Water-soluble vitamins
Vitamin B12
Nerves · red blood cells
Myelin synthesis, red blood cell production, methylation cycle.
Forms to avoid
Not all Vitamin B12 forms absorb equally well. The following forms are commonly used because they're cheap, but their bioavailability is materially lower than alternatives — watch for them on supplement labels:
- cyanocobalamin
Formulate's product scoring penalizes these forms when they appear as the primary Vitamin B12 source — see the methodology page for the rubric.
How Vitamin B12 appears on labels
Supplement labels list Vitamin B12 under several names depending on the chemical form used. Any of these on an ingredients panel counts toward your Vitamin B12 intake:
- vitamin b12
- vitamin b-12
- cobalamin
- cyanocobalamin
- methylcobalamin
- hydroxocobalamin
- adenosylcobalamin
Deep dive
For mechanism of action, dosing protocols, evidence grade, and interaction warnings on Vitamin B12, see the full encyclopedia entry:
Hydroxocobalamin Acetate encyclopedia entry →Related water-soluble vitamins
Track your full intake
Formulate's free desktop app aggregates Vitamin B12 (and ~40 other nutrients) across every supplement in your stack — flagging underdoses, overlaps, and upper-limit overshoots in one view.
Get the appMedical disclaimer. This page is educational and does not replace advice from a qualified healthcare provider. Targets and upper limits are general adult reference values; individual needs vary by age, sex, pregnancy status, and clinical context.