Re-Posted with permission from VeganMotivation.com

There’s a ton of misinformation on B-12, so let’s clear this up quickly:

Plants don’t make B12.  Animals don’t make it either. B12 is made by microbes that blanket the earth. These bacteria grow in the guts of animals, which is why their bodies and products can be a source of this vitamin.

Our herbivore primate cousins get all they need ingesting bugs, dirt, and feces, and we may once have gotten all we needed by drinking out of mountain streams or well water.

But now we chlorinate our water supply to kill off any bugs. So we don’t get a lot of B12 in our water anymore, but we don’t get a lot of cholera either—that’s a good thing! (Reference Sources: Dr Gregor, Nutrition Facts)

Now you can set your meat eating friends straight on where B-12 really comes from.

Also, you might want to mention to them that factory-farm raised animals are being fed B-12 fortified food because they too are becoming B-12 deficient due to the unnatural conditions they are raised in. Go figure!

Anyway, the fact is, vegan or not, we all need more B-12. And it is imperative that those eating a plant-based diet take a B-12 supplement, especially pregnant or nursing women.

B-12 deficiency can be very dangerous and cause the following:

• • Extreme tiredness

• • Lack of energy

• • Breathlessness

• • Feeling faint

• • Headaches

• • Pale skin

• • Noticeable heartbeats (palpitations)

• Hearing sounds coming from inside the body, rather than from an outside source (tinnitus)
• Loss of appetite and weight loss

The recommended intake is 4-7 micrograms a day, and raw food diets are no exception to this rule, so make sure you take a high quality supplement like VeganSafe B-12 from Global Health. If you’ve noticed a decrease in your appetite, this appetite stimulant might be effective to induce hunger.

==> Click here to see VeganSafe B-12

This is the one I prefer because it is in liquid form and can be mixed with smoothies and other foods. It also contains a blend of methylcobalamin and adenosylcobalamin, the two most bioactive forms of vitamin B-12.

If you want a healthy supplement that promotes calcium absorption and healthy teeth, supports healthy cardiovascular function and premium vegan formulation, then this magnesium glycinate malate here is the right one you should be looking for!

Stay healthy. Speak soon.

Stay healthy. Speak soon.

Peter ~ Veganmotivation.com founder.

ARespectfulLife.com – Addition and Edit: I found an additional article on this topic by Dr. Stuart A. Seale as follows:

Taking the Mystery Out of Vitamin B12 by Stuart A. Seale, M.D.

For those who follow a plant-based diet, it’s not uncommon for friends and family to voice concern over a number of nutritional issues that aren’t grounded in fact. “Where will you get your protein?” or “You’ve got to drink milk to get calcium!” are comments often heard. In the same vein, when it’s learned that a vitamin B12 supplement is routinely recommended for vegetarians, and especially vegans, many are quick to conclude that a plant-based diet is inferior. After all, if a total plant-based diet is so healthy, then why doesn’t it supply all essential nutrients and micronutrients? This has led to confusion, even among vegans. So let’s take a look at the science regarding B12 and dispel some myths along the way.

Vitamin B12 functions as a co-factor in numerous metabolic and physiologic events critical to human health. It plays a role in the proper production of red blood cells, and a deficiency can lead to megaloblastic anemia. Vitamin B12 is also vital for proper nerve function. Without it, various neurologic and psychiatric symptoms such as numbness, weakness, shakiness, unsteady walking, mood disturbances, and even dementia can develop. There is also good evidence that vitamin B12 improves vascular health because of the role it plays in reducing blood homocysteine levels. High homocysteine can damage arteries, increasing the risk for heart attack and stroke. Other effects currently being researched include the role of vitamin B12 in reducing the risk of breast cancer, cholesterol, and stroke recurrence.

Vitamin B12 is an essential micronutrient for humans. “Essential” means that it must come from external sources – we can’t manufacture it in our bodies using other nutrients as building blocks. The vitamin, in its full form, must therefore be supplied dietarily. This fact is what creates a potential rub for vegetarians, because no plant foods serve as a reliable source for B12. It’s only found predictably in animal foods – meat, eggs, and dairy.

