Too much vitamin B12 may cause acne

I first paid attention to vitamin B12 when my friend was touting it as a hangover cure. As it turns out, vitamin B12 is a bit more important than just stopping a headache after drinking alcohol. This vitamin is important for proper functioning of the brain, the formation of blood, among many other functions.  A recent study also found that when we have too much vitamin B12, it may be affecting our skin microbiome in a negative way causing acne. Many people have said that taking B12 has given them acne; however, there had been little research into why this happened. Scientists at UCLA investigated this and published their results in Science Translational Medicine. 

The team of investigators studied the skin bacteria of individuals with severe acne and those without and looked at the gene expression patterns. They found that people taking B12 supplements ended up with higher levels of the vitamin in their skin. They found that this resulted in Propionibacterium acnes, the bacteria implicated in acne, to lower its own production of B12, which is important for performing normal functions. This imbalance resulted in the production of porphyrins, a molecule that is implicated in inflammation and possibly resulting in acne formation.

As with all things microbiome and the human body, it’s important to have a positive equilibrium. Just last night I was speaking with a friend who is undergoing significant microbiome troubles since travelling to Africa in March. When she returned she had major stomach problems and was told to take a course of ciprofloxacin that only worsened her symptoms. She now finds herself with severe vitamin B12 deficiency and anecdotally she mentions slight memory loss, a common symptom of B12 deficiency. Like everything in our body, it’s important to find that middle ground and those with acne shouldn’t yet be starving themselves of vitamin B12. This study did not prove that too much B12 causes acne and in fact other studies have shown that the vitamin has anti-inflammatory effects. More work will be needed to show if this is in fact causal and if new treatments for acne can be designed using this new information about vitamin B12. 

Changes in the microbiome may affect how we age

Betty White has aged so well because of her microbiome.  Photo by David Shankbone, 2010

Many people have researched the microbiome shift between infancy and adolescence, but very few have researched the changes in the microbiome that occur in the elderly.  A new study out of Canada, published in the Journal Microbiome, did just that.  Their results show that the frailty associated with old-age may be related to the bacteria in our guts.

The study used groups of mice that were either young, middle aged, or old.  They then measured the frailty of these mice which, as one would expect, was tied closely with age.  The researchers then studied the microbiome of these mice, as well as the genes expressed by the bacteria, so as to gain an understanding of what the bacteria are actually doing.

The scientists discovered that, when compared to young and middle aged mice, the old mice were abundant in bacteria that could break down simple sugars, but were underrepresented in bacteria that could break down more complex sugars, as well as lactate.  This is important because increased lactate in the stool has been associated with ulcerative colitis and other inflammatory bowel diseases in older humans.  The old age mice also consisted of less bacteria that could produce vitamins B12 and B7.  Both are important vitamins and the lack of B7 has been linked to colon cancer.  Finally, the old-age mice had bacteria that would rapidly degade creatine.  Creatine is known to build muscle, so constantly breaking it down may cause the decrease in muscle mass observed in the elderly.

Clearly there are changes in the microbiome as we age, and these changes must come with some consequences.  As the authors of this paper suggest, perhaps the microbiome holds to key to the difference between aging like a fine wine and aging like moldy cheese.