“Only recently have scientists made measurements of vitamins in the sea. They are finding some places that are abundant with them and others that are vitamin deserts. It is possible that the difference influences not just bacteria and algae, but the animals that feed on them.

“Vitamins flow in complex routes, not just in the ocean, but on land. We humans can’t make our own supply of vitamin B12, for example, so we need to get it from food. One way is to eat meat like beef, which contains B12. It turns out that the cows and other animals that we consume don’t make B12 in their own cells. Instead, the bacteria in their guts manufacture it for them.

“We are also home to thousands of species of bacteria, which synthesize vitamins as they eat our food. Does that mean we depend on our internal vitamin traffic?

“If that’s so, we may need to think of our bodies as self-contained oceans of vitamin traffic — a continuation of the traffic that has occurred on earth for four billion years.”

And places even more importance on the diversity of our microbiome for our health…

Article here.