Methylcobalamin or cyanocobalamin: which form of vitamin B12 is best, and why we chose MecobalActive®

Ingredient · Vitamin B12 at Health Royals · 7 min read

Methylcobalamin is a coenzyme form of vitamin B12 the body uses directly. Cyanocobalamin is the stable, long-established form the body converts. Both raise vitamin B12 status, and the choice comes down to the raw material. Health Royals chose methylcobalamin as MecobalActive® from HealthTech BioActives in Spain, 10 µg a day in Peak Performance Formula, because a light-sensitive form needs a defined raw material with documented stability for the label to be true.

On the label of almost every multivitamin, vitamin B12 appears in one of two forms. Methylcobalamin, the newer of the two, is usually described as the active form, and it is worth knowing what that means.

Here we go through what the two forms are, what the comparisons found, what MecobalActive® is and who makes it, and how we reasoned at Health Royals when we gave Peak Performance, our daily multivitamin for women with omega 3 from algae, 10 µg of methylcobalamin. The signs of low vitamin B12, the blood tests and who actually runs low have their own article.

Vitamin B12 at Health Royals

Peak Performance, our daily multivitamin for women, provides 10 µg of vitamin B12 per daily dose as methylcobalamin from MecobalActive®, 400 percent of the EU nutrient reference value of 2.5 µg, alongside 200 µg of folate as Quatrefolic® 5-MTHF. Niacin and vitamin B12 contribute to normal energy-yielding metabolism, and niacin, folate and vitamin B12 contribute to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue.

See Peak Performance, multivitamin for women with omega 3

What is vitamin B12, and what does it do?

Vitamin B12 is cobalamin, a water-soluble vitamin built around a single cobalt atom. What sits on that atom gives each form its name.

No form is used as swallowed. Inside the cell, whatever was attached is removed and the molecule is rebuilt into the two coenzyme forms the enzymes work with: methylcobalamin, which converts homocysteine into methionine with a methyl group delivered by folate, and adenosylcobalamin, which works in the mitochondria in a step of the energy pathway.

The EU has authorised precise statements about vitamin B12, and they are the ones we use. Vitamin B12 contributes to normal energy-yielding metabolism, to the normal function of the nervous system, to normal red blood cell formation, to normal homocysteine metabolism, to normal psychological function, to the normal function of the immune system and to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue.

Methylcobalamin or cyanocobalamin: which form of vitamin B12 is best?

For raising vitamin B12 status, both work, so the decision comes down to what else the form brings with it.

Cyanocobalamin carries a cyano group on the cobalt atom. It does not occur in food, it is very stable, and the body removes the group and rebuilds the molecule into the coenzyme forms.

Methylcobalamin carries a methyl group and is itself one of the two coenzyme forms, which is what active form means on a label. It is more sensitive to light and heat, which makes it more demanding to manufacture and to keep stable until the last capsule in the jar.

What the research shows is enough to choose on. Both forms raise vitamin B12 status. Methylcobalamin is the form the enzyme uses, with nothing to remove first, and the one thing to be careful about is stability. That is a question about the raw material, not the form, and it is where our own selection started.

What is MecobalActive®, and who makes it?

MecobalActive® is a defined methylcobalamin raw material from HealthTech BioActives, HTBA, a specialist manufacturer of vitamin ingredients in Spain, produced to a set specification with documented identity, purity and stability.

The value of MecobalActive® is a named material with a known manufacturer, stability data we can read, and traceability all the way to our jar.

With this vitamin that matters more than usual. Methylcobalamin is light sensitive, and the 2023 review by Temova Rakuša and colleagues in Molecules, on vitamin B12 in foods, supplements and medicines with a focus on stability, shows how much depends on how the vitamin is handled and stored. Ten micrograms is 0.01 milligrams in a capsule with far larger amounts of other ingredients, and it has to be there in every daily dose until the jar is empty. A defined raw material from a manufacturer that documents its stability is how we make sure the figure on the label is the amount you actually take. Health Royals works with specialist manufacturers, researchers and supplier networks when raw materials are selected, as we explain in branded ingredients.

Why does Peak Performance contain 10 µg of vitamin B12?

Because it is a nutritional amount with a margin for how vitamin B12 is absorbed.

The reference points are clear. The EU nutrient reference value used on labels is 2.5 µg a day, and the adequate intake EFSA set for adults in 2015 is 4 µg. Vitamin B12 is water soluble, and no upper intake level has been set, because no harm has been identified from high intakes.

Absorption is what makes 10 rather than 2.5 the sensible number. Vitamin B12 is taken up in the last part of the small intestine bound to intrinsic factor, a protein made in the stomach, and that route has a small capacity per dose: roughly half of a 1 µg dose is absorbed, and at a couple of micrograms the route is full. Beyond that, about one percent of the dose crosses passively. So the fraction absorbed falls steeply as the dose rises, and the amount taken up grows far more slowly than the number on the label, the relationship the 2024 study by Kashyap and colleagues in Nutrients measured in healthy adults.

Ten micrograms therefore gives a clear daily contribution, with margin, without being a figure chosen for its size. Very high oral doses belong to the treatment of diagnosed deficiency under a doctor's supervision, a different purpose. For us, the dose is as important as the raw material.

Which foods contain vitamin B12, and who needs to think about it?

