A thinned stomach lining is what fortified food cannot fix
Eating five or more portions of B12-fortified food a week went with better markers across 3,299 older adults. In the 15 percent whose stomach lining had thinned, it was not enough.
What the study found
Fortified foods helped everyone except the people who needed it
Eating five or more portions of B12-fortified food a week went with better B12 markers right across 3,299 older adults. In the 15 percent whose stomach lining had thinned, it was not enough to close the gap. That group ran 38 percent deficient, against 15 percent with neither risk factor.
The caveat · Thin lining inferred, not biopsied
This is an association measured at a single point in time, so it cannot show that the fortified food did the lifting. The thinned stomach lining was inferred from a blood ratio rather than confirmed by biopsy, so the group is drawn approximately.