Dried Purple Laver (Nori) as a Food Source of Vitamin B12 in Vegetarians

Fu Jen Catholic University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Vitamin B 12 Deficiency

Treatments: Other: Dried purple laver (Nori)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05614960

FuJenCU

Details and patient eligibility

About

This is an intervention study aiming to understand the bioavailability of vitamin B12 from nori for vegetarians.

Full description

Thirty vegetarian participants will be randomly assigned to one of three intervention arms: (1) 5g of nori (4 sheets, containing 2.4μg vitamin B12), (2) 8g nori (7 sheets, containing 4μg vitamin B12), (3) control group (no nori). At baseline and end of 4 weeks, participants will be measured on serum vitamin B12, methylmalonic acid, holotranscobalamin, homocysteine and folate.

Enrollment: 30 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 20 to 60 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Vegetarians (including vegan, ovo-vegetarian, lacto-vegetarian, lacto-ovo vegetarian)
• Duration of the vegetarian diet: at least 1 year
• Aged 20-60 years old
• Have not taken vitamin B12 or folate supplement within 1 year
• Willing to adhere to study intervention and be tested for vitamin B12 related biomarkers.
• Familiar with LINE application on smartphone

Exclusion criteria

• Any disease or surgery that affects the vitamin B12 status (Pernicious anemia, Gastrointestinal disease and surgery, Pancreatic diseases, Chronic kidney disease)
• Hyperthyroidism
• Previous adverse reaction to nori
• Have taken antacid or metformin in the past 1 week
• Alcoholic and not willing to abstinence from alcoholic beverages

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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30 participants in 3 patient groups

2.4μg vitamin B12

Experimental group

Description:

Participants need to consume 4 sheets (5g) of dried purple laver (Nori) daily for 4 weeks.

Treatment:

Other: Dried purple laver (Nori)

4μg vitamin B12

Experimental group

Description:

Participants need to consume 7 sheets (8g) of dried purple laver (Nori) daily for 4 weeks.

Treatment:

Other: Dried purple laver (Nori)

Control

No Intervention group

Description:

No intervention