Orange juice can be fortified with vitamin B12
Why is B12 such a big issue?
Being a vegan, a sufficient intake of all necessary vitamins and minerals always comes into a question. Especially, there has been a broad discussion about one specific vitamin, and that’s vitamin B12. Why? What is the problem with it? A human body needs a very small amount of this vitamin for a healthy function of its blood cells and a good nerve functioning. Even though, vegans are in the biggest risk of its deficiency!
If you are a vegan who never heard of vitamin B12 deficiency, or about vitamin B12 itself, then keep reading. Taking enough vitamin B12 is extremely important for a healthy function of your body. As a vegan, you are at a great risk of not taking enough vitamin B12. Of course, if you don’t know how!
It’s actually very easy. Read throughout this article and you will find out everything you need to know to stay healthy. You will never have to worry about taking enough vitamin B12 anymore!
What is vitamin B12?
Where does vitamin B12 come from?
Vitamin B12, also called Cobalamin or Cyanocobalamin, is primarily found only in animal products. Especially in the past two or three decades, when vegan didn’t have an access to plant-based foods fortified with vitamin B12, every three vegans out of four suffered from its deficiency.
Apart from animal products, vitamin B12 is predominant in the soil, where we used to get it from naturally in the past, long time ago. Every time prehistorical and other indigenous societies ate fresh products grown and picked up from the soil with still a little bit a dirt on them, they received a few bacteria containing vitamin B12.
As you can guess, with an invention and improvement of a modern personal hygiene, people stopped receiving vitamin B12 from plant-based products this way. Humans have various bacteria in their guts, including vitamin B12. Unfortunately, vitamin B12 is present only in the colon, from where it can’t be absorbed. Vitamin B12 is only absorbed in the small intestine, which is upstream of the colon.
What does vitamin B12 do?
Vitamin B12 is one part of the team of other nutrients which convert carbohydrates, protein, and fat into energy. It is really helpful in a process of building DNA and red blood cells which is absolutely crucial in a stage or a rapid body growth. Vitamin B12 helps make and maintain a protective case around nerve fibers.
It also helps the body eliminate homocysteine which can be very harmful to the inner lining of artery walls. When a body has too much homocysteine, it is at a potential risk of several heart diseases. Additionally, Vitamin B12 deficiency causes megaloblastic anemia, gastrointestinal problems, nerve damage, and various neurocognitive changes. In the worst case, it can end up with paralysis or even a death!
The symptoms of a vitamin B12 deficiency can occur very quickly. The most common symptoms are fatigue, weakness, quick and often mood changes, palpitations or shortness of breath. If you experience any of these symptoms or you are not sure about your level of vitamin B12, you can always get checked at your healthcare provider or get a blood analysis from any pharmacy.
Nutritional yeast is a great plant-based source of vitamin B12
How much of vitamin B12 is enough?
The good news is that a human body is able to amply store vitamin B12. You can store up to 5-year supply in your liver! Generally speaking, you don’t need a huge amount of vitamin B12, as you will see in a table below. For this reason, you might worry about your vitamin B12 level on a weekly basis rather than daily.
Source: Australian Government, National Health and Medical Research Council
The general recommended intake for vitamin B12 for adults is 2.4 mcg. Some expertise talks even about 4 to 8 mcg but that’s not necessary. In the worst case, you can’t overdose because a human body is capable to absorb only about 10 mcg per day. It is also recommended to take vitamin B12 in a few small doses rather than one single dose.
During pregnancy and breastfeeding, it’s important to increase a daily intake of vitamin B12 to 2.6 mcg for pregnant women and 2.8 for nursing mothers. It’s crucial that babies get enough vitamin B12 from their mums, during pregnancy or through milk during breastfeeding. Without getting enough vitamin B12, infants can develop irreversible brain damage in a very short period of time (in a few months)!
