Myth: Vitamin B12 Can Be Obtained From Plant Sources
Of all the myths, this is perhaps the most dangerous. While lacto and lacto-ovo vegetarians have sources of vitamin B12 in their diets (from dairy products and eggs), vegans (total vegetarians) do not. Vegans who do not supplement their diet with vitamin B12 will eventually get anemia (a fatal condition) as well as severe nervous and digestive system damage; most, if not all, vegans have impaired B12 metabolism and every study of vegan groups has demonstrated low vitamin B12 concentrations in the majority of individuals. Several studies have been done documenting B12 deficiencies in vegan children, often with dire consequences. Additionally, claims are made in vegan and vegetarian literature that B12 is present in certain algae, tempeh (a fermented soy product) and Brewer's yeast. All of them are false as vitamin B12 is only found in animal foods. Brewer's and nutritional yeasts do not contain B12 naturally; they are always fortified from an outside source.
There is not real B12 in plant sources but B12 analogues--they are similar to true B12, but not exactly the same and because of this they are not bioavailable. It should be noted here that these B12 analogues can impair absorption of true vitamin B12 in the body due to competitive absorption, placing vegans and vegetarians who consume lots of soy, algae, and yeast at a greater risk for a deficiency.
Some vegetarian authorities claim that B12 is produced by certain fermenting bacteria in the lower intestines. This may be true, but it is in a form unusable by the body. B12 requires intrinsic factor from the stomach for proper absorption in the ileum. Since the bacterial product does not have intrinsic factor bound to it, it cannot be absorbed.
It is true that Hindu vegans living in certain parts of India do not suffer from vitamin B12 deficiency. This has led some to conclude that plant foods do provide this vitamin. This conclusion, however, is erroneous as many small insects, their feces, eggs, larvae and/or residue, are left on the plant foods these people consume, due to non-use of pesticides and inefficient cleaning methods. This is how these people obtain their vitamin B12. This contention is borne out by the fact that when vegan Indian Hindus later migrated to England, they came down with megaloblastic anaemia within a few years. In England, the food supply is cleaner, and insect residues are completely removed from plant foods.
The only reliable and absorbable sources of vitamin B12 are animal products, especially organ meats like liver. Though present in lesser amounts than meat and eggs, dairy products do contain B12. Vegans, therefore, should consider adding dairy products into their diets. If dairy cannot be tolerated, eggs, preferably from free-run hens, are a virtual necessity.
That vitamin B12 can only be obtained from animal foods is one of the strongest arguments against veganism being a "natural" way of human eating. Today, vegans can avoid anemia by taking supplemental vitamins or fortified foods. If those same people had lived just a few decades ago, when these products were unavailable, they would have died.
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The vitamin B12 that people get when they eat chickens and pigs does not come from the chickens and pigs. It was added to the food those animals eat when they were raised. Nowadays practically all chickens and pigs receive B12 as a supplement. It is made in the same way, and probably in the same factories, as the B12 in vegan supplements: by bacterial fermentation. Cows aren't given B12, but cobalt salts instead, to allow B12 to be made by fermentation in their stomachs; in other words, the cows are themselves used as biochemical reactors. The bottom line is that everyone takes B12 supplements: either directly (vegetarians) or through an animal (meat-eaters). The animals serve only as a different kind of packing, used to disguise the supplementation.
It's such a shame that Weston A Price's name has been hijacked by these food fascists. It's hard to argue with them because so much of what they say is based on W.A.P's work and is totally true.
It's a shame they can't see the wood from their home grown trees .
It's ridiculous to suggest you NEED meat , and NEED milk - there have been healthy vegetarians for 1,000's of years and healthy vegans for over 65 years - there is living proof that it's just as possible to be a healthy vegan as it is to be a healthy beef farmer.
Yeast and chlorella both produce true vitamin B12 - and of course it's added to many foods such as cereals - interesting to see that in clinic many meat eaters are short of vitamin B12 so don't kid yourself that if you are a meat eater you need not consider it an issue.
http://www.optimumnutritionists.com/pages/shop/seaweed-algae/chlorella/chlorella-studies.php
http://www.optimumnutritionists.com
The question is "Are Vegetarians Healthier?" not "Are Vegans Healthier?" Perhaps eating meat impairs one's ability to read long words.
Animals and plants cannot synthesize vitamin B12. That includes farm animals. All B12 found in animals and their secretions are derived from bacterial sources. Let's eliminate the mistreated and inefficient middle man and harvest B12 directly from a culture of the appropriate bacteria. We aren't living "a few decades ago;" it's okay to take a supplement or eat fortified foods.
It is almost too easy to blow holes in this B12 theory and I'll be happy to do just that.
My wife and I have been vegan for 16 years and our levels of B12 are always just fine when we go to the doctor. This also goes for our vitamin D levels. As a matter of fact, I personally have not been sick one time since being vegan, I have increased my muscle mass, and my doctor always asks why I even bother to come see her since I am in such great shape.
My wife and I take no D supplement (just get plenty of sunshine) and our source of B12 comes from nutritional yeast and is not derived from dead animals.
Shame on you, Weston A Price foundation, for preying on the ignorance of the carnivorous populations that are willing to read or listen to your BS.
By the way, B12 deficiencies are more common in omnis than vegans.
