A daily tablet worked for 23 of 26 people with pernicious anaemia
In pernicious anaemia the body stops making the protein that carries B12 across the gut wall. Twenty-six patients swallowed 1000 micrograms a day, and after a month 23 were no longer deficient.
What the study found
The pill worked even where the gut's B12 doorway is missing
In pernicious anaemia the body stops making intrinsic factor, the protein that carries B12 across the gut wall. Twenty-six patients with it swallowed 1000 micrograms of B12 a day. After one month, 23 of the 26 were no longer deficient.
The caveat · No one got injections to compare
Twenty-six people, one hospital, and no group given injections to compare against. Three of them did not respond. The dose works by seeping across the gut wall rather than through the missing transporter, so a run of missed days costs more than it would with a monthly injection.
What we don't know
Whether a swallowed B12 dose is enough when the gut cannot absorb it normally is still open. The support is 26 patients with no comparison group and three small trials rated low certainty: promising, not yet properly tested.