Vitamin B12 is also important for seniors. They should get tested every five years to find out their vitamin B12 levels. As a body gets older, its ability to absorb vitamin B12 properly declines. Everyone older than 50 years should take extra vitamin B12 in supplements. Because vitamin B12 can help treat cognitive impairment and dementia, people who have positive levels of B12 live likely longer life without any signs of depressions.
Plant-based sources of vitamin B12
Shortly said, plant-based food is a better source of vitamin B12 than animal products. Why? Plant-based sources don’t contain any cholesterol and are very low in fat. If you get food from your own garden or straight from local farmers, you have a great advantage. The only thing you have to do is to gently wipe off or rinse your food with water and that’s it! Eating raw products also help you get vitamin B12.
If you don’t have access to local farmers or organic and fresh products, don’t worry. There are other sources of vitamin B12. Nowadays, vitamin B12 is fortified into several products, such as orange juice, bread, grains, cereals, many soy products, sea vegetables or nutritional yeast
The best plant-based sources of vitamin B12 are:
- fortified fruit juices
- fortified soy milk and other soy-based products
- grains, cereals, starch-based products
- fermented soy products such as tempeh, tofu, miso paste, tamari or soy sauce, shoyu
- nutritional yeast
Each day you should eat at least two servings of B12 fortified sources stated above. If you want to make sure you get these two servings, always check labels. It’s good if a product provides at least 2 mcg of B12 or about 50% of the daily value per one serving. Usually, on labels, you will find that 6 mcg is used as 100%.
Nutritional yeast
Nutritional yeast is one of the best sources of vitamin B12 for vegans. If you are not familiar with these little yellow flakes, it’s about time to find out! Nutritional yeast is nothing like a typical yeast used for pizzas, bread, and other dough. It has a very distinguishing cheesy flavour. You might not like at the first. Once you get used to the flavour, you will love it!
Nutritional yeast is very rich in vitamin B12. Just two tablespoons (about 8 g) provides 2.4 mcg. Naturally, the content of vitamin B12 may vary from batch to batch. It also contains amino acids, folic acid, and some other important minerals.
Nutritional yeast is excellent for providing a cheesy flavour. You can use it for pasta sauce, making your own cheese or salad dressings. My favourite use is for tofu marinade. You can get a very easy recipe here.
Supplements for vitamin B12 are not bad
Supplemental sources of B12
Because fortified foods are not reliable sources of vitamin B12 as supplements, many vegans opt for taking supplements daily or weekly. There’s nothing wrong with taking supplements. Most of the supplements contain from 540 to 1000 mcg vitamin B12. That makes it very easy for vegans because they can meet their B12 needs on a weekly basis.
When you purchase vitamin B12 supplements, be aware of few things. First of all, make sure that supplements are suitable for vegans. Some brands add a nonvegan gelatine as a base. The other thing is a sublingual (absorbing beneath your tongue) form of supplements which is the quickest and also a best-absorbed form of vitamin B12.
Vitamin B12 naturally occurs along with other minerals, such as cobalt. That’s why it is sometimes referred to as a cobalamin. In most of the fortified foods’ labels you won’t find the word cobalamin, but methylcobalamin or cyanocobalamin. These are only synthetic forms of vitamin B12, so don’t be fooled!
You have two choices. You can take either a larger B12 supplement twice a week or a small supplement daily. Vitamin or multivitamin supplement which is taken daily should include from 25 to 100 mcg of vitamin B12. If you take a supplement twice a week, it should contain at least 1000 mcg of vitamin B12.
Importance of vitamin B12 for vegans
If you are vegan and want to be sure that you take enough vitamin B12, you should get familiar with it in the first place. It’s crucial to know what vitamin B12 is and why it’s so important to have enough. Make some research about it and you will see how surprisingly easy it is!
Search and discover new products and ingredients which are fortified with vitamin B12 and/or try delicious nutritional yeast recipe! Let me know if you have any questions about vitamin B12 for vegans or would like to get any more recipes rich in vitamin B12! Share the article with your friends!
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