Nutritionist wants me to take B-12 suppliments.?

Question

She basically told me that "humans ARE omnivors, but, some of us like to be compassionate to our animal friends. We need B-12 for our nervous systems, and it's found ONLY in animals."

Okay, so 1. If it's found ONLY in animals, where do they get the B-12 to put it in the pills? I'm not stupid.

2. I've heard that it's in a lot of vegan products, but again, where do they get it?

I've been a vegetarian for a long, long time (lost count) and switched to vegan almost 7 months ago. Frankly, if B-12 isn't vegan, I won't take it. I'm really not concerned. I don't like doing things half-assed. I've recently been worrying about filtered water as its supposedly filtered with bone char. Anyway, my question is this: where else does vitam B-12 naturally occur?

thanks!

Answer 1

Yeah, well, humans are not omnivores.  From my research, we are best suited to eating fruit, and that's that.

B12.  Okay, if B12 is only found in meat, where does the meat get it?  Hm?  Oh, cows and such other animals have special stomaches and stuff that... bla bla bla... bullcrap.

B12 does not come from animals, per-se, it comes from bacteria.  It's in bacteria poo.  You find such bacteria in our mouth, in your digestive tract, in fermented foods (unpasturized), in dirt, on fresh unwashed fruits and veggies, everywhere there is bacteria.  The problem is that everyone is eating sterile foods and living in sterile environments, etc.  and not only that, but eating diets that do not promote B12 producing good bacteria, and eat things that actually kill off this bacteria and take medications that also kill them off.  White vinegar, alcohol, antibiotics, etc.  Take a look at the B12 deficiency statistics... all of these people are big time meat and dairy eaters and one of the thing most have in common are that they are fat and unhealthy.

So, you can find it in of course B12 fortified foods (duh!), nutritional yeast, brewers yeast (tastes RUDE), seaweed, miso, natto, tempeh, pickles (non-pasteurized non-vinegar *real* pickles), yogurt (yes soy yogurt is fine) ... see where I'm going? fermented foods.  This is why eating a good clean pure diet comes in handy, because vegans can also be on a junk food diet too... but a good diet in *real* foods will promote good digestion and the "flora" (good bacteria) in the digestive tract.  After taking any antibiotics this bacteria in your body will be killed off.... so you must be very diligent in allowing and promoting them to reestablish themselves -- you can even buy some probiotic supplements and foods designed to specifically help establish good bacteria.

As a side note:  That fuzz you see on fruit just picked... on grapes, apples etc, that we rub off on our shirt to give it a nice shine... that's the good bacteria right there and airborne yeasts.  That's what bakers use to bake bread.  See, what they would do is let the dough sit, allow these airborne yeasts land on the dough, then they'd mix in, let them grow and proliferate, then add more flour, and mix it in, and they'd feed off of the starch in the flour, and soon the dough would be packed full of these yeasts.  That's their starter... they take some of this dough and add it to their batch of dough they will make bread with, and again let it sit, mix in, then bake.  They keep this starter dough on the side and keep feeding it flour to keep it alive and active.  Soon the yeasts are all over the place in the bakery, filling the air, that's why the more regularly you bake, the better your baking becomes and the faster things rise etc. and the better they taste, because you have a whole yeast filled bakery going on there.  That's kind of like your digestive system... you feed it the right stuff, and the good bacteria (flora) will grow and proliferate and your digestion will become so much better; you can extract more nutrients from your food and maybe even eat less food than before yet obtain more nutrition.

But, a B12 supplement won't hurt you as far as I know.  And living in a the city, where everything is cleaned, washed, sterilized, polluted, water full of chlorine etc.... you might as well include as many of these fermented foods etc in your diet and there are plenty of drinks and cereals veggie dogs etc. that include B12 supplements that there little need to actually go buy B12 pills.

Answer 2

"Nutritionist?" Was she a Registered Dietitan? Anybody can call themselves nutritionists.

B12 is produced by bacteria. If you are reasonably healthy person, bacteria in your intestine are probably producing enough B12 anyway. It can also be stored in the body.

Many vegans go their entire lives without needing B12 from food.

However, some people may develop a deficiency. And there is conflicting information about whether the intestinal bacteria really produce enough B12 or not.

If you just want to be sure, there are many different B12 supplements that come from bacterial (non-animal) sources. If you are in doubt about any product, call the company's 800 number.

It is not possible to live without bacteria in our systems and they are not animals.

Answer 3

If you're committed to veganism you still need to take your own health seriously.  Vitamins, by their very definition, are a REQUIRED element of human nutrition.  B-12 deficiency can be very, very serious.

Now, the good news is that B-12 supplements are not animal-derived, so they are perfectly suitable for vegans.

B-12 is synthesized by a bacterium.  The reason it is present in animal foods is that the animals incubate the bacteria in their gut.  You do, too, but it lives too far down your digestive tract to be reliably absorbed.  People used to be able to get B-12 from root vegetables grown in soil that supported the bacterium, but most crops are now grown in soil that's been rendered too sterile by the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers.  Plus, we're cleaner creatures than we used to be, so we tend to wash the soil off our carrots these days.  So, plant foods are no longer a reliable source.

Supplemental B-12 is synthesized by the very same bacteria as the B-12 found in animal foods.  The only difference is that they are incubated in a lab on a sterile, vegan-friendly medium instead of incubated in the gut of a cow.  Same bacteria, same vitamin.  So, take your B-12 supplement.  You may have a supply stored up that will last you for years and you may not, but you don't want to find out (my meat-eating boyfriend has a condition that prevents absorption of B-12 and his symptoms got very serious, including paralysis of his hands, before he was diagnosed.)

Answer 4

Most vitamins are synthasized. I heard B12 is in Miso. (Japanese fermented soy paste). As far as I know it dosn't hurt to take a B12 supplement. Jess's answer was good.

Dosn't hearing,"humans are omnivors" drive you up the wall? It does to me. Propounding nonsense theories.

Answer 5

B12 is produced by bacteria. The source of B12 in fortified foods and supplements is bacteria and so they are vegan.

B12 didn't used to be a problem in vegan diets as much of the food we ate was contaminated by B12 producing bacteria.

However ,due to modern farming techniques, and stricter "sanitation standards" our soils and crops have been sterilised and plant based sources of B12 are virtually nonexistent nowadays!

The only reason that animal products are the only reliable source of B12 (your nutritionist was unfortunately correct) is that they still eat eat food that is contaminated by bacteria.

Nutritional yeast, kombucha (and other fermented drinks), yeast spreads, fortified cereals etc are all vegan sources of B12.

However, because B12 is so important to your health and I would suggest that you take the occasional B12 supplement as well (just like I do!). An unhealthy vegan is a chance for omnis everywhere to leap out from behind the bushes and shove sausages in our face :)

If anyone gives you flak and says that taking supplements proves that veganism is "unnatural" just remind them that a) veganism is first and foremost about living compassionately not "naturally", b) its only a recent "unnatural" development that has caused plant based sources of B12 to become scarce,  and c) very little of today's human diet is "natural" anyway.

Best of luck!

Answer 6

To supplement Jess' answer (which is correct and awesome), you only need to take one 1000 mcg B12 tablet weekly to keep up healthy B12 stores in your body.

If you've been vegan for a long while without supplementing B12, take a 1000 mcg B12 daily for 2 weeks, then once weekly thereafter.

Answer 7

I don't know if this will help but you can get b12 from vegemite...but I don't know where they actually get it from sorry!