I think you should check out this web site and read the story by Alex Hershaft, PhD, President of FARM about his B12 experience before you go bashing some professional study by scientist who have obviously done more research then you. I also noticed that some people talk about saving the world by not eating animals, and choosing to evolve into a more sophisticated vegan people. To you people I have to say, "When was the last time you watched Nat Gio Wild?" You talk about evolution, but the process of evolution is based on a cycle of predation. One animal eats another, which causes the pray to evolve to increase his survival chances, which causes the predetor to evolve to increase his chances of catching that pray, which causes the pray to evolve again, ect., ect., ect. Without predation, there would be (nor would have been) no evolution, and eventually all animals would have died out due to a lack of diversity. Not only that have you heard of global warming ? Increased CO2 levels and all that? Well plants absorb CO2 and produce O2, which decreased global warming. Animals produce Methane (CH4) which is a greenhouse gas that is 20 times more effective at trapping heat then CO2. The more animals in the world the more CH4 will be produced, and the more global warming we will have. You Vegan's and Vegitarians alike, while trying to save the world, are actually helping to destroy it. Animals are a problem, and plants are the solution. No I'll get down of my soapbox, MY STEAK SMELLS DONE, YUM!!!
Taking a tiny sublingual B12 tablet every morning is a small price to pay to save the planet and put an end to the torture, misery and terrible deaths that 112,000 animals go through every minute of every day.
Regarding B12:
http://www.vegsoc.org/info/b12.html
http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/b12.htm
http://www.veganhealth.org/b12/vegansources
Even the US government says,
"Fortified breakfast cereals are a particularly valuable source of vitamin B12 for vegetarians."
source: http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitaminB12.asp
(I take a vegan multi-vitamin that includes B12. It's no big deal. And it's really no different than how most Americans rely on fortified dairy for vitamin D.)
If you are trying to justify that your diet is natural for human beings and that eating meat is unnatural, the fact that you need artificial supplements to remain healthy detracts from that argument.
a) My claim is that plant-based diets including vegetarianism and veganism are healthy.
b) If you're curious about B12 and plant sources or current lack thereof, you might be interested in topsoil erosion and the roll it plays. Google it.
c) Vegetarians who eat some animal products like eggs or dairy don't have to worry about B12 at all.
You are not the only vegetarian/vegan arguing for its supposed benefits. While you may not possess the delusion that man evolved as an herbivore, there are those on this site who do. The B12 claim is against that argument, not yours. In the current era, being a healthy vegan/vegetarian is possible, though not recommended by most nutritionists, due to the high level of planning and supplements required, though it is not a sustainable lifestyle for the entirety of the human species.
It does not matter how we evolved because evolution is still in play. We can choose to evolve NOW in a way that will benefit our species, other species, and the planet or we can keep eating animals, get sick, die, and destroy the Earth.
We evolved with this big brains capable of rational ethical thought. We should use our big brains to make good decisions about our health, the health of our planet, and the health of other species.
We should evolve away from dangerous animal agriculture that puts human health and worker safety at risk for profit, we should evolve away from factory farming that treats animals as commodities, we should evolve away from unnecessary violence towards other humans and other species, we should evolve towards a healthy plant-based diet, we should evolve to vegan.
I completely agree that making the decision to move towards a vegatarian diet is an evolutionary stride.
Human beings, unlike many of our fellow creatures in the animal kingdom, can make a decision on where we obtain our food . Sharks, birds , and lions can't farm, buy groceries, or barter for food. They must be opportunistic feeders, and they don't always have the luxury of choosing where, when, or how they will feed. Environment and hunting ability will play the greatest role.
To me, this is one key differentiator between humans and animals . We can use our ingenuity, our creativity, and knowledge to sustain ourselves without killing other animals. To me, that is the next part of our evolution .
Evolution isn't accidental. Decisions absolutely factor into the evolutionary process. Language is one example. Written and spoken language were evolutionary developments that took some active social development to grow and develop.
I love the taste of burgers, but I am making the hard decision to do what is right. Note that doing the right thing usually is harder than the alternative.
Evolution, by definition, requires natural selection. Since modern medicine allows the vast majority of people to reach breeding age and reproduce, natural selection has stopped, thereby ending evolution . If anything, we are sliding backwards. You cannot choose to evolve. It doesn't work that way. As far as getting sick and dying goes, that's a part of life. You will not get around it, whether you are vegetarian, vegan, on the Atkins diet, or any other crazy way of eating. Everybody gets sick and dies eventually.
When I say "choose" I mean that we can modify our behaviors. I don't mean it in a free will kind of way. I simply mean that some segment of the human population will modify their behaviors in a way that will prolong their lives and likely have long-term changes in the future of our species.
We're already seeing some of this play out:
http://www.vegansoapbox.com/meat-eating-is-maladaptive /
You're right, we can evolve to be more vegetarian . Go ahead and have as many kids as you can, and funnel rabbit food down their throats their entire lives. Then make sure they have a ton of kids each, and make sure their kids eat the same way. Also, throw some environmental pressure at them. Like only provide a set amount of food for the entire family, so only the kids who are most adept at eating greens survive, and the poor ones who don't starve.
Maybe in a dozen generations you'll have a bunch of kids with flat canines. Neat!
How long you live has zero effect on how well your adapted trait is propagated in future generations. How long you are capable of reproducing, combined with how well you can convince your offspring to adapt the same trait are the evolutionary factors that would lead to your vision of vegans evolving to take over the world.
From an evolutionary standpoint, once you are finished reproducing and caring for your offspring, you are no longer valuable, and are just a strain on the food source. That's not to say that we shouldn't value the elderly, who are excellent sources of wisdom, but rather that they are no longer affecting evolution . Prolonged life has no effect on evolution, and will have no long-term effects other than a larger population with a higher percentage of retired people.
"When I say 'choose' I mean that we can modify our behaviors. I don't mean it in a free will kind of way."
Voluntarily modifying your behavior is free will. Not to say that it's wrong, but it is not evolution. Vegetariansim and veganism are not evolution at work, but rather an emotional response from people who have become disconnected from the brutal realities of life. People die, animals die. We all bleed and suffer. It's a part of life. Embrace it.