What are vegan and vegetarian sources of vitamin B12?

Question

What are vegan and vegetarian sources of vitamin B12?

Answer 1

If your a lacto-ovo vegetarian you can get enough B12 from eggs and dairy products, but if your a vegan you need to supliment your diet with foods that are fortified with B12: cereal, soy milk, etc. Brewers yeast, is also a good sorce of B12.

Vitamin B12 Fact Sheet

http://www.vegsoc.org/info/b12.html

Answer 2

bottled, not tinned beer; raw soured cabbage

Answer 3

It is actually debatable on how much available b-12 there is in non animal sources. On the other hand, if you go buy some 1000 mcg tablets orlozenges, you only need to take one every 6 months also.

Answer 4

2-8 ounce servings of Silk soy milk will give you all that you need for an entire day.  Try having fortified breakfast cereal in the morning with the first 8 once serving.  Then later you can have another bowl of cereal for your bedtime snack or drink a glass with your dinner.

The soy milk provides much more than just B12...Check it out :)

Answer 5

Dried beans, wholegrain breads, spinach, lentils, wheat flour, beetroot, split beans, potatoes, brussel sprouts, sweet potato, broccoli, almonds, cabbage, nuts, asparagus, banana

Answer 6

Just about every form of vegetation that grows on this planet.

Try Foxglove soup.

Answer 7

Among the many controversies surrounding vitamin B12, there is the argument that, although intrinsic factor is produced in our stomachs and that our intestines are known to produce vitamin B12, the requirement is too low in our bodies. This argument is sadly still hanging around, however, according to Dr Vetrano, it was disproved by research over 20 years ago and is nothing more than an obsolete scientific theory. Indeed, in a 1999 version of 'Human Anatomy and Physiology' by Marieb, it states quite clearly that OUR BODY ID INDEED CAPABLE TO SYNTHESIZE AND ABSORB VITAMIN B12 THROUGH OUR INTESTINES. In this context nothing wrong with God’s creation.

Many people say that the only foods which contain vitamin B12 are animal-derived foods. This also is untrue. No foods naturally contain vitamin B12 - neither animal or plant foods. Vitamin B12 is a microbe - a bacteria - it is produced by microorganisms. Vitamin B12 is the only vitamin that contains a trace element - cobalt - which gives this vitamin its chemical name - cobalamin - which is at the centre of its molecular structure. Humans and all vertebrates require cobalt, although it is assimilated only in the form of vitamin B12. B12 ALSO DESTROYED BY HIGH TEMPERATURE cooking, as the animal derived products require excessive cooking for health reason. This is the fact.  I think everyone would agree at this point.

B12 synthesis is known to occur NATURALLY in the human small intestine (in the ileum), which is the primary site of B12 absorption. As long as gut bacteria have cobalt and certain other nutrients, they produce vitamin B12. According to Dr Michael Klaper, vitamin B12 is present in the mouth and intestines. B12 must be combined with a mucoprotein enzyme named Intrinsic Factor, which is normally present in gastric secretions, to be properly assimilated. If the intrinsic factor is impaired or absent, B12 synthesis will not take place, no matter how much is present in the diet. B12 deficiency may be brought upon by antibiotics (also contained in milk), alcohol, smoking and stress (alcohol damages the liver, so drinkers need more B12, smoking (and all high temp cooked food is smoky) also raises B12 needs).

One should not over-traumatize over B12 matter, indeed the cases were too low, and no proper studies validate the B12 myth. Excessive B12 also may cause severe body toxicity, and may result in death.

Answer 8

it is usually obtain in fermented soy product like Soy sauce, Miso and fermented tofu. Bacterias that are fermenting it contains vitamin B12. And our Large intestine absorbs vitamin B12 from the bacteria in our large intestine that ferments the food we eat. Like cows, They obtain Vitamin B12 from the bacteria that stays in cow's rumen and ferments the food they eat.

Answer 9

The best source as a vegetarian/vegan is from fortified foods such as the soy/rice/almond 'milk' - fortified cereals- even seen some pasta the other day that had it listed as being fortified with it.  

This is one of those things that many see as not much of a problem.  The only problem with that - is that they are now finding more people that have this lack within their diet.  Read an article about it in "Vegetarian Times" a few months back - which after reading it, I actually found out that two people that I personally know have this very problem - - and they are meat eaters even!

I have talked to my doctor about it.  She isn't sure what to make of all of it - and the information that is coming out now is all pretty new and still not as well known as the old standby information that suggested that it really wasn't a problem.  B12 deficiency could be destruction of the vitamin due to dietary or environmental factors.  For example, smoking, high protein diets, alcohol consumption, chlorinated water (disruption by chloroform), and diarrhea may deplete B12 (my doctor used this as a platform to hit me on several of my bad habits - love my doctor, but she is a pain at times).

So I personally eat fortified cereals - even bought the fortified pasta to give it a taste - I do the fortified soy milk - and I take a sublingual (under the tongue 'pill' that you allow to melt) B12 tablet that is vegetarian/vegan quality (no animal products whatsoever) at the health food store and Whole Foods.  The shocker - Whole Foods B12 actually worked out to be CHEAPER!

Functions of Vitamin B12: proper formation of red blood cells, manufacture of DNA, formation of fatty insulation surrounding nerve cells, detoxification of cyanide from cigarettes and food, cancer prevention, nervous system health, proper growth, prevention of PMS, posture and balance, memory and concentration, proper cell division, sperm production and motility.

Some B12 deficiency symptoms: pernicious anemia, diarrhea, fatigue, nerve damage, depression, PMS, heart disease, trembling, low sperm count or poor sperm motility.

Bottom line - you are going to have to read labels and educate yourself about the nutritional facts about foods.  I spend way too much time at the doctor's office (I think the one is wanting a new car - the other a trip to the Bahama's) and tested more than I want to be - which I am about to tell them such is going to stop and go to a once a year thing.  

Reading labels and doing personal study seemed cheaper to me.

Answer 10

The Vegan Society, the Vegetarian Resource Group, and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, among others, recommend that vegans either consistently eat foods fortified with B-12 or take a daily or weekly B-12 supplement. Fortified breakfast cereals are a particularly valuable source of vitamin B-12 for vegetarians and vegans.

But in some countries, you can't find any B12 fortified foods. The only way to get B12 is the B12 supplements (in pill form)