What Lead to Dr. Alfred Libby’s Invention of Sublingual B12?
It may amaze you to learn how this superb supplement, sub-lingual B12, was created . Have you ever noticed how some of our greatest inventions came to be, in part, through situations rather than through a direct plan ? Something completely unplanned or predicted happens that changes everything. This is how it was with Dr. Alfred F. Libby, MD. He was occupied in his practice in 1975 when a drug addict came to him and asked for help to break his addiction. So, without any prior planning to do so, he began treating drug addicts from his office using natural nutritional products on an out-patient basis.
The other physicians who shared offices with Dr. Libby didn’t like this at all, and he felt he wasn’t learning enough with this method . He decided to leave his general practice and started taking as many as six drug addicts at a time into his home. Here, he could monitor them twenty-four (24) hours a day. It wasn’t long before he was persuaded the so-called “abnormal” psychological patterns were not those of an “antisocial psychopath. “ Instead, they were the result of moderate to severe nutritional deficiencies that affected their metabolism and behavior.
He was given the chance to test his theories on volunteer drug and alcoholic in-patients in May 1980 at the State of California psychiatric hospital. His continued reading and research had convinced him that vitamin B12 was an essential nutrient necessary for the recovery of these drug addict and alcoholic patients. He had discovered that vitamin B12 is very poorly absorbed into the body by oral means. This is why doctors use an intramuscular or intravenous injection of B12 for their patients complaining of being tired, sluggish or having no energy or enthusiasm. They use a B12 injection to get the vitamin B12 directly into the bloodstream and soon the patients are “back on track” and feeling great! Dr. Libby wanted his addict patients to have the opportunity to “feel good”, too, but the possibility of using a needle and syringe was distressing for understandable reasons.
Dr. Libby pondered this painful question for weeks, until a thought occurred to him, “nitroglycerin”. Physicians use nitroglycerin to alleviate the pain of Angina Pectoris (chest and heart pain caused by constricted blood vessels). The patient puts a small nitroglycerin lozenge underneath the tongue and the nitroglycerin is absorbed directly into the bloodstream via the sublingual blood vessels (underneath the tongue) and pain is alleviated in minutes. He wondered if it would be possible to develop a sublingual vitamin B12 lozenge that could be put under the tongue for direct absorption into the bloodstream. He took his idea to a local pharmaceutical company where he asked that a test batch be made. The company agreed to make a test batch for his study. Now, the big question could be answered. Would B12 absorb directly into the bloodstream from underneath the tongue? Would the sublingual B12 lozenge work in actual use?
The laboratory data came back, and it supported an absolute and amazing, “yes.” There was an authentic and incredible increase in the blood level of vitamin B12 of 90 percent as compared to 19.1 percent decrease in the control group! And, this was achieved without the pain and expense of an injection. There was no need for the problematic needles. The laboratory results achieved in the study at the State of California psychiatric hospital were certainly as good, perhaps even superior to that obtained by an injection! Dr. Libby applied for, and was granted, United States Patent # 4,432,975 for his new sublingual B12 lozenge. Later, Dr. Libby would team up with TriVita Inc. to make this miraculous supplement available to the general population.
What does this mean to you?
It turns out, that drug addicts and alcoholics are not the only people that suffer from nutritional deficiencies, B12 (cobalamin) in particular. There are numerous reasons why a B12 deficiency can occur . Pernicious anemia is frequently the result of a person not being able to absorb vitamin B12. You may not understand (most people don’t) that vitamin B12 is synthesized (the process of formation) only by microorganisms in a healthy functioning intestinal tract. No B12 is found in plants. You attain your B12 from your diet, and mostly from protein products such as: liver, whole milk, eggs, oysters, fresh shrimp, pork and chicken. Due to B12’s very complex structure, it cannot be so simply and easily absorbed like most nutrients. Its absorption requires a sufficient amount of a stomach juice known as “intrinsic factor”. This substance binds to the B12 so that it can be absorbed through the intestinal walls.
The specific amount of “intrinsic factor” formed varies from person to person, and it is probable that any type of stomach surgery, deficiency of stomach hydrochloric acid, iron deficiency, or other factors such as pregnancy or aging, and most particularly, intestinal disorders, can cause a failure in the secretion of the ”intrinsic factor”.
The small intestine is divided into three parts: the duodenum, the jejunum and its terminal end, the ileum. It is a matter of important information that the ileum is also the location where Crohn’s disease occurs. Now, to those of you who experience this dreadful condition known as Crohn’s disease (sometimes referred to as Regional ileitis; or Regional enteritis), this information becomes significant for you to know because the ileum is also where the B12 receptor sites are located. If there is any disease in the small intestine’s ileum, no vitamin B12 absorption can, or will, take place. Crohn’s disease patients are very susceptible to the ravages of B12 deficiency and all that it involves . For all these reasons (and others), about 40% of the U.S. population is vitamin B12 deficient.
The “good news” to this is that when taking sublingual B12, it does not matter whether or not you have any “intrinsic factor”, or Crohn’s disease for that matter. The fact is that sublingual B12 is the best B12 supplement for many people, because it will be absorbed directly into the bloodstream, thus by-passing any dependency on stomach hydrochloric acid or the production of the “intrinsic factor”. It is not difficult to realize the remarkable importance of this product.
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