Duration: 2014 – 2016
Project partner: Universitätsklinikum des Saarlandes, Homburg; Zentrum für Labormedizin und Mikrobiologie, Essen
Funding: Logocos Naturkosmetik AG
Principle Investigator: B. Sc. Anne Siebert, Dr. Markus Keller
Study design
A pilot study carried out in 2011 with a vitamin B12-enriched toothpaste showed that the vitamin B12 status of vegetarian and vegan participants had improved significantly in some cases after a 5-week intervention period. However, it remained unclear whether the use of an appropriate toothpaste (or tooth gel) can also improve vitamin B12 status over a longer period.
Therefore, this interventional study investigated the effect of a vitamin B12-enriched tooth gel compared to a placebo tooth gel on various vitamin B12 blood parameters in vegans over an intervention period of 12 weeks. The study included 66 healthy adults who had been vegan for at least two years and had been on a vegetarian or vegan diet for at least three years prior to that. Blood samples were taken at the beginning and after the intervention and the concentrations of serum vitamin B12, holo-transcobalamin, methylmalonic acid and homocysteine were measured. The blood samples were taken at the respective study sites in Berlin, Essen, Giessen and Homburg/Saar, centralized in terms of time and location.
Publications
Siebert AK, Müller S, Awwad H, Sputtek A, Obeid R, Keller M (2016): Vitamin B-12-fortified toothpaste improves vitamin B-12 status markers in vegans: a 12-week placebo controlled study. in: VegMed – Scientific Congress for Vegetarian Nutrition and Medicine, Berlin, Germany, April 22-24. Abstracts. Forsch Komplementmed 23 (suppl 1), 1-13
Siebert AK, Müller S, Keller M (2016): Wirkung einer mit Vitamin B12 angereicherten Zahncreme auf den Vitamin-B12-Status von Veganern – erste Ergebnisse. In: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ernährung e.V. (Hrsg.): Abstractband zum 53. Wissenschaftlichen Kongress. Proc Germ Nutr Soc 21, 28
Siebert AK, Obeid R, Weder S, Awwad HM, Sputtek A, Geisel J, Keller M (2017): Vitamin B-12-fortified toothpaste improves vitamin status in vegans: a 12-wk randomized placebo-controlled study. Am J Clin Nutr 105 (3), 618-625