Does this mean that we weren’t designed to be vegetarians, and that plant-based diets are inferior? In order to answer these questions, we need to look at the ultimate source for all vitamin B12, which is bacteria. The vitamin is made in nature only by bacteria that reside in soil, the upper intestinal tracts of ruminant animals (cows, sheep, deer, etc.), and also the lower intestines of animals. In the case of ruminants, the B12 that is made by the bacteria residing in their stomachs can then be absorbed into their tissues. In addition, the food they eat is contaminated with soil, which contains vitamin B12. Livestock are also fed B12 fortified foods to boost tissue levels. For wild, non-ruminant vegetarian animals there likely is enough ingestion of bacteria from foods contaminated with soil to provide adequate B12. In the case of wild, carnivorous animals, B12 is supplied from the liver (the animal storage organ for excess B12) and the intestinal bacterial of their prey.

The daily requirements of B12 for humans is very low, and in the past when we didn’t live in such a sterile and germophobic society it is likely that soil and other bacterial contamination of plant foods provided all the B12 needed. But our environments are different in the modern age. We are not only living much more sanitarily and bacteria-free, but our agricultural soils have also become sterilized. Of course, there is still the bacterial production of B12 in the lower intestinal tracts of animals, including humans, but we can’t absorb the vitamin from that location. However, undoubtedly much of the B12 found in animal foods is derived from intestinal bacterial contamination during the slaughter process.

There is an abundance of nutritional research demonstrating the benefits of eating whole plant foods, even if no animal foods are included. Humans are perfectly capable of eating a totally plant-based diet and maintain superior health while doing so. In our former agrarian society when bacteria-rich soils were worked by hand, there simply wasn’t an issue with humans getting enough B12, because it was supplied by soil contamination of our foods and skin. The issue of vegans requiring vitamin B12 supplementation is therefore not an indicator of a plant-based diet being inferior or unhealthy. The two really have nothing to do with each other. The fact that modern vegans require B12 supplementation is related to the sterility of our environment, not to the overall nutritional quality of the foods we eat. Humans haven’t changed, but our environment has.

To be certain vitamin B12 deficiency doesn’t occur, taking a supplement of B12, as little as 25 to 100 micrograms per day, is all that’s needed. Larger doses, up to 1,000 micrograms per day are commonly recommended but probably not necessary. Supplements of B12 may be labeled as cobalamin, cyanocobalamin, or methylcobalamin and there will be very little difference regarding their effectiveness when taken routinely. While both vegetarians and vegans should supplement with B12, it’s even more critical that vegans take a supplement. Some are adverse to taking a supplement produced from a bacterial source, but look at it this way – you’re getting in a purified pill form what our ancestors got from under their fingernails.

Enjoy all of the benefits of eating plant-based: less tendency for being overweight; lower risk of heart attack, stroke, hypertension, cancer, and chronic disease in general; and being kind to the environment and other living creatures. Just don’t forget to take your B12!

Stuart A. Seale, M.D., Diplomate American Board of Family Medicine, graduated from Loma Linda University School of Medicine in 1979, then completed a Family and Community Medicine residency at the University of Missouri in 1983. He established and maintained a solo office family practice in Springfield, Missouri for 21 years before joining Ardmore Institute of Health as Clinic Director, educator, and staff physician for Lifestyle Center of America. He is currently Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Ardmore Institute of Health, as well as Medical Director for AIH’s Renovo Clinic in Gilbert Arizona. He is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at Loma Linda University School of Medicine. He joined the American College of Lifestyle Medicine in 2006, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the ACLM Foundation. Dr. Seale has a passion for treating chronic disease through lifestyle behavior modification, and wishes to influence the practice of medicine in America, as well as American culture itself. To this end, he has co-authored two books related to healthy lifestyle – The 30-Day Diabetes Miracle, and The Full Plate Diet. He and his wife Sandra reside in Sedona, Arizona.