Vitamin B12

This is a big vegan issue.

Vitamin B12 is important for maintaining healthy blood and healthy brain and nerves. A deficiency can even lead to blindness, deafness, and dementia. Scary stuff, right?

In school, I was told that vegans have absolutely no way of getting Vitamin B12 from food. At the time I wasn't vegan, but I immediately sent a text to my vegan bf that he needs to start taking B12 supplements because I didn't want him to get nerve damage!

Turns out, it is not produced by plants or animals. It's produced by bacteria! It is a common misconception that B12 comes from animal products and meat-eaters do have higher levels of B12 in their system. But it's a good idea for vegans to take a B12 supplement. Your body is able to store this vitamin, so you may only need to take supplements every few days depending on how much you take. (The RDA for B12 is 2.4µg/day)

After becoming vegan, I found sources of B12 in foods. It can be found in fortified foods like non-dairy milks, meat substitutes, and some breakfast cereals. For example, 1 cup of soy milk has 50% of the recommended daily value for B12, so if you drink 2 cups of soy milk every day, you're good. Also, nutritional yeast (a GREAT vegan product!) has 150% of the recommended daily value of B12 for 1.5 tablespoons. It adds yummy, nutty, parmesan-like flavor to savory dishes, like pasta, popcorn, stir-fries, and tofu scrambles.

To get the full benefit of a vegan diet, vegans should do one of the following:

1. Eat fortified foods two or three times a day to get at least three micrograms (mcg or µg) of B12 a day or
2. Take one B12 supplement daily providing at least 10 micrograms or
3. Take a weekly B12 supplement providing at least 2000 micrograms.

For more detailed information on Vitamin B12, visit this website.
http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/vitaminb12