Friday, August 12, 2005

Take a Supplement? Hey, Why Not Eat Food?







Why do we need Vitamin B12?
  • support for the production of red blood cells
  • prevention of anemia
  • allow nerve cells to develop properly
  • help your cells metabolize protein, carbohydrate, and fat


  • red or sore tongue
  • tingling or numbness in feet
  • nervousness
  • heart palpitations
  • depression
  • memory problems
  • dandruff
  • decreased blood clotting
  • decreased reflexes
  • paleness
  • depression
  • difficulty swallowing
  • fatigue
  • tingling in feet
  • weakness
  • weak pulse
  • menstrual problems

How do other nutrients interact with vitamin B12?






  • 0-6 months: 400 nanograms
  • 6-12 months: 500 nanograms
  • 1-3 years: 900 nanograms
  • 4-8 years: 1.2 micrograms
  • males 9-13 years: 1.8 micrograms
  • males 14 years and older: 2.4 micrograms
  • females 9-13 years: 1.8 micrograms
  • females 14 years and older: 2.4 micrograms
  • Pregnant females of any age: 2.6 micrograms
  • Lactating females of any age: 2.8 micrograms





  1. Actually your article overlooks two important aspects: Most people with vitamin B12 deficiancy lack a protein in their stomach called intrinsic factor due to genetic issues or age.

    It doesn't matter how many animals these people ingest, since they physically can't extract the B12 from the meat, it passes their body without being absorbed. These people MUST take supplements, which don't rely on the intrinsic factor regardless if oral or otherwise.

    Second point: B12 is *always* of bacteriological origin, bacteria excrete B12 inside the bodies of the animals, including us. The problem with bacteria in humans is that they reside in the lower bowels where the B12 can't be absorbed, so our B12 "factory" is wasted, literally. The reason why e.g. the meat of killed cows contains B12, is because the bacteria reside higher up in the intestinal tract and hence their B12 gets absorbed.

    It is great that we can harvest cultures of these bacteria who produce B12 in the petri dish for us - we do not rely on killing animals.

    Which brings me to my closing point. Because we can culture these bacteria to produce B12, the fortification of B12 is probably the most naturally produced vitamin that exists, comparable to bakers yeast.

    So we vegans can integrate a completley natural source of B12 without sacrificing our health for our ethics, nor needing to sacrifice the health of animals by eating them.

    Because what most people forget in the "meat is healthy" discussion is, well, that it is not healthy. Being shot in the head. hung upside down on your lower legs, having your throat cut, intestine ripped out, hacked into small pieces and displayed in styrofoam trays in the supermarkted isn't really healthy.

  2. Unfortunately, this vegan, as others, seems to make up their own logic as they go along. Not healthy? For whom? Obviously these practices aren't healthy for the ANIMAL IN QUESTION! That's a given. But this has no bearing on human health. B12 is just one of the many excellent nutrients found primarily or exclusively in animal products. We evolved to eat meat along with plants. Twisted logic will not save you from these facts. I give you your ethical conundrum, but your attempts to wrestle other issues like science and nutrition to conform to this idea that veganism is somehow more "healthy" than a low-carb whole-foods/organic approach is just not going work. I certainly think that we can choose farming practices that are more sustainable and "healthy" for all involved, and this is why I choose organic as much as possible. But I fear that as with most vegans your ethical stance will prevent you from seeing that anything other than full vegetarianism has any value whatsoever...

  3. Yup...agree with Levi--there's always a blurring of issues there--I know this first hand because I had the nerve once to post an opinion about eating life-sustaining protein via animals on a message board, and don't ask what wrath I incurred from the vegans/vegetarians, etc. Not all, but the ones I run into are almost always militant on the ethical thing. Tough crowd.

  4. Vegan - thanks for your comments. My article was highlighting the omission in the Harvard Health Newsletter of the dietary aspects of vitamin B12 deficiency in those who are not vegan/vegetarian or lacking intrinsic factor.

    The newsletter adequately addressed those issues.

    My commentary highlighted one missing aspect that was overlooked and not included in the newsletter - that it is rather easy to miss the RDA for B12 when you're eating an omnivore diet and following the dietary guidelines and thus limiting animal proteins each day while avoiding red meat and eggs.

  5. Many consumers of nutritional supplements do not realize that there is an impending danger to their Right to take nutritional supplements, including Vitamin B12. Codex Alimentarius, or 'Codex' for short, a part of the Central American Free Trade Agreement, CAFTA, could result in an international body, the World Trade Center (WTC), restricting or banning the personal use of nutritional supplements in order to ‘harmonize’ U.S. law to international standards. Supplement use is severely restricted in many European countries. To prevent this from happening here, consider supporting Dr. Ron Paul for the presidency of the US. Ron Paul understands that individuals have rights and, as a Congressman, has introduced legislation to protect people's right to take nutritional supplements. Check it out at

  6. Anonymous11:12 AM

    Actually, raising animals for meat has a huge carbon footprint, a huge pool of natural resource depletion, a serious waste disposal problem (see hog farms for example), and further complications brought about by hormones/antibiotics and pathogens (i.e. BSE, or Mad Cow Disease). None of these things are healthy for humans, and in that sense the eating of meat by others directly impacts the health of people who choose to be vegetarian or vegan.