B12: Bananas or supplements?!
SO. How do you get your B12? Do you take vegan vitamin supplements or eat bananas??
Answers: I remembered someone mentioning on Y!A that vegetarians & vegans are B12 deficient and take vitamins for it. I thought to myself: "hang on... I'm SURE that when I was a kid I learned that B12 was in bananas".
SO. How do you get your B12? Do you take vegan vitamin supplements or eat bananas??
First of all, the majority of B12 deficiency cases in N. America are in meat eaters. Did everyone know that? No, apparently not. I don't even think vegetarian/vegan cases are large enough to fit into the statistic.
Now, B12 is found all over the place. The most important thing about B12 (and all other vitamins) is this "reliable sources". That is, if a scientist test 100 oranges, and only 20 register as having B12, then this is not a reliable source.
It's all science and statistics -- with are also unreliable.
See, B12 can be found in a person's mouth and intestines too. But these are also unreliable because every person is different, as is every orange.
Now, B12 is basically found in bacteria poop. Where do you find bacteria? Everywhere. But, as a food source, you'd find it on the outer parts of fruits and veggies. Wash, peel, and cook those, and you are not reducing the B12 content. B12 can be found quite reliably in dirt, but who eats dirt or dirty food these days? Not many people. Everything is clean clean clean. Well water has also been a source in the past.
So, basically, the most "reliable" places one can find B12 are in a healthy digestive tract, and in fermented foods that have not been cooked or pasteurized etc. Some popular products in N. America are miso, tempeh, natto, etc. Real pickles (those not made with vinegar or cooked etc.) or sauerkraut etc. may also be reliable sources. Nutritional yeast is a good thing to add to one's diet too. Also, so called "probiotic" foods will help with improving ones digestive system.
But, go ahead, and talk to lifetime vegans from other countries and they take no vitamins or supplements etc. I was talking to a live long vegan from India (on the net) the other week and he said that in India a 100% vegetarian (vegan) diet is seen as a complete diet; not lacking in anything -- so they don't need to take any B12 or any other vitamins, and after many years of life this guy is still alive, and so are millions of other life long vegans there. Vegetarianism is an ancient practise in other parts of the world -- it's only seen as some kind of weird hippie thing in N. America.
If you are worried about B12, you can also take some spirulina. It has B12 and is vegan.
But, you should also consider thing that hinder B12 absorptions, and hinder the growth of the good bacteria in the intestinal tract. Antibiotics are notorious for ruining people's digestive flora and allowing the bad bacteria to flourish. After using antibiotics one must really focus on reestablishing their flora with probiotic supplements and foods etc. It took my wife a year to feel better and perhaps two or more to feel recovered. But, doctors give out antibiotic meds like crazy never telling people of such side effects.
So, I get B12 from what I eat. I take no vitamins. I just try to eat healthy. I do not eat 'vegetarian' foods that have been fortified with B12 such as tofu dogs etc. These things are just too expensive. I do include nutritional yeast in my diet and sometimes spirulina, and include miso quite regularly -- it's our favourite item to use to flavour our food with.
So, B12 IS in and ON bananas, it's just not a reliable source. It's also mostly on the outer skin, but you would find more B12 on a nicely ripened banana (i.e. brownish skin) than you would on a green or yellow banana that hasn't started to break down yet. So, are the scientists testing green, yellow, or ripe bananas? Are they testing organic or non-organic bananas? What is the tolerance of their "reliable source" test? These things make a difference.
I personally take supplements to make sure I get enough of everything I need. But for B12 I also eat plenty of yummy bitter greens.
Bananas are high in B6, but have no B12.
B12 comes from animal and bacterial sources; there are supplements.
I don't worry about that because I'm not vegan and I use dairy products (a source of B12).
Funny how you can get rated "bad answer" even though everything you say is correct.
To anyone who says bananas contain B12, show me where you got your information.
According to the Wiki:
Vitamin B-12 is naturally found in foods of animal origin including meat (especially liver and shellfish) and milk products. Animals, in turn, must obtain it directly or indirectly from bacteria, and these bacteria may inhabit a section of the gut which is posterior to the section where B-12 is absorbed. Thus, Herbivorous animals must either obtain B-12 from bacteria in their rumens, or (if fermenting plant material in the hindgut) by reingestion of cecotrope feces. Eggs are often mentioned as a good B-12 source, but they also contain a factor that blocks absorption.[20] Certain insects such as termites contain B-12 produced by their gut bacteria, in a manner analogous to ruminant animals. [21] An NIH Fact Sheet lists a variety of food sources of vitamin B-12.
Plants only supply B-12 to humans when the soil containing B-12-producing microorganisms has not been washed from them. Vegan humans who eat only washed vegetables and have minimal intake of feces must take special care to supplement their diets accordingly. According to the U.K. Vegan Society, the only reliable vegans sources of B-12 are foods fortified with B-12 (including some plant milks, some soy products and some breakfast cereals) and B-12 supplements.[22] Fortified breakfast cereals are a particularly valuable source of vitamin B-12 for vegetarians and vegans.
While lacto-ovo vegetarians usually get enough B-12 through dairy products, it may be found lacking in those practicing vegan diets who do not use multivitamin supplements or eat B-12 fortified foods, such as fortified breakfast cereals, fortified soy-based products, and fortified energy bars. Claimed sources of B-12 that have been shown through direct studies[22] of vegans to be inadequate or unreliable include, laver (a seaweed), barley grass, and human gut bacteria. People on a vegan raw food diet are also susceptible to B-12 deficiency if no supplementation is used[23]. However, the more alkaline intestines of vegans[citation needed] are better able to metabolize hydroxocobalamin, a more efficient cobalamin than cyanocobalamin.[citation needed]
The Vegan Society, the Vegetarian Resource Group and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, among others, recommend that vegans either consistently eat foods fortified with B-12 or take a daily or weekly B-12 supplement.[24][25][26]
bannanas are full of potassium & starch
Vegetarians do not need to worry about B12 - it's in dairy.
The only natural vegan source of B12 is microbes, including yeast. Artificial supplements are also available, of course.
lol. vegans and vegetarians aren't automatically b12 deficient. Anyone who eats ANY animal products (i.e. a lacto/ovo vegetarian) definitely isn't. A strict vegetarian or a vegan may be after years and years, but that's pretty tough considering most foods are fortified (whether they're vegan or omnivorous foods), and the body stores b12 for 20-30 years.
There are natural sources, i.e. nutritional yeast, blackstrap molasses, and a few others.
I take a vegetarian multi vitamin that has B12. I also drink rice & soy milk that is fortified with B12 among other things.
I take miso, tempeh, yeast flake for vitamin B 12.
Ya, I saw on the web that banana contains B12, but never realize that when I consume it. ^-^
B12 comes from bacterial sources. It is not found naturally in animals or plants (such as bananas)
Vegan sources of B12 include:
Fortified cereals, fortified soy/rice milks, meat substitutes/soy analogs, some brands of fortified brewer's & nutritional yeast (such as Red Star & Twinlab). Sea vegetables like seaweed, dried nori, & spirulina, may contain vitamin B12, but their content varies and may be unreliable, lactic acid fermented products such as like tempeh, msio, beer & sauerkraut, but their content as well varies and may be unreliable. Marmite also contains B12 (Cyanocobalamin).
Or if you choose you can take a supplement of B12, or if you are a vegetarian who still eats animals (eggs, dairy they are fortified in the animal feed so therefore in the product)
The vegans I know personally and me do not take B12 supplements, and are healthy. The vegans I read that take supplements tend to get depression.