Vitamin B12: The Growth Factor in Man

When Alice, in the rabbit hole, saw a cake with "EAT ME" written on it, she ate some of it; but she was no more astonished at suddenly growing to a height of seven feet than were the readers of a report in the magazine Science on the effect of vitamin B12, for it indicated that very small quantities of this vitamin are enough to give certain children the capacity for rapid growth.

Children, like the creatures of bacteria, have the property of growth. But the requirements of growth in the two are not usually alike. It is also known that vitamins and liver extracts have a great influence on human growth. And when the reports proved that vitamin B12 is wholly or partly responsible for the growth of the bacterium known as "Lactobacillus," its relation to human growth would not have seemed so astonishing had attention not been directed to the effect of this vitamin and its influence on living creatures.

Among the difficulties that hamper the determination of growth is the absence of instruments sensitive enough to register the extent of hidden internal growth. In one of the studies published in Science, an experiment was carried out on eleven children suffering from stunted growth, whether for nutritional reasons or because of an internal disease preventing the body from flourishing, especially in cases where weakness overcomes all the body's powers of resistance and its inclination to grow.

The scientists admit that the basic problem they encountered was not confined to measuring the increase or failure of growth; it was likewise impossible for them to resort to the same experiments used with animals, such as halting growth for a set period by means of medical diets. Nor could they renew the natural conditions in the lives of the sick individuals: they failed to shield them from the influence of their surroundings, from emotional influence, and from fatigue or rest, for these factors have an effect on the rate of growth that no effort can avert or prevent from retarding growth.

The scientists were obliged to demonstrate the effect of vitamin B12 on children's growth in cases where the strengthening of the child's growth had already begun, so that this effect would appear plainly and without any secondary phenomena. As the scientists said, the operation was a matter of "repairing what had already been repaired."

Five of these children who were treated were girls and the remaining six were boys, their ages ranging from five to twelve. All were patients in a Cleveland hospital. Three of them were chosen because of their evident stunted growth; the rest were taken from among seventy-six children under treatment for undernourishment and bodily weakness. As the medical expression puts it: not one of these children had attained the requirements of his growth in his childhood — that is, they had all failed to gain at the rate of one "level" per month, and so had lagged noticeably behind in their physical standard. The test says that these measurements, such as the "level," are entirely independent of the factors of sex, blood, weight, height, size, and shape, and of the factor of age up to the time of maturity and adulthood.

During long periods of observation in fresh-air camps, these children did not appear to be improving; they showed no initiative in overcoming weakness or recovering their health with the same speed expected of their like among the children of the camps set aside for that purpose.

In measuring the effect of vitamin B12, the child's weight and the monthly rate of weight gain are of no use. If a child's rate of growth is half a pound, for instance, we cannot equate it with a half pound by which another child's weight increased, since every child differs completely from another in weight, height, size, and shape. But a child's gaining a "level" of growth is counted a practical measure for all children, because the "level," as the experimenters say, is the rate of increase in any child's weight in a single month, regardless of his bodily qualifications.

Crystalline particles of vitamin B12 were given in a dose of ten micrograms daily — that is, one one-hundredth of a milligram — at the time of the child's early-morning feeding, and without any change in the child's daily schedule. If the child was accustomed to taking a large portion of rest, or to taking fortifying oil, he kept to this habit of his. Then they proceeded to measure the child's height and weight, unclothed, once a week at the time the vitamin was given him.

As for the response resulting from the single change in the child's schedule — that is, the addition of vitamin B12 — it was fantastic in five of the cases. Four of them showed a rate of increase of eight "levels" in eight weeks, while the fifth, a girl, gained five and a half "levels" in the same period; but she went on to outstrip her fellows within 208 days of treatment. These five cases proved the vitamin's speed in producing a visible effect by the third week.

In the cases of four of the children, the experiments indicated that their progress was clear, despite the small number of children and despite the medical limits imposed upon them.

One of the children was afflicted with a highly sensitive pulmonary inflammation, and the vitamin had a wondrous effect on him; for this child had been deprived for a whole year of sleeping and eating without disturbance — all because of the attacks of asthma known as crises. Then suddenly, in the very first week of his treatment with vitamin B12, all the symptoms of his illness disappeared. These results perplex the scientists themselves, and so they warn against the use of this wondrous vitamin before they have carried out broader and more comprehensive research.

Are there hidden faults in vitamin B12?

The practical results have shown that the effect of this vitamin amounted to an increase in bodily strength and activity and progress in general movement, together with a growing appetite for food. In nine of the cases, very slight symptoms appeared of weakness in the strength of the eyes, the skin, the hair, and the nervous system. As for the existence of a hidden fault in this vitamin, it is inconceivable; and experiment has proved that vitamin B12 is of no use in cases of weak blood, "Anemia," since in these the patient needs the internal intrinsic factor.

From the results of the test on children we conclude that this vitamin has an effective power. A quantity of 0.062 of a gram was used for each child over a period of eight weeks. One child showed a gain of five and a half "levels" in a period of eight weeks; in a second case the child gained nine and a half "levels" in the same period. This increase means that he grew a month and a half more than eight normal months.

Whatever the reason may be for failure to respond to this vitamin, the experiments have shown that the best method of measuring a child's growth is the "Grid" method, because it measures the inner workings hidden from the eyes.