Should I take supplements such as B12? I've just started being vegan.?

Question

It's been 3 days but I'm sure I can do this! Should I take any supplements?

Answer 1

You might not feel different for a while, but after being on a vegan diet for a long period of time, you can develop a B-12 deficiency. This can cause fatigue, weakness, memory loss, and problems with the nervous system.  B-12 is mostly found in meats and dairy products, which vegans do not consume. Perhaps you should consult a doctor or nutritionist who can advise you if you should take supplements, and what dosage?

Answer 2

Vitamin B12 comes in mainly 2 forms: Regular pills that you swallow and Tongue lozengers (a pill that dissolves under your tongue.) The Good thing about Vitamin B12 is that it stores in your body. Therefore you can take one tongue lozenge, only once a week and be fine. I strongly urge you to pick up a vitamin B12 supplement. When purchasing one, pay special attention to the daily requirement that the supplement provides. If it provides over 1000% daily percentage than you should only need to take it once every few days to once a week. (Be aware that though it may provide X number daily percentage your body may not absorb exactly X amount. So allow a little lee-way/runover, but don't go overboard.)

I would also strongly recommend picking up a "vegetarian-formula" multivitamin. They are quite common and easier to find than you'd imagine. I say this because, even I myself, sometimes do not consume the recommend daily intakes of fruits and vegetables, or consume a large variety of foods. During the days when I could perhaps eat better, I will supplement a multivitamin to ensure that I am receiving my daily nutrients.   Pay special attention though, Vegetarian multivitamins are notoriously huge vitamins that are recommend to be taking in 3 (giant pills) per day.  This probably should not be done. Taking three (giant) multivitamins per day is only necessary if you consume only empty carbohydrates (foods without any nutritional value, i.e. ramen noodles). Obviously you will consume plenty of food each day that provides nutritional value to your body. What I recommend is buying a bottle of  "vegetarian-formula" multivitamins, and eating a couple every other day or so. The reason is: you will already be providing your body with nutrients from your diet, but you may neither be providing ALL the necessary nutrients nor with you be lacking ALL the necessary nutrients. I personally can recognize days that I probably should have ate "better" or more of a variety. On these days I'll take 1 or 2 (of the 3 daily recommended) multi-vitamin just to supplement the missing nutrients from my body. If I eat tons of healthful foods from a large variety, then I won't eat any multivitamins.

When purchasing a multivitamin, they normally come in 2 forms: With Iron or Without Iron. I personally opt for the "with iron" as I know that I do not consume enough dark green leafy vegetables or other Iron dense foods as often as I should. If you do consume a lot of iron-rich foods it is recommend that you buy the Iron-free to ward off a potential over consumption over iron (which leads to iron-toxication). In most cases you will know if you consume too much iron and are in worry of iron-toxication.

Another key nutrient to supplement is Calcium. There are many calcium enriched foods on the market for vegans. The most widely used one being soy milk. If you are confident that you consume enough calcium through calcium-enriched foods, then you should be fine. I myself still keep a bottle of calcium around just in case I'm not around calcium-enriched soy milk or orange juice for a few days. Also many of calcium supplements contain vitamin D in them which help to absorb calcium. Also take note, even if you multi-vitamin provides calcium in it is recommend to have another source of calcium. As calcium and iron supplement do not mix well together (calcium inhibits iron absorption) I would also like to quickly comment that vitamin D does come from a vegetarian (as opposed to a comment above which states it doesn't). The best source of vitamin D is from sunlight. Even though, it is still recommend that your calcium supplement contains a bit of Vitamin D, as vitamin D helps calcium absorption. In regards to calcium I strongly urge you to pick up a supplement especially if you are female.

One last area to touch on: Omega-3 fatty acids. These are essential fats (good fats) that your brain requires for optimum functioning. The best vegan source of Omega-3's is Flax Seed.  I recommend purchasing a bit of ground flax seed and sprinkling it on your cereal, salad or about any food (i eat it mixed with grits in the morning). You may also take Flax Seed Oil, which is a condensed oil form of flax seed, which has a "unique" taste to it. (Be warned if you are a male, this is not the best route as Flax Seed Oil has been shown to cause prostate cancer, but flax seeds -non-oil form- do not lead to prostate cancer.) If anything a majority of vegetarian-multi vitamins provide Omega-3's in them, so many people are not too worried. (My roomate for one, also a vegan, does not consume flax seed because his multi-vitamin provides it, i personally like to eat flax seed and have the peace of mind from eating it.)

Okay sorry for this long post I know it may seem like a lot at first, but its quite simple and its all that you really need, nothing more. Someone above mentioned buying "Becoming Vegan" it is a great book which i do highly recommend but its a bit scientifically-dense, though its a great read if you are interested in the subject. Good luck and Thank you for making such a wonderful life decision, sorry again for the long post.

