Forums: January 2010 Kickstart Forum Archive: Vitamin B12?
Created on: 01/01/10 01:12 PM Views: 2830 Replies: 11
gflo185 Joined: 01/01/10 Posts: 9	Vitamin B12? Posted Friday, January 1, 2010 at 1:12 PM Is it true that a vegan should take a Vitamin B12 supplement?
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locamia27 Joined: 01/01/10 Posts: 3	RE: Vitamin B12? Posted Friday, January 1, 2010 at 1:46 PM Hi. I work at a health food store with alot of vegan customers. One girl sees a vegan Naturopathic doctor that recommends her to take it since you get it from animal sources. It is a critical vitamin to have for normal cell functioning.
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marigoldmind Joined: 01/01/10 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 35	RE: Vitamin B12? Posted Friday, January 1, 2010 at 1:49 PM Many vegans take a B-12 supplement (myself included), but I also use nutritional yeast with B-12 and eat button mushrooms which recent research has shown to have B-12 in it. I couldn't find the source of where I read that, so I would appreciate if anyone else has a source.
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shanna Joined: 12/30/09 Posts: 287	RE: Vitamin B12? Posted Friday, January 1, 2010 at 1:53 PM yes, and any good vegan multivitamin will have it. i take a multivitamin by Deva, the Vegan 1-A Day. also most soymilk has it, and some other fortified foods like Red Star nutritional yeast. i use all of those things and also take my multi, and don't worry about it. probably Susan Levin can say more since she's the RD. but there's a really great book (by two RDs) that answers all these kinds of questions called Becoming Vegan, by Vesanto Melina and Brenda Davis. http://books.google.com/books?id=R7FRvTyRF0cC&dq=becoming+vegan+melina&source=gbs_navlinks_s i highly recommend that one!
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daelyn Joined: 01/01/10 Posts: 3	RE: Vitamin B12? Posted Friday, January 1, 2010 at 2:37 PM Definitely make sure you keep up with your B12. For info: http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/b12.html Daelyn www
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serenevannoy Joined: 12/28/09 Location: Oakland, CA Posts: 294	RE: Vitamin B12? Posted Friday, January 1, 2010 at 9:23 PM Yes, but don't stress too much about it. Most people store B12 well enough in their body's tissues that it takes years and years to deplete the stores. Because I used to have severe anemia and B12 deficiency, I have my doctor check my levels every few years. One time, I needed to get an injection, but then he put me on a supplement to make sure I wouldn't go low again. Serene Vannoy, Oakland, CA -- My daily Kickstart blog: http://serenecooking.livejournal.com/tag/kickstart
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Betsy Joined: 01/03/10 Posts: 2	RE: Vitamin B12? Posted Sunday, January 3, 2010 at 9:02 PM If one is on the Kickstart diet, how much of a B12 supplement is needed?
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richospice Joined: 01/04/10 Posts: 3	RE: Vitamin B12? Posted Monday, January 4, 2010 at 10:36 AM I have been a Vegan for most of 40 years. I have used Nutritional yeast for my B12. I sprinkle it on salads,popcorn,beans,toast,etc. I have never supplemented with B12. Works for me. All the best.
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Susan Levin Joined: 12/26/09 Posts: 1191	RE: Vitamin B12? Posted Monday, January 4, 2010 at 11:01 AM You definitely want to supplement with B12. There is no reliable plant source for B12. Even nutritional yeast has to be supplemented with B12 in order for it to be a reliable source. The only brand that I know of to do this is Red Star nutritional yeast. Plant milks and cereals sometimes supplement B12 as well. However, I really encourage people to take the multi-vitamin or the B12 supplement to be certain. It’s true you don’t need very much, and B12 does store for long periods of time. The daily recommendation is 2.4 micrograms per day (very small). Most multi-vitamins or B12 supplements have many times that amount. Interestingly, according to the government, anyone over the age of 50 (vegan or not) should be taking a B12 supplement as our bodies tend to absorb less and less as we age. Here is some more information: http://www.pcrm.org/Health/PDFs/faq_b12.pdf. Susan Levin, MS, RD PCRM Director of Nutrition Education
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VeganRecipeGuy Joined: 01/03/10 Location: San Antonio, TX Posts: 131	RE: Vitamin B12? Posted Monday, January 4, 2010 at 11:38 AM B-12 is produced in the digestive tract of a healthy herbavore. That's how it gets into animals (and thus meat) to begin with! It is produced by the microbes in the gut. Having said that, most of us have damaged our natural digestive tracts with processed food to such a degree that studies of the Seven Day Adventists (Christian Vegetarians) showed an almost universal depletion of B-12, so I say take your B-12 every day. http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/reprint/70/3/576S.pdf www
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Betsy Joined: 01/03/10 Posts: 2	RE: Vitamin B12? Posted Monday, January 4, 2010 at 11:59 AM I'm looking at purchasing a Vit C/B Complex supplement that contains the following: C (as calc ascorbate) - 500 mg B1 (as thiamin hydrochloride) - 10 mg Niacin (as niacinamide) - 20 mg B6 (as pyridoxine hydrochloride) - 10 mg Folic Acid - 200 mcg B12 (as cyanocobalamin) - 100 mcg Biotin - 300 mcg Pantothenic Acid (as calc pantothenate) - 10 mg Calcium (as calcium ascorbate/pantothenate) - 62 mg Too much? I also already take a calcium supplement and a fish oil supplement. Thank you for your help.
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Susan Levin Joined: 12/26/09 Posts: 1191	RE: Vitamin B12? Posted Monday, January 4, 2010 at 12:22 PM No, not too much. Vitamins C and B are water soluble vitamins which means you will excrete what you don't use (as opposed to store as one would with fat soluble vitamins such as vitamins A, D, E, and K). Susan Levin, MS, RD PCRM Director of Nutrition Education
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