Vitamin B12 could boost tissue repair, help treat ulcerative colitis

Medical News Today Article By Corrie Pelc on November 23, 2023 — Fact checked by Kelsey Costa, MS, RDN

Tissue regenerationTrusted Source — also commonly referred to as regenerative medicine — is the process of reconstructing damaged tissues and organs in the body to heal or replace them.

These tissues and organs could have been injured through aging, trauma, disease, or congenital defects.

The area of regenerative medicine is still new and experimental. ResearchersTrusted Source are looking at ways to use tissue regeneration in the treatment of diseases like heartTrusted Source injuries and disease, bone fracturesTrusted Source, cartilage diseasesTrusted Source, pancreatitisTrusted Source, and inflammatory bowel diseaseTrusted Source.

Now researchers from the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Spain report evidence suggesting that vitamin B12 plays an important role in cellular reprogramming and tissue regeneration.

The findings were recently published in the journal Nature MetabolismTrusted Source.

Scientists tested their theory in a model of ulcerative colitis — a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) — showing that intestinal cells trying to repair themselves would benefit from vitamin B12 supplementation.

Why look at vitamin B12?

According to Dr. Manuel Serrano, a researcher at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Spain during the time of the study — who has recently moved to Altos Labs in the United Kingdom — and co-lead author of this study, they decided to study the impact of vitamin B12 on cellular reprogramming and tissue regeneration after an unexpected finding when they analyzed how the microbial populations of the colon change during reprogramming.

“The microbiota of mammals is in equilibrium with the host,” Dr. Serrano explained to Medical News Today. “If the host metabolism changes, it affects the microbiota and vice versa. We found that during reprogramming in mice, the microbiota presented changes indicative of a shortage of [vitamin] B12. [Vitamin] B12 is essential for mammals and also for bacteria.”

Past research shows vitamin B12 assists the body with repair, such as stimulating neurological tissues needed for restoring musclesTrusted Source or after nerves are damaged, such as by traumatic brain injuryTrusted Source.

Vitamin B12 has also been shown to play a protective role in bone healthTrusted Source.

And a study published in August 2022 found that vitamin B12 can help repair and regenerate skin damaged by radiodermatitisTrusted Source, a side effect of radiotherapy in cancer treatment.

Vitamin B12 and tissue regeneration

Using both mouse and cultured cell models, the researchers found that vitamin B12 supplementation increased the efficiency of cell reprogramming, which is considered to be an early stage of tissue repair.

Dr. Marta Kovatcheva, a researcher at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Spain and co-lead author of this study, explained to MNT how vitamin B12 assists with cellular reprogramming and tissue regeneration.

“[Vitamin] B12 is involved in just two metabolic reactions in mammals — including mice and humans — and one of these reactions is critical to [producing)] a chemical tag, more technically ‘a methyl donorTrusted Source’,” she told us. “This chemical group is used to ‘tag’ many regulatory proteins of the DNA and the DNA itself, and in doing so, the activity of the DNA is modified — the DNA is ‘reprogrammed’.”

“This ‘tagging’ is very complex and dynamic and, although not yet fully understood, it is key for determining the behavior of cells, including their ability to repair or regenerate tissue,” Dr. Kovatcheva detailed.

“During critical periods, such as upon injury, cells require massive amounts of the ‘methyl tag’ and therefore of B12. It is so much so that despite a normal healthy diet, mice undergoing reprogramming suffer partial B12 deficiency. Supplementation with B12 facilitates reprogramming and tissue repair — it occurs faster and more widespread.”

– Dr. Marta Kovatcheva

Treatment for ulcerative colitis and beyond

Drs. Serrano and Kovatcheva also led their team through testing their vitamin B12 theory on a mouse model of ulcerative colitis.

Researchers found that intestinal cells initiating repair undergo a process similar to cellular reprogramming, which could benefit from vitamin B12 supplementation. And they reported vitamin B12 supplementation accelerated tissue repair in the mouse model of ulcerative colitis.

Both scientists believe these findings may open new doors for regenerative medicine.

“B12 supplementation is simple, inexpensive, and safe,” Dr. Serrano commented. “I would be very curious to know how this affects, for example, the recovery of surgery patients.”

“There are diseases that could also benefit, such as colon ulcers,” Dr. Kovatcheva added. “In theory, every disease that involves an active process of injury could benefit from this. But of course, this will require proper clinical tests.”

Dr. Serrano was also part of anotherTrusted Source recently published study on vitamin B12, this one looking at the vitamin’s potential health benefits in lowering inflammation.

“In this study, led by Prof. Rosa Lamuela and Ramon Estruch from the University of Barcelona, we found that elevated levels of B12 in the blood of volunteers were associated with lower levels of inflammatory markers,” Dr. Serrano explained.

“These inflammatory markers reflect the existence of ongoing injuries and damages that may occur on a very local scale. The association between high B12 and low inflammation is in agreement with the idea that high B12 helps the body to resolve and repair tissue damage,” he added.