Vitamin B12

Vegetarian and vegan diets are so full of vitamins and nutrients. But, there is one vitamin that is a bit tougher to get.

B12 is the most important of all the B vitamins when you are vegan. It is necessary for building blood and cell division. B12 isn’t made by any plants or animals. It’s actually made by bacteria. We get our B12 from eating foods contaminated with bacteria that had produced B12. Food animals eat bacteria, which accumulates the B12 in their flesh. So, if you’re not eating meat you need to get your B12 from other sources.
It’s true that vegetables do not contain B12, but all plants are grown in the soil which is enriched with B12. Before the mass commercialization of agriculture (when we were all pulling our vegetables from the garden and water wasn’t purified) B12 was available through the soil and water. So B12 deficiencies in a vegan diet are not caused by the diet itself, but by the hypersanitization of our modern world.
So, where else can we get B12 from?
A lot of our food is fortified with B12. Take a look at your milk, fake meats and even your cereal. Many of them are B12 fortified. Another source of B12 is nutritional yeast flakes. You can use these tasty flakes to imitate cheese. I use it on bruschetta, garlic bread or pasta.
Luckily the human body doesn’t need a huge amount of B12, but it does need a little bit on a regular basis. The current RDA is 2.4 micrograms a day. (That would be equivalent to 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast). To make sure I get enough of this vitamin I take a B12 supplement every second or third day just to be safe.

Overall, a natural diet full of different vegetables, whole grains and proteins is going to be great for your body and soul! If I’m having a junk food day, I will pop a multivitamin or a vitamin supplement to make sure my body is getting what it needs. Before I became vegan, I never thought about B12, Vitamin D or any other vitamin. I just ate whatever I wanted. Now, I am more conscious of my decisions, because I need to be sure I am ingesting vitamin enriched foods. Since I am eating healthier, I don’t need to take a multivitamin every day. But, we can’t be perfect all the time with our eating habits-and you always need a break every once and a while…But, just remember:

The bottom line for proper nutrition is that natural food is your best bet for all around health. Seperating nutrients and vitamins into stand-alone sources of nutrition can lead to overdose or an inadvertent depletion of another necessary vitamin or mineral.
-Living Vegan for Dummies

Information from Becoming Vegan, The Kind Diet and Living Vegan for Dummies