Media Releases and Opportunities

When people need a boost of vitamin B12, they can turn to supplements or foods like fish to get those nutrients that are essential for healthy red blood cells and converting food into energy. But where does vitamin B12 in the ocean come from and how does it make its way into the seafood on our plates?

Researchers at Dalhousie University and the Bedford Institute of Oceanography (BIO) are addressing that question in a new study that examines how vitamins, including vitamin B12, are produced in the ocean and supplied to all marine life.

They analyzed five years of ocean samples from the Scotian Shelf to better understand the abundance and seasonal availability of B-vitamins in marine ecosystems, their impact on the food chain and the ocean's ability to supply vitamins to humans.

The team found that vitamin B12 content varies seasonally, peaking during the spring phytoplankton bloom when B12 becomes enriched in plankton biomass, followed by a decline in the fall. The study, which is the biggest data set on B-vitamins in the ocean, also revealed that there may be periods when there is less vitamin B12 in the ocean than many organisms need.

Senior author Dr. Erin Bertrand, Canada Research Chair in Marine Microbial Proteomics at Dalhousie, and Dr. Catherine Bannon, now a post-doctoral Fellow at Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Germany, are available to discuss the study and how rising ocean temperatures could reduce the abundance of vitamins in surface waters and, as a result, the nutritional content of seafood.

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Media contact:

Alison Auld
Senior Research Reporter
Dalhousie University
902-220-0491
alison.auld@dal.ca