ATTN: B12 Info for Vegs

SO. There are rumors on the internet about vegetarian/veganism causing brain shrinkage as a result of vitamin B12 deficiency. I thought I would do my own research and address these issues.

First off, the people in the study were OLD. Second, people have known about these sorts of neurological problems from B12 deficiency for a while. Old Hat. I suppose this is news now because they proved people who have less vit B12 levels actually sustain more brain shrinkage with age. More importantly, this is causing concern for the current recommended daily intake, since all the people in the study were within the "normal levels."

So, what is Vitamin B12? It happens to be the most complex of all the vitamins, and it is only produced by bacteria. Meat-eaters get their intake of V B12 from meat, obviously. We're not going to talk about those sources, though. It turns out people have 2000-5000 ug of B12 stored up in their livers already, and only through years of reduced intake, can develop a B12 deficiency. Most "B12 deficiencies" are actually folic acid deficiencies, which is produced from B12 by the body. Both are B vitamins, in any case. So, anyway, if you are worried you are not eating enough B12, you are probably fine because you probably still have some of your stores intact. A B12-only deficiency only affects a few enzymes indirectly, one of which is responsible for production of neurotransmitters. For this reason, depression can result from B12 deficiency.

Adults need 3 ug/day of vitamin B12 (or so they have said). Many ovo-lacto vegetarians get this from their intake of dairy, eggs, and fortified sources. Milk has a significant amount of B12, but eggs are controversial because they contain a factor that disrupts uptake (or so I hear). Cheeses are sadly not very B12 rich. Pescatarians can gets LOADs of B12 from various mollusks and fishes (I suggest looking at Seafood Watch to choose the most environmentally friendly ones). Vegans need to get their B12 from fortified sources, such as various breakfast cereals (usually the healthy fiber-y ones, but some yummy ones are also ok). Fortified soy products are also available, such as soy milk. The B12-substitute in fortified sources is cyanocobalamin, which is actually just B12 collected from commercial bacteria producing places with a -CN group attached. The body can use this beautifully. Sadly, there are plant sources of B12, but it is not bioavailable for people. Some vegans have tried to prove this otherwise with questionable results. I say, eating spirulina, seaweed, or other algae is not going to cut it.

What IIII Suggest (and am going to do) is get B12 from mussels and fortified cereals, and milk (organic, happy cow). Mussels contain like 28 ug of B12. So all you need for a week is a couple servings of mussels and youre covered, because of the whole storage thing. Mussels are better than oysters and clams in their farming methods (even though they have less B12). Oysters and clams still are sustainably farmed, just not so wonderfully so as mussels. Clams and clam juice have a ridiculous amount of B12. Clam chowder is happily also an excellent source. The most fortified cereals, like All-Bran and Total type cereals, have >10 ug B12. Yummy cereals have <10 usually. Which is still fine. You need one serving of fortified milk to get the proper amount of B12. I have ALSO decided that marmite and vegemite are good sources of B12. There is a kiwi in my lab here, and she brought in marmite once, and it was actually quite lovely on toast with melted cheese. I plan on making an effort to find some. Full list of B12-high foods.