If you are vegan, you surely have listened to this sentence at least hundred times. Yes, because this is one of the most famous piece de resistance of non-vegans, to attack the plant-based diet. Indeed, the more the vegan diet spreads, the more the vegan diet is attacked: this is why, in particular in these last few years, when a vegan is sick, the fault is always reversed on the choice of his lifestyle.
And what about the B12? There’s no doubt about it: vitamin B12 is the big issue in vegan nutrition.
B12 is the most favourite argument with which they think to shut a vegan up: «This vitamin is made of microorganism, and can only be found in animal products! »
In part, they are right: B12 is a microorganism-composed vitamin, and is most detectable in meat, eggs and cheeses. Anyway, the million vegans in the world are not sentenced to death… Why?
Let’s start with some information about this fundamental element: vitamin B12 is a complicated vitamin with a unique absorption mechanism and a number of inactive analogues, that possibly interfere with its function. It is needed for production of DNA (and therefore for the red blood cell division) and for maintaining and protecting nerve cells.
The particularity of this vitamin is that, even if national recommendations for B12 intakes vary from country to country, they are all very low (even if essential!): the average recommendation is 3 micrograms a day, which are based on the fact that only 50% of the B12 is really absorbed (about 1.5 micrograms a day). This little amount is sufficient to prevent the B12 deficiency. If the deficiency of the B12 is prolonged in time, it can cause pernicious anaemia and nervous system damage. The majority of vegans get enough B12 to escape these hazards, nevertheless there are two subgroups which are at a higher risk of B12 deficiency: long-term vegans who does not integrate their diet with common fortified foods, and breastfed infants of vegan mothers whose own intake of B12 is low. The principal symptoms of B12 deficiency for adults are loss of energy, but in the worst cases can appear tingling, numbness, reduced sensitivity to pain or pressure, blurred vision, abnormal gait, sore tongue, poor memory, confusion, hallucinations and personality changes. Babies shows signs of this deficiency (e.g. loss of energy and appetite and reduced development) more rapidly, and more rapidly is the progression to coma and death. In parallel, infants have less probability to recover completely, and this lead to permanent neurological problems.
Integrate the right quantity of B12 in the vegan diet is easier than one may think. According to one willingness to follow a commit, it is possible to choose one of these possibilities:
- Eat fortified foods.
- Take one daily B12 supplement, which provide at least 10 micrograms.
- Take a weekly B12 supplement providing at least 2000 micrograms.
Obviously, the first choice is the most challenging because it imposes to read the labels carefully, to assure the proper amount is introduced and assimilated by the body. That is why, many vegans prefer the second or third choice: is just a matter of no-free-time life, laziness, economic factors (tablet supplements are less expensive and easier for those with a frenetic life).
OIPA support an aware vegan diet, particularly because to get the full benefit of the vegan diet, B12 is fundamental. To get more information see: https://www.oipa.org/international/veg/
Remember: it is necessary, not only for the health of the single, but for the mental health of all vegans of the world, fed up of answering the same cyclical questions.
