Does mother nature not want humans to be completely vegan, if she did, wouldn't she have seen fit to fortify?!
Besides, Fortified does not mean natural and natural is the way to go; example, if you were lost in the jungle, and you choose to live a completely vegan lifestyle, you would NOT have the benefit of artificially fortified vegetables and you wouldn't be able to find natural sources of v12 either.
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Vitamin b12 is actually a bacteria found in the soil. Vegetables are actually coated with b12 when they're harvested, but we wash our vegetables so much that we wash off all the b12.
The reason meat has b12 is because cows and pigs eat those vegetables without them being washed off, which puts b12 inside them. We humans eat meat, they're eating that body with b12 inside it. Know what I mean?
That's simply why. If you want a natural way of finding b12, eat vegetables coming straight out of the ground.
EDIT: So i supposed my nutrition teacher is wrong.
Ornella is wrong on everything she said. Vit B12 isn't a damn bacteria!!! A vitamin is a compound required as a nutrient by an organism. No plant or animal is independently capable of constructing vitamin B12. Only simple organisms such as some bacteria and algae have the enzymes required for its synthesis.
It is one of the eight B vitamins.
By the way, the common synthetic form of the vitamin, cyanocobalamin, does not occur in nature, but is used in many pharmaceuticals and supplements, and as a food additive.
According to
The American Dietetic Association annually publishes its position on vegan and vegetarian diets: Appropriate Planned Vegetarian Diets Are Healthful, May Help in Disease Prevention ... that appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases.
http://www.eatright.org/Media/content.as…
A vegan diet for humans is an artificial diet. It is only possible to live on a vegan diet year in year out in relatively modern societies because plant foods are available in such quantities and varieties that a food that is naturally sourced thousands of miles away can be shipped to who wants them for their balanced diets.
Vegans only get their b12 from artificially fortifying their readily available supermarket foods with the vitamin or from nutritional yeast which needs to be processed and manufactured for consumption. You are right, Mother Nature does not do that.
But since we are an evolved (and still evolving species), it also does not mean we should revert to our caveman days and eat as they did. We have already progressed beyond that and I don't see why those who want to practice vegansim cannot use modern conveniences such as fortifying foods and processing yeast so that they can practicve their chosen lifestyle.
B12 is a produced by bacteria. Neither animals or plants make the bacteria. The only reason meat contains b12 is b/c it was produced in the animal by the consumption of plants that contained the bacteria. Humans do not obtain b12 from their plants, as we clean vegetables before consumption. If humans ate their plants foods as livestock did, we would get the same b12.
If someone were to be lost in the jungle, odds are(if they didn't starve, dehydrate, etc), that the plant material would provide enough b12, as long as it were present in the soil, and the plant material was not washed.
Well, what SHOULD be doesn't matter. It's not realistic that someone is going to be in the jungle, and I know you were just saying that to demonstrate your point on what's good for someone naturally. Natural isn't always necessarily better or just plain necessary. People who are vegan for ethical reasons will find ways to supplement what they're missing, even if it's not in a natural way, just like people who have diseases use pills that extend their life span or make them better.
It's not really about what people are MEANT to eat in the most natural way, but accommodation with veganism.
This isn't the older days. People can get things they need in 'unnatural' ways. It's still the same thing.
there is B12 in nori, the seaweed they wrap around sushi rolls. so i guess mother nature was right and you were wrong.
vegan biologist
No I don't think so at all. What about breast milk?
Mother Nature would want us to eat meat, if it were necessary. However, Mother Nature's no longer matters because of the cruel way that the animals for consumption business is now running.
300 years ago, it was necessary to get meat because of the lack of industrialization of farming. Also, people would use every piece of the animal, EVERYTHING. Hunters would thank Mother Nature for the food to feed their family.
Now, hunters use a little meat and prop up the head on a wall - all dignity is lost, we cruelly cut the throats of living animals, who knows what parts are used and not used, the animas are tortured prior to the killing (and during), and it is no longer necessary to eat meat or any products at that.
The modernization of farming has created a world where whole grains, beans, fruits and vegetables provide more thank enough nutrition to live a happy and healthy life.
Also, B12 is the only source of an "animal" that we need. This is the only non-vegan thing I consume. We have not yet evolved to no longer need this vitamin, industrialization is quicker than evolution on this one.
Vegan