Vitamin B12 Sources for Vegans without taking multi-vitamins?!

Agh! Thats the hardest of vitamins to get when your a vegan. I had the same problem but mine was SO low I HAD to take the vitamin.But here is some the doctor said have lots of B12::
*fortified soy milk (fortified: .to add one or more ingredients to (a food) to increase its nutritional content)
*soy yogurt
*fortified cereals
*some protien drinks (look for B12 vitamin listed in ingredients)

Also,, sun gives you some B12. I would recommend vitamins but eat those ^^ and you'll do well.

I've been a vegetarian for a year.

Uh, yeah you need vitamin b12, especially at 13, deficiency in this vitamin has been linked to anemia, depression, fatigue and can lead to worse things down the line. Vegan sources are harder to come by but not impossible. You just won't find any NATURAL sources of it, it will all be synthetic vitamins because you will need to eat foods fortified with it instead drinks, cereals, and breads for example. If you don't like swallowing vitamins, try taking the flintstone vitamins :) They taste good and they are for adults too (only kids under 4 need to take half of one)


Its found in a lot of seafoods, red meats, and eggs but I am assuming you don't eat these often.

There is a yeast extract that contains it, but I don't know where to find it as I have never used this product before but it does exist maybe try a health food store.

natural sources suitable for vegans are nori and chlorella, both are algae. Nori is sold in various forms including sheets and is the seaweed used to make sushi.

(Watanabe F. (2007). Vitamin B12 sources and bioavailability. Exp Biol Med 232(10):1266-74: http://tier-im-fokus.ch/wp-content/uploa… )

vegan biologist

There's cereals, marmite spread, fortified vegan meats, and kelp. Really though I'm beginning to think the B 12 vegan scare is a myth. Of course it's important but I've gone months without a B 12 vitamin before and felt okay.
I take a B12 supplement once every other day because I'm trying to get my hair to grow faster. Otherwise as a vegan I don't think I need it. My diet is filled with a lot of variety. To the average person I eat some pretty weird things.

There are lots of foods that have had manufactured B12 added to them. Most of those foods are manufactured, too, not "natural".

Yeast only has B12 if it's been added. There are not many yeasts that include B12. If you're depending on yeast for your B12 source, be sure the label says B12 added or words to that effect.

Here's a registered dietitian (a vegan) site and his take on B12. Perhaps that will help with your questions:

http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/vita…

Its in fortified oatmilk and cereal, and sea veggies are a natural source.

Soy milk. Cereal.

Read labels.

The requirement for vitamin B12 is very low. Non-animal sources include Red Star Vegetarian Support Formula or T-6635+ nutritional yeast (a little less than 1 Tablespoon supplies the adult RDA), and vitamin B12 fortified soymilk. It is especially important for pregnant and lactating women, infants, and children to have reliable sources of vitamin B12 in their diets.
The Need for Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 is needed for cell division and blood formation. Neither plants nor animals make vitamin B12. Bacteria are responsible for producing vitamin B12. Animals get their vitamin B12 from eating foods contaminated with vitamin B12 and then the animal becomes a source of vitamin B12. Plant foods do not contain vitamin B12 except when they are contaminated by microorganisms or have vitamin B12 added to them. Thus, vegans need to look to fortified foods or supplements to get vitamin B12 in their diet. Although recommendations for vitamin B12 are very small, a vitamin B12 deficiency is a very serious problem leading ultimately to anemia and irreversible nerve damage. Prudent vegans will include sources of vitamin B12 in their diets. Vitamin B12 is especially important in pregnancy and lactation and for infants and children.

Reliable Vegan Sources of Vitamin B12
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.

The RDA for adults for vitamin B12 is 2.4 micrograms daily (1). About 2 rounded teaspoons of large flake Vegetarian Support Formula (Red Star T-6635+) nutritional yeast provides the recommended amount of vitamin B12 for adults (2). A number of the recipes in this book contain nutritional yeast.

Another source of vitamin B12 is fortified cereal. For example, Nature’s Path Optimum Power cereal does contain vitamin B12 at this time and about a half cup of this cereal will provide 2.4 micrograms of vitamin B12 (3). We recommend checking the label of your favorite cereal since manufacturers have been known to stop including vitamin B12.

Other sources of vitamin B12 are vitamin B12 fortified soy milk, vitamin B12 fortified meat analogues (food made from wheat gluten or soybeans to resemble meat, poultry, or fish), and vitamin B12 supplements. There are vitamin supplements that do not contain animal products.

Vegans who choose to use a vitamin B12 supplement, either as a single supplement or in a multivitamin should use supplements regularly. Even though a supplement may contain many times the recommended level of vitamin B12, when vitamin B12 intake is high, not as much appears to be absorbed. This means in order to meet your needs, you should take a daily vitamin B12 supplement of 5-10 micrograms or a weekly vitamin B12 supplement of 2000 micrograms (4).

We store between 2 and 5 milligrams of vitamin B12 and only excrete a very small fraction of this each day. Nevertheless, over time, vitamin B12 deficiency can develop if stores are not replenished with vitamin B12 from the diet or from supplements. Although bacteria in the large intestine of humans do produce vitamin B12, this vitamin B12 does not appear to be absorbed (5) and is not adequate to prevent a vitamin B12 deficiency (6). Although some vegans may get vitamin B12 from inadequate hand washing, this is not a reliable vitamin B12 source.

Tempeh, miso, sea vegetables, and other plant foods are sometimes reported to contain vitamin B12. These products, however, are not reliable sources of the vitamin. The standard method for measuring vitamin B12 in foods measures both active and inactive forms of vitamin B12. The inactive form (also called analogues) actually interferes with normal vitamin B12 absorption and metabolism (7). When only active vitamin B12 is measured, plant foods including fermented soyfoods and sea vegetables do not contain significant amounts of active vitamin B12 (8).

vegan 40 years