Vitamin B12 is made by bacteria, not by plants or animals, and it reaches the diet through animal foods, where it accumulates: liver, shellfish, oily fish such as salmon, mackerel and herring, then meat, eggs, milk, cheese and yoghurt. Plant foods contain essentially none unless it has been added, so fortified plant drinks and breakfast cereals are the practical exceptions.

Two groups need to think about it. Anyone eating a vegan diet, or a vegetarian diet with little egg and dairy, has no reliable source without fortified foods or a supplement. And absorption is a chain, from stomach acid to intrinsic factor to uptake in the ileum, and every link can weaken: stomach acid production tends to fall with age, and acid-suppressing medicines and long-term metformin use are associated with lower vitamin B12 levels in some people. For both, a daily amount with a margin above the reference value is a sensible habit.

If you suspect that your level is low, a blood test through your doctor gives the answer. We go through the signs, the tests and the groups that actually run low in B12 deficiency: the signs, the tests and who actually runs low.

Why does vitamin B12 sit next to folate in Peak Performance?

Because the two vitamins work in the same reaction, and because a daily multivitamin for women should cover both.

Vitamin B12 and folate both contribute to normal homocysteine metabolism, and in the methionine synthase reaction neither works without the other. In Peak Performance the 10 µg of methylcobalamin therefore sits with 200 µg of folate as Quatrefolic® 5-MTHF from Gnosis by Lesaffre, the form the body uses without conversion, covered in folate, the smart form of vitamin B9. Folate is also one of the nutrients where Swedish intakes more often land below the reference values, as we set out in what Riksmaten shows.

Thiamin 1.1 mg and niacin 16 mg sit at the reference intake. Niacin and vitamin B12 contribute to normal energy-yielding metabolism, and niacin, folate and vitamin B12 contribute to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue. Thiamin contributes to normal energy-yielding metabolism and to the normal function of the nervous system. Alongside them sit vitamin D3 25 µg as Quali-D®, vitamin K2 90 µg as MenaQ7®, selenium 27.5 µg, zinc 5 mg as L-OptiZinc®, chromium 20 µg, OMEGATEX® algal oil providing 375 mg of omega 3, Hytolive® olive fruit extract providing 15 mg of hydroxytyrosol, and Extramel® melon extract 10 mg. That is what we mean by fewer jars, more thought: every ingredient with a reason to be there, at a dose we can explain, from a manufacturer we can name.

We have done the selection so that you do not have to. Peak Performance gives you 10 µg of vitamin B12 as MecobalActive® methylcobalamin every day, with folate as Quatrefolic®, vitamin D3, K2 and omega 3 from algae. You can stop looking.

See Peak Performance, multivitamin for women with omega 3

Go deeper

• Guide: wellbeing from within
• B12 deficiency: the signs, the tests and who actually runs low
• Folate, the smart form of vitamin B9
• Branded ingredients: what the name actually guarantees
• Vitamin B1 and the first steps of cellular energy
• Vitamin B3 and the chemistry of everyday energy
• The biology of stress, sleep and recovery
• Why we use capsules and not powders

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between methylcobalamin and cyanocobalamin?
Both raise vitamin B12 status. Methylcobalamin is a coenzyme form the body uses directly, and cyanocobalamin is a stable form the body converts. Health Royals chose methylcobalamin as MecobalActive® for the raw material's identity, purity and documented stability.

What is MecobalActive®?
A defined methylcobalamin raw material from HealthTech BioActives, HTBA, in Spain, with documented identity, purity and stability.

How much vitamin B12 does Peak Performance provide, and why 10 µg?
10 µg per daily dose, 400 percent of the EU nutrient reference value of 2.5 µg. The intrinsic factor route is full at a couple of micrograms and about one percent of the rest crosses passively, so 10 µg gives a clear daily contribution with margin, at a nutritional level.

Do vegans need a vitamin B12 supplement?
Unfortified plant foods contain essentially no usable vitamin B12, so a vegan diet needs either fortified foods or a supplement for a reliable intake.

What should I do if I suspect a vitamin B12 deficiency?
Ask your doctor for a blood test. Diagnosed deficiency is treated by a doctor, and a daily supplement is a nutritional intake.

References

National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements. Vitamin B12: Fact Sheet for Health Professionals.

EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies. Scientific Opinion on Dietary Reference Values for cobalamin, vitamin B12. EFSA Journal. 2015.

Kashyap, S.; et al. The Oral Bioavailability of Vitamin B12 at Different Doses in Healthy Adults. Nutrients. 2024.

Green, R.; Allen, L.H.; Bjørke-Monsen, A.L.; et al. Vitamin B12 deficiency. Nature Reviews Disease Primers. 2017.

Obeid, R.; Fedosov, S.N.; Nexo, E. Cobalamin coenzyme forms are not likely to be superior to cyano- and hydroxyl-cobalamin in prevention or treatment of cobalamin deficiency. Molecular Nutrition & Food Research. 2015.

Temova Rakuša, Ž.; Roškar, R.; Hickey, N.; Geremia, S. Vitamin B12 in foods, food supplements and medicines: a review of its role and properties with a focus on stability. Molecules. 2023.

Important information

This article is general information, not medical advice. Food supplements do not replace a varied diet and a healthy lifestyle, and the recommended daily dose should not be exceeded. If you suspect vitamin B12 deficiency, have persistent symptoms, are pregnant or breastfeeding, have a medical condition, have had gastrointestinal surgery or take medication, speak to a qualified healthcare professional. Do not stop or change prescribed treatment on the basis of this article.