(Excerpt from The Terrain is Everything by Suzin Stockton)

In his fascinating treatise, “To B12 or Not to B12,” David Yar­row asks the probing question, “Is this vanishing vitamin really a magnetic hormone?”

B12, isolated in 1948, is constructed from four basic life ele­ments, carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen, surrounding a cobalt atom. It is this mineral element that accounts for B12’s magnetism. Cobalt is one of three naturally magnetic elements. The other two are nickel and iron.

B12 plays an important role in red blood cell formation. Yarrow suggests that the donut shape of the red blood cells is “highly sugges­tive of a magnetic function” since this shape is consistent with mag­netic fields. He points out that the magnetic element iron forms the center of the hemoglobin molecule, just as cobalt forms the center of B12. He further suggests that the role of B12-cobalt is to “wind up the red cell magnetic field to activate iron’s magnetic function.” If such is the case, then iron cannot function properly in the absence of cobalt, for it will lack the requisite magnetic qualities to attract and bind oxygen. Oxygen, of course, is a basic necessity for life on this planet. Without it, cells cannot convert sugar to energy.

We can see then, how critical cobalt is to our very existence. And yet, the amount of the element needed for us to function opti­mally could fit on the head of a pin. The fact that Bl2 is needed only in minute amounts makes it more like a hormone than a vitamin. B12 is concentrated in the pineal gland of the body. This master endocrine gland sits atop the brain stem and is responsible for setting the time and rhythm of our hormonal ebb and flow. Secretions from the pineal gland are synchronized with the earth’s resonant frequency, between 7 and 10 hertz or cycles per second. It is through the antenna of this gland that we are tied into the energy of the planet.

Providing the body with either too little or too much of the vital magnetic factor cobalt will result in an electrolyte imbalance that will adversely affect all basic body functions and ultimately lead to disease conditions. Electrolytes are mineral salts, which are capable of conducting electricity when placed in solution. Electrolyte bal­ance is crucial in maintaining the body’s homeostatic mechanisms, which is a key factor in health maintenance. This balance, in turn, is dependent upon the presence of trace minerals such as cobalt in the environment.

We’ve been told that we get B12 only from animal sources. It’s true that carnivores get B12 by eating herbivores. The B12 itself, however, is produced only by bacteria found in soil, water and in the gut of ruminant animals. (Herbivores culture the microbe in a special stomach called the “rumen”). B12 bacteria are highly sensitive to pH shifts and can survive only in an alkaline environment. This fact provides the key to the decline — and near disappearance — of B12 in our environment. The key is to be found in the increasing acidification of our soils. The use of chemical fertilizers and the effects of acid rain have caused a decrease in soil and water pH, which has resulted in the die-off of bacteria necessary for the formation of B12. These soil bacteria or microorganisms are also necessary for the survival of all plant life, for they serve the vital function of breaking up and transmuting minerals for use by plants. When microorganisms disappear from the soil, so do minerals. Plants then starve. And ultimately so do we. Cobalt is one of the elements leached from our soils by acid rain and chemical fertilizers. According to Yarrow, both nickel and manganese can substitute for cobalt, forming false B12 analogues and increasing soil depletion of cobalt. When cobalt and other trace minerals are unavailable to plants due to decreased pH, those plants take up toxic metals, such as aluminum and lead, in place of those nutritive minerals.

Yarrow’s sobering conclusion is that B12 extinction is imminent, that its decline, along with that of trace minerals in our soils and geo-magnetism in the planet (a 50% drop in the earth’s magnetic field in the last 500 years), represents a significant threat to our survival. His words are reminiscent of the repeated warnings issued to the governments of the earth since the late 1960s by the late John D. Hamaker (see his book, written in conjunction with Don Weaver, The Survival of Civilization). This brilliant engineer/ecologist had a profound grasp of the interrelationship between planetary ecology, the health of the individual and the rise and fall of civilizations. He understood the link between agricultural practices, physical and mental health, weather patterns and earth changes. And he, like Yarrow, saw the disappearance of soil microbes as the basic threat to our survival. The bottom line is that if we do not return the minerals to the soil, then Mother Nature will do it for us. She’s done it before; in fact, does it in 100,000-year cycles and is, as per Hamaker’s predictions, in the process of doing it again.

The way Mother Nature re-mineralizes the earth is by ushering in an Ice Age. When glaciers tumble over the terrain, they break up rocks, providing food for microorganisms, which, in turn, transmute minerals for use by plants. Over time, rock decays, producing highly mineralized soil. The Ice Age begins when soil minerals are depleted. It lasts 90,000 years and is followed by 10,000 years of civilization. Soil erosion takes place gradually over this 10,000-year period, as such natural forces as wind and rain deplete the soil of minerals. Modern man has stepped up the timetable through his depletion and poisoning of the soils and grand-scale pollution of the atmosphere, so that we are now at the end of a 10,000-year inter-glacial period and on the brink of global catastrophe.

