Your Health

What would make your skin turn yellow? It is simply a lack of Vitamin B-12

W. Gifford-Jones MD & Diana Gifford-Jones

November 12, 2021

BY W. GIFFORD- JONES MD & DIANA GIFFORD-JONES

A report from the Massachusetts General Hospital and published in the New England Journal of Medicine tells an interesting story. A 62-year-old man over a two-month period developed numbness, a “pins and needles” sensation in his hands, shortness of breath, trouble walking due to severe joint pain, and he began to turn yellow.

Anyone faced with all these problems would think the end is near and start planning to say goodbye to loved ones. In retrospect, his symptoms could have been even worse. He could also have faced paranoia, delusions, memory loss, incontinence, loss of taste and more.

But this man had a pinch of good luck. Tests revealed he had a deficiency of vitamin B-12. He wasn’t going to die. But how did he develop such acute deficiency, and how can you be sure you’re getting enough of this vitamin?

B-12 is an important vitamin. The adult human body needs 2.5 micrograms daily so red blood cells can carry oxygenated blood to the brain, nerves and DNA. Since the body cannot make B-12, it must be obtained from diet or supplements.

What causes a lack of vitamin B-12? Some people simply don’t get enough in their diet. Others, even it they consume sufficient B-12, fail to absorb it. This is why deficiency is especially common among the elderly. One person in five over age sixty and two in five over eighty fail to absorb B-12 from food and they require a supplement. Another reason can be autoimmune disorders that make it difficult to absorb B-12.

As we age, the lining of the stomach gets thinner, which decreases the production of hydrochloric acid. Vitamin B-12 is firmly attached to a protein. To pry it loose so it can be absorbed it needs sufficient amounts of hydrochloric acid.

It’s also possible to be low in B-12 if you’re taking medication, such as: Prevacid, Losec, and Nexium, used to treat acid reflux or a stomach ulcer. Even less powerful drugs, like: Pepcid, Tagamet, or Zantac, reduce the production of hydrochloric acid.

Intestinal problems such as celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, and excessive alcohol consumption reduce B-12. And with more people using gastric bypass surgery to lose weight, B-12 intake can be affected.

You can be young and develop a lack of B-12. Plants do not make B-12. So among the growing numbers of young people striving for a strict vegetarian or vegan diet, there is a high risk of B-12 deficiency. Fortified grains can be a source of B-12. Blood work will show if additional B-12 supplementation is needed.

There are many reports lauding the use of B-12 to prevent heart disease, infertility, fatigue, eczema, and a long list of other chronic health problems. But according to Harvard researchers, these reports are all based on faulty evidence.

Alzheimer’s disease is a good example. A deficiency of B-12 can lead to symptoms of Alzheimer’s. But even high doses of 1000 micrograms have had no effect on this disease.

One case of supposed Alzheimer’s disease was cured by B-12 supplementation, but it proved to be the wrong diagnosis. For this patient, memory deficiency problems were quickly cured by B-12. As noted earlier, it’s good to be lucky.

Good sources of dietary B-12 intake include: steak, fish, poultry products, and eggs.

Are you wondering why the patient had yellow skin? Red blood cells become fragile with decreased amounts of B-12. Then they release bilirubin, produced by the liver, into circulation resulting in jaundice. If your skin is getting yellow, see your doctor for blood work.

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Written By W. Gifford-Jones MD & Diana Gifford-Jones

Dr. W. Gifford-Jones, MD is a graduate of the University of Toronto and the Harvard Medical School. He trained in general surgery at Strong Memorial Hospital, University of Rochester, Montreal General Hospital, McGill University and in Gynecology at Harvard. His storied medical career began as a general practitioner, ship’s surgeon, and hotel doctor. For more than 40 years, he specialized in gynecology, devoting his practice to the formative issues of women’s health. In 1975, he launched his weekly medical column that has been published by national and local Canadian and U.S. newspapers. Today, the readership remains over seven million. His advice contains a solid dose of common sense and he never sits on the fence with controversial issues. He is the author of nine books including, “The Healthy Barmaid”, his autobiography “You’re Going To Do What?”, “What I Learned as a Medical Journalist”, and “90+ How I Got There!” Many years ago, he was successful in a fight to legalize heroin to help ease the pain of terminal cancer patients. His foundation at that time donated $500,000 to establish the Gifford-Jones Professorship in Pain Control and Palliative Care at the University of Toronto Medical School. At 93 years of age he rappelled from the top of Toronto’s City Hall (30 stories) to raise funds for children with a life-threatening disease through the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Diana Gifford-Jones, the daughter of W. Gifford-Jones, MD, Diana has extensive global experience in health and healthcare policy. Diana is Special Advisor with The Aga Khan University, which operates 2 quaternary care hospitals and numerous secondary hospitals, medical centres, pharmacies, and laboratories in South Asia and Africa. She worked for ten years in the Human Development sectors at the World Bank, including health policy and economics, nutrition, and population health. For over a decade at The Conference Board of Canada, she managed four health-related executive networks, including the Roundtable on Socio-Economic Determinants of Health, the Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management, the Canadian Centre for Environmental Health, and the Centre for Health System Design and Management. Her master’s degree in public policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government included coursework at Harvard Medical School. She is also a graduate of Wellesley College. She has extensive experience with Canadian universities, including at Carleton University, where she was the Executive Director of the Global Academy. She lived and worked in Japan for four years and speaks Japanese fluently. Diana has the designation as a certified Chartered Director from The Directors College, a joint venture of The Conference Board of Canada and McMaster University. She has recently published a book on the natural health philosophy of W. Gifford-Jones, called No Nonsense Health – Naturally!

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