Answer 3

First, get yourself a good book on vegan nutrition and learn what your nutritional needs are and how to meet them with food.  I highly recommend "Becoming Vegan" by Brenda Davisa and Vesanto Melina.  It's pretty much the bible of vegan nutrition and I refer to it often to keep myself on track.

Second, once you know what you're getting from food, determine what your needs may be for supplements.  I take a vegan multi because I know full well that my diet is not perfect every day (whose is?)  I feel that I get enough B12 from my multi and from fortified foods and my levels check out just fine.

B12 is the one nutrient that is not readily available on a vegan diet and must be supplied by either supplements or fortified foods.  Someone coming to veganism after a lifetime of eating animal foods likely has a store that can last years, so your short time as a vegan is in no way endangering your B12 status unless you had a problem to begin with.  But, you don't want to toy with B12 deficiency, which can be really serious.  So, either find yourself a multi with a good amount of B12 (not all of it is absorbed) or find yourself a high dose B12 supp and take it once a week or so.

Answer 4

If you feel you need one, you can find vegan B12 supplements.  Also look in to buying nutritional yeast.  It contains all the amino acids as well as all the B vitamins, including B12.  And it makes things taste "cheesy".  Most products are B12 fortified as well (soy milk, cereal, etc).  You only need a tiny amount of B12, and it is stored in your system.  Congrats on your choice!  :)

Answer 5

Well i guess it depends on what your body needs but i've been vegan for 7 months with no problems what so ever!!

Answer 6

If you are not getting enough B12 through your diet, then, yes, you should take a supplement. B12 is important for brain function and energy.

If you are looking for easy ways to get B12 through your diet, try the tips listed in this article:

http://www.ehow.com/how_2298990_add-vita...

Answer 7

I really wished I could remember the source, but I was reading that a b-12 deficiency can cause nerve damage. Also the article was saying that one may need to start taking supplements around 3-4 months after becoming vegan if they are not getting it from fortified foods or nutritional yeast etc. Hope this helps, you could also just google it and use your best personal judgement.

Answer 8

I take them.  You can find vegetarian/vegan suppliments online or at health food stores.  My local grocery just started to carry them even.  Sublingual is the best (under the tongue and let it melt) per my doctor.

Recent articles have been showing up that show that a lack in B12 is something that is becoming more and more common - in the United States at least.  I know literally hundreds of people in the towns around where I live and actually know of 2 people that were recently found to have this problem - and they were meat eaters!

So, my suggestion is to eat foods fortified in B12 and talk to your doctor about your need to possibly suppliment your diet.  I agree with Kristen that talking to a doctor would be a wise thing to do.

Answer 9

Yes. Almost all vegan sites, books and nutritionists suggest that is the best way to assure your B12 intake.

B12 is something your body can retain so as a new vegan you likely have quite a store left. Maybe enough to last you several years if you had a good diet before. Not that you should count on that but you don't need to worry a bunch either.

B12 is actually a soil bacteria that we used to get from eating veggies from clean fields. Now because of the contamination from factory farms manure, effluent, run-off, etc., we have become obsessed with sanitizing the food we eat and indeed we need to with all the c**p produced by the Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) which are unnatural ways to "grow" animals and cause the problems such as e coli, salmonella, and more to begin with due to the way the animals are raised. In fact, it is from the soil bacteria that animals get their B12 (they don't have sinks) but unless supplemented are less likely to get it themselves raised as they are in buildings and such (same with vitamin D).

So, your best bet is to find a good supplement for B12 (and possibly vitamin D which is turning out to be very important -- the D which is in milk is a supplemented/fortified version rather than naturally there and is not a vegetarian one either). You could try to meet your needs via fortified foods such as soy milks but those too are just supplemented and need to be chosen over the non-supplemented. Easiest to just take a B12 pill once a week and not worry about whether you are getting enough day to day, what you need to eat, and when. Then you can just concentrate on fine-tuning your diet to work well for you.

====

Edit to respond to veganheathen: I do know there is a vegan version of Vitamin D. However, I wanted to point out that milk is not a natural source of D but is added (so there is nothing wrong with supplementing as a vegan versus not becoming a vegan so D can still be obtained from the diet) and that the D that is added to the dairy products is the sheep version from lanolin.

D is being discovered as important not just to calcium uptake for bones but also prevention of depression, MS, arthritis, diabetes, skin health, and more.

While it can be obtained by exposure to sun, not everyone does get that, people with dark skin require more, those in the northern states and countries do not get enough in the winter (possibly part of the reason for SADD) because of the angle of the sun so even on a sunny day it is insufficient, and some people shouldn't get sun exposure due to medications they are taking which make them more sensitive, while others always wear sunscreen which blocks out the production of D even with sufficient sun exposure. The new suggestions are that the RDA be increased to 1000 I.U.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D

Sorry my writing wasn't more clear.

Answer 10

Silk soy milk has 50% of your daily allowance of B12.  Try having 2 servings of that everyday.  It's even better if you have it over fortified breakfast cereal...That's how I get A LOT of my nutrition:)  It's very delicious too...