studies have shown that for unknown reasons cyanocobalamin does not have all of the same health benefits of the other three forms.

Hydroxocobalamin. When it is injected into your body, your body pulls off the water molecule to create methylcobalamin or adenosylcobalamin,

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