Our only hope for survival, according to Hamaker’s findings, lies in mobilizing the resources of all countries of the earth in a cooperative effort to re-mineralize the planet through the widespread use of “rock dust.” The discovery that ground up rock could re-mineralize the soil was made accidentally by a German, Dr. Julius Hensel, in the late 1800s. Hensel was apparently the last person, prior to Hamaker, to publicly advocate soil re-mineralization through the use of rock dust. This miller, turned soil scientist, had one day accidentally ground up some rocks with flour and disposed of the useless mixture in his garden. He later noted accelerated growth and improved quality in the plants. He went on to commercially produce “stone meal” and write up his findings in a book called Bread From Stones. Unfortunately, stone meal was forced off the market and Bread From Stones was suppressed and even removed from libraries.             

The opposition to Hensel’s work and attack on it was led by the chemical industry. They had a vested interest in suppressing the truths revealed by Hensel, for they had profited immensely from contrary findings made many years earlier by another German, Professor Justis Von Liebig.                 

In 1840, Von Liebig published The Organic Chemistry of Agriculture, wherein he claimed that certain elements, notably N, P and K (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium), should be added back to the soil to compensate for deficiencies and that acids would make the minerals more available to the plants.

Over the next ten years, the chemical companies started turning a handsome profit from sales of NPK fertilizers, widely used by farmers virtually everywhere to this day. Ironically, Von Liebig himself later realized the error of his teachings and officially published a re­traction in the Encyclopedia Britanica, wherein he stated that adding some minerals back to the soil was insufficient, that plants needed the full spectrum of mineral elements (which, of course, is supplied in rock dust). Unfortunately, Von Liebig’s revised findings were also suppressed, and they were omitted from subsequent editions of the Encyclopedia Britanica. Consequently, nutritionally incomplete acid chemical fertilizers, harmful to soil, continued to dominate in agricul­tural teaching and practice.

Today, altered soil pH, resulting from chemical fertilizers and acid rain, has hastened the demineralization of our soils and death of soil microorganisms. Two hundred years ago, our topsoil (the nutri­ent-rich ground cover) measured over three feet in depth. Today, we have less than six inches. The net result is sterile soil and malnourishment of all animals (including man) feeding off the products of the soil. Disease develops when enzyme systems are malfunctioning for lack of the mineral elements required to make enzymes. Among those minerals that are disappearing from the soil are the trace elements (such as cobalt) critical for electrolyte formation. The result is widespread electrolyte depletion, breakdown of homeostatic mechanisms and es­calation of the degenerative disease process. 

Mental, as well as physi­cal, health is adversely affected, for mineral deficiencies and the sub­sequent breakdown of enzyme systems result in depletion of brain chemicals that leads to behavioral abnormalities. As minerals and soil microorganisms disappear, plants become sick and die, releas­ing C02 into the atmosphere. Dead forests burn easily. Forest fires result in oxidation of large quantities of atmospheric nitrogen, a major component of acid rain. The resulting “greenhouse effect” in­creases global warming — initially. What Hamaker taught us is that, in the long run, large-scale evaporation of waters from tropical oceans will result in massive cloud coverage, blocking the warmth of the sun and increasing precipitation, and ultimately glaciation. Accord­ing to Hamaker, “It’s too late for soil “conservation:”

The money spent on conservation has been wasted because no one can conserve the soil and water but the microorganisms... The only answer is to make sure that the soil contains an abundance of available elements from the total natural mixture, and let the microorganisms pick and choose what they want, so that the natural balance of nutrients comes up through the plant life to us.

Hamaker’s message fell on the deaf ears of world govern­ments, but some among their peoples have heard his message and taken action. For more information on what is being done, what needs to be done and how to avert glaciation, I would recommend subscribing to Remineralize the Earth, a magazine that is published three times yearly (413-586-4429, www.remineralize.org).

On a personal level, to compensate for the lack of minerals in our soils (and consequently in our foods), supplementation is recom­mended. Be aware, however, that many supplements can perpetuate or increase, rather than correct, imbalance by providing too much of certain elements, especially toxic ones. Also, minerals are often provided in forms that are not well utilized by the body. Therefore, I recommend emphasizing organic whole food supplements.

From the specific question of B12 scarcity to threat of global catastrophe, soil microorganisms are the common denominator. In the words of David Yarrow, “It’s a grand irony that human survival may depend on a lowly microbe.”

Information on this site is for educational purposes only and is not to be construed as medical advice.  If you have a medical or dental condition,  please consult an appropriate health care provider.