Vitamin B12: It’s not just for meat-eaters anymore.

So, you’ve been eating a low-fat whole foods vegan diet for awhile and you’re feeling GREAT! Then your vegan-advisor pulls a rain-cloud over the party by asking “Have you started taking vitamin B12 yet?”

“No way!” you splutter. “A whole foods vegan diet is perfect! I’m not into pills. I just eat organic dirt on my vegetables; it’s fine. Go away.”

Your vegan-advisor gently & stubbornly persists however. He/she tells you some rather alarming stories of vegans who developed serious neurological conditions when their B12 levels tanked after months, years or even decades without supplementing B12. 

http://www.veganhealth.org/b12/cases

Does this mean we should be eating animal products?

http://www.veganhealth.org/b12/natural

Not at all! In a pre-industrial world, eating animal products was the best human beings could do to obtain B12 but it is an inefficient method, difficult for the body to absorb and unreliable. It is also terribly wasteful, causing suffering and death to the animals and the humans.

The most efficient method is to cut-out the “middle man” (animal products) and go straight to The Source: the cyanobacteria that make it. Thanks to advances in modern pharmacology, instead of having to settle for uncertain amounts of second-hand B12 stored in the flesh of animals, we can get all we need from cholesterol-free, cruelty-free, pleasant little B12 tablets that dissolve in the mouth (sublinguals).

It’s a win/win/win scenario! We get all the health benefits of a high-fibre, high anti-oxidant diet of plant foods that are naturally low in the industrial contamination concentrated in animal products; PLUS a generous supply of B12. It truly is the way to go.

http://nutritionfacts.org/2011/08/25/vegan-b12-deficiency-putting-it-into-perspective/