Are you peeved by the amount of misinformation about B12? / If it's only in animal foods, how did they get it?!

The vast majority of vegan societies acknowledge the need for supplementation.

Here's how B-12 works: it comes from bacteria. Many animals produce it in their own guts and then re-absorb it. Ruminants are especially good at this. Humans also produce it in our guts. Unfortunately, it appears towards the end of our digestive tracts and we usually poop before we can absorb it. The other way that animals get it is by eating contaminated foods. For example, cows that live outside and eat grass usually have a higher B-12 content than grain-fed cows because they are getting the contamination from the poop and dirt when they graze.

You probably could do okay if you were eating dirty food, but I would not suggest it for safety reasons. Better play it safe and take a supplement.

The vegan Society, VeganHealth, VRG, the VeganRD, every reliable vegan source on the web says vegans SHOULD SUPPLEMENT FOR B12.

Animals make B12. Humans make B12, but we are what's called hind gut fermenters and can't use the B12 we make.

B12 is cobalt. Cobalt is in the soil. You can go out and eat all the soil you want, but you cannot convert it to B12. A simple fact. Grasses can pick up the cobalt, animals eat the grass, the bacteria in their guts convert it to B12 and they store it in their flesh. I get it when I eat their flesh.

Are you possibly calling the Vegan Society ignorant? Or VeganHealth? Or VRG? They agree with me that if you don't eat animal products, you should supplement with B12 pills, shots or eat the manufactured B12 added to highly processed foods. You know, a "natural" diet.

The vegansociety: "Vitamin B12 - Readily available in fortified foods such as yeast extract, soya milk, breakfast cereal and margarine. Alternatively a supplement can be provided. Daily amount: 3 micrograms." SUPPLEMENT!

VeganHealth: "..The overwhelming consensus in the mainstream nutrition community, as well as among vegan health professionals, is that plant foods do not provide vitamin B12, and fortified foods or supplements are necessary for the optimal health of vegans, and even vegetarians in many cases..." SUPPLEMENT!

VRG: "A number of reliable vegan food sources for vitamin B12 are known. One brand of nutritional yeast, Red Star T-6635+, has been tested and shown to contain active vitamin B12. This brand of yeast is often labeled as Vegetarian Support Formula with or without T-6635+ in parentheses following this new name. It is a reliable source of vitamin B12. Nutritional yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is a food yeast, grown on a molasses solution, which comes as yellow flakes or powder. It has a cheesy taste. Nutritional yeast is different from brewer’s yeast or torula yeast. those sensitive to other yeasts can often use it." SUPPLEMENT!

http://sci.waikato.ac.nz/farm/content/an…

They get it from symbiotic bacteria. But it isn't only in animals, it's also in algae.

Edit: Isn't it funny when a caveman hunter gatherer thinks they understand current information?

Here is the scientific research which shows that B12 is abundant in sea vegetables such as nori:

"As bioavailability of the algal vitamin B12 is not clear in humans, my colleagues and I characterized corrinoid compounds to determine whether the dried purple and green lavers and eukaryotic microalgae (Chlorella sp. and Pleurochrysis carterae) used for human food supplements contain vitamin B12 or inactive corrinoids. My colleagues and I found that these edible algae contain a large amount of vitamin B12 without the presence of inactive corrinoids. Rauma et al. also reported that vegans consuming nori and/or chlorella had a serum vitamin B12 concentration twice as high as those not consuming these algae." (WATANABE (2007). Vitamin B12 Sources and Bioavailability. Exp Biol Med 232(10):1266-74.)

vegan biologist

No because as "Daisy" posts it, it happens to be true. From the Vegan Resource Group, all the supposedly viable vegan sources of b12( with the exception of yeast) have been found to be inadequate if at all. Tempeh, sea vegetables, miso are some of the foods that vegans always claim to be good sources of the vitamin but were scientifically proved to be inadequate and practically non existent. (cannot be absorbed by the human system).

The current vegan style diet is as disconnected from the "naturally designed human diet" as factory farming is because modern diets tend to be sanitized and aseptic to the point of nutrient loss in many cases. B12, produced by bacteria can be found in non supplemented vegetarian/vegan foods if kept uncleaned/unwashed.

By the way in case you are not aware, the b12 used to supplement vegan food (and non vegan food) such as soy milk or juices is derived from GMO bacteria. Frankengerms you might want to call them.

Yes you are right, vegans have a lot of misinformation when it comes to B12.

Vitamin B12 is found primarily in meat, dairy products and eggs and is absent from plant foods. Considerable research has been carried out into possible plant sources of B12. Fermented soya products, seaweeds and algae such as spirulina have all been proposed as containing significant amounts of B12. However, the present consensus is that any B12 present in plant foods is likely to be in a form unavailable to humans and so these foods should not be relied upon as safe sources.
Vitamin B12 is important in the formation of red blood cells and the maintenence of a healthy nervous system. When deficiency does occur it is more likely to be due to a failure to absorb B12 from the intestine than a dietary deficiency.

Vegans can obtain B12 from a wide range of foods which have been fortified with the vitamin. These include certain yeast extracts, veggieburger mixes, breakfast cereals, vegetable margarines and soya milks. You should check the packaging to see which individual products are fortified with B12.


More on this here - http://www.vegansociety.com/food/nutriti…


While lacto-ovo vegetarians usually get enough B12 through consuming dairy products, vegans will lack B12 unless they consume B12-containing dietary supplements or B12-fortified foods. Examples of fortified foods include fortified breakfast cereals, fortified soy products, fortified energy bars, and fortified nutritional yeast. According to the UK Vegan Society, the present consensus is that any B12 present in plant foods is likely to be unavailable to humans because B12 analogues can compete with B12 and inhibit metabolism.

Ultimately, animals must obtain vitamin B12 directly or indirectly from bacteria, and these bacteria may inhabit a section of the gut which is posterior to the section where B12 is absorbed. Thus, herbivorous animals must either obtain B12 from bacteria in their rumens, or (if fermenting plant material in the hindgut) by reingestion of cecotrope f?ces.

Vitamin B12 is found in foods that come from animals, including fish and shellfish, meat (especially liver), poultry, eggs, milk, and milk products.[



So to sum all that up. Eat a diet with meat. Humans Are omnivores, we have evolved to eat meat. Humans eating meat is as natural as breathing air.

Cave man hunter? Wow you sure got me there with that witty remark. I would think a vegan biologist could come up with something better. Oh that's right you are not a biologist.

I have a blog that gives recipes but also shows people all the reasons vegans needn't worry about other nutrients normally causing concern, like protein, iron, calcium or vitamin D. Updating the protein one right now actually. I will be posting about B12 because you're right, there's a lot of misinformation on it.

http://dailyveganeats.tumblr.com

Yes. Some people just love to be ignorant. With all the facts about B12 out there, its amazing that some people still believe B12 is only found in animals. B12 is a microorganism found in bacteria (such as soil). The only reason we can't get adequate amounts of it from most vegetation anymore, is because people decided that we have to sterilize and be OCD with the cleanliness of the crops we eat.

It drives me crazy. Most juices I drink contain 100% B12.
A former friend of mine told me the only way I could get B12 while being vegetarian was eating my own feces. Some people...