The B12 Question
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org, please feel free to visit the school website)
Are vegetarians able to get enough vitamin B12 in their diets without eating meat? This is one of the biggest questions that comes about when talking about the health of the vegetarian diet. As always, there are a wide range of opinions from nutritionists and authors of health books about whether this is possible or whether vegetarians should be taking supplemental B12. In Annemarie Colbin’s Food And Health (1986) we find her take on it. “A vegetarian diet based on substantial amounts of raw fruit and salads, nuts and seeds, cooked vegetables and potatoes, and only occasional grain, will indeed be deficient in this vitamin; and such was the diet of European vegetarians early in this century.” She goes on to say, however, “When the vegetarian diet is based on whole grains and beans as staple foods, B12 is supplied in sufficient amounts.” In the research that Gabriel Cousens, M.D., has done on B12, he has found that people on vegan and live-food diets have the highest frequency of B12 deficiency. Vegetarians receive B12 in dairy products. Gabriel Cousens strongly recommends that people on vegan and live-food diets supplement B12.
The vegetarian diet is supposedly lacking in the vitamin B12. The nutrition of B12 comes from animal sources most of the time. Health food stores are starting to become more aware of this deficiency so they are starting to sell plant sources in the form of seaweed. One great resource for B12 is fermented soy products. The most famous healthy source of essential B12 would probably be meat. B12 is a vitamin we need and injection is one way to get it. However a severely deficient person could benefit from a shot. One symptom of deficiency of any kind is loss of energy and or headache. Food information should be on the nutrition facts or elsewhere online. Depression can result from an overdose of the wrong type of food.