i am surprised that vitamin B12 is not focused on more when talking about a vegan diet considering there are no plant sources A VEGAN DIET MUST INCLUDE A B12 SUPPLEMENT or get it from fortified foods such as some cereals and breads vitamin B12 deficiency can do significant damage to your health
see the VEGAN SOCIETY website for further details
Then there is the vegan standby: Marmite!
Hi joe24421,
Having a deficiency in vitamin B12 isn't limited to being a vegan. A significant percentage of the meat eating population also have a vitamin B12 deficiency. Having said that, taking pills containing B12 as a supplement is almost useless. To absorb it properly it should be taken as an oral spray (in the mouth under the tongue), so it can be absorbed into the bloodstream.
Hi Joe, I have been veggie since the 1980's and b12 is constantly mentioned regarding vegetarian and vegan diets. That and Iron. I aren't sure what your concern is as b12 is found in foods such as mushrooms and seaweed and loads of things are fortified. B12 deficiency is not a vegetarian/vegan issue however as anyone can get such a deficiency. It takes 6 years for your B12 levels to go down. If you're concerned you may get a deficiency if you become vegetarian/vegan or are a meat eater with low levels, you can take a suppliment. I take feroglobin which has good amounts in and as far as any excess b12, you pee it out?
Hope this helps.
Beverley
I am not sure that if you take excess vitamin B12 you pee it out unlike vitamin C. I thought it got stored in the liver in in excess, although I may be wrong.
veggies eat plenty of animal products vegans eat none
yes you pee it out its not stored
Hi Ptolemy, your body stores what it needs and you pee out the rest. Think you can take too much iron and that can store in the liver though? you have to take loads though for that to happen.
Beverley
I didn't really eat loads of milk/cheese animal products when I became veggie and since then I haven't had dairy or wheat in 20 odd years now. I don't have any vitamin deficiency at present.
No - water soluble and pee'd out but it is the only water soluble vitamin that can be stored in the liver and that accumulates about 3-5 years worth.
Hi Eileen,
I don't understand what you mean by saying No-water soluble and peed out? curious where you found the information that it is stored in the liver and what you mean by 3-5 years worth? Do you mean about how long before deficiency?
Beverley
That is a long sell by date!
you must be getting your vit B12 from fortified foods check the facts there is no vit B12 in plants dont risk deficiency SPINAL INJECTIONS ARE NO FUN
Hi Joe,
My experience is that I believe that there is b12 in mushrooms and seaweed. That deficiency is dealt with by injection but in the arm. I am sorry if you have had to have a spinal injection. I am sure if I'm hat is no fun.
Vitamin D deficiency is , as far as I know, a bigger problem and that is also fortified and it really doesn't matter what you eat to get a deficiency with that!
Is your issue with it being fortified? I'm not sure. I know a meat eater who had the b12 deficiency. They didn't have spinal injections either.
Beverley
Nope, I get mine from an organic vegan oral spray.
The Vitamin B12 contents of soybeans are low or undetectable. However, a fermented soybean-based food called tempe contains a considerable amount of Vitamin B12 (0.7–8.0 μg/100 g) [40]. Bacterial contamination during tempe production may contribute to the increased Vitamin B12 content of tempe [41]. Other fermented soybean products contain minute amounts of Vitamin B12 [42,43
Several wild edible mushroom species are popular among vegetarians in European countries. Zero or trace levels (approximately 0.09 μg/100 g dry weight) of Vitamin B12 were measured in the dried fruiting bodies of porcini mushrooms (Boletus sp.), parasol mushrooms (Macrolepiota procera), oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus), and black morels (Morchella conica). In contrast, the fruiting bodies of black trumpet (Craterellus cornucopioides) and golden chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius) contained higher levels of Vitamin B12 (1.09–2.65 μg/100 g dry weight) than the abovementioned mushrooms [49]. To determine whether the fruiting bodies of dried black trumpet and golden chanterelle contain Vitamin B12 or other corrinoid compounds that are inactive in humans, we purified the corrinoid compound using an immunoaffinity column and identified it as Vitamin B12 by liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry [49]. In addition, high levels of Vitamin B12 were detected in the commercially available dried shiitake mushroom fruiting bodies (Lentinula edodes), which are used in various vegetarian dishes. The Vitamin B12 contents of dried shiitake mushroom fruiting bodies (100 g dry weight) significantly varied and the average Vitamin B12 value was approximately 5.61 μg [50]. Dried shiitake mushroom fruiting bodies rarely contained the inactive corrinoid, Vitamin B12[c-lactone]
I was replying to ptolemy - B12 isn't fat soluble so excess is lost through the kidneys after it is also stored up to a certain level in the liver first, accumulating enough to keep you going for 3 to 5 years even if you didn't eat any B12 sources. Like a tap dripping into a bucket fills it up and then it drips over the edge. If the tap stops dripping there is still water in the bucket you can scoop out if you need it.
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002403.htm
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3257642/
B12 isn't given as a spinal injection - it is either oral or intramuscular injections.
as well as Vitamin B12 [50]. Lion’s mane mushroom (Hericium erinaceus) fruiting bodies also contain considerable amounts of Vitamin B12[c-lactone] [51]. Stabler et al. [52] demonstrated that Vitamin B12[c-lactone] binds very weakly to the most specific Vitamin B12-binding protein, i.e., the intrinsic factor involved in the gastrointestinal absorption of Vitamin B12, and it strongly inhibits Vitamin B12-dependent enzymes, methylmalonyl-CoA mutase and methionine synthase.
The consumption of approximately 50 g of dried shiitake mushroom fruiting bodies could meet the RDA for adults (2.4 μg/day), although the ingestion of such large amounts of these mushroom fruiting bodies would not be possible on a daily basis.
4.4. Edible Algae Various types of edible algae are consumed worldwide as food sources. Dried green laver (Enteromorpha sp.) and purple laver (Porphyra sp.) are the most widely consumed edible algae, and they contain substantial amounts of Vitamin B12