I have to agree with Nancy on this one: it ain't quite that simple!!!

I first got a blood test done in late 2006: my iron was low and I had a low red blood cell count. I started low-carbing in May 2007 and began eating red meat again with a vengeance!!! I confidently expected that my blood work would reflect this when I had my next test done about a year later, but was disappointed: there was virtually no improvement!!!

What I didn't know then, but have since discovered, is that I was probably already gluten intolerant at that point, but didn't have any noticeable symptoms (they came much later) and I was therefore not absorbing the iron in the meat very well.

What's more, I have been eating plenty of B12-rich foods since May 2007, too, but this didn't affect my B12 level, either: they went down regardless, again probably due to the gluten intolerance, but possibly due to pernicious anaemia.

Low stomach acid can also complicate matters, which means that many of us older folk - after about the age of 40 your stomach acid levels decline - have steadily declining B-12 levels, too, as we age. If we aren't informed, we might just put down various deficiency symptoms to ageing and blithely accept our ailments, instead of supplementing.

amanda