Why don't more people know this?

Question

My nutritionist has brought up the issue of vitamin B12 to me recently (i'm vegan) and says that veganism is not a sustainable way of eating because there are no natural forms of B12 in a soely plant based diet. Shouldn't she know that there is B12 in sea vegetables such as Nori, Hijiki, Wakame, Dulse flakes, Arame, etc. I mean, I'm 16 years old and I know these things- shouldn't she have known this?

And why do most people stay ignorant to this?

Additional Details

Thanks everyone for your imput.

Noah: Maybe I should exclude my age next time so I don't get such a biased answer. It was a genuine question- no need to label me and shut the door.

Tulsi: You could be right- she is probably in her late 40's, early 50's.

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

They have not ever been proven as a reliable or substantial way to get B12 in any reliable scientific trial. And if it was before, it's definitely not after processing it. It's not a big deal though, if you manage what you eat with fortified food, like Red Star nutritional yeast or other fortified vegan foods. And if you don't get enough from that, then just take a vegan supplement. I like thinking of the B12 problem as a problem resulting from a separation from nature. We'd get it if we ate root plants right out the soil, but we don't (because our soil is so full of pesticides, fertilizers, and pollutants).

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

Right on.


Thanks everyone else for your imput.

Answer 2

those sea vegetables you mentioned seem to be used primarily in chinese and japanese foods. I'm 17 and white and these vegetables sound like complete gibberish to be. You seem to be genuinely upset that your nutritionist is not aware of this, and perhaps you should be; it is her job to know. but at the same time, maybe she is not aware of these things in her personal life and because of this, cannot use it as a resource to help you. i don't think this has anything to do with ignorance, it has to do with exposure and experience.

Source(s):

speculation

Answer 3

Well, nutritionists are often taught in the most basic education of that particular field. It's up to them to educate themselves further with outside research. Some nutritionists might know this. They can either educate people on a vegan diet, or they can choose to believe there are no B12 alternatives other than meat or dairy.

Here's an article I found, by a doctor, that say vegans can get plenty of B12, and it doesn't have to be a deficiency at all. I'm not sure of all of this, as I'm not a nutritionist or doctor myself, but you can read over it and make up your own decision.

http://www.roylretreat.com/articles/b12.…

Try this site as well. It discusses natural B12 sources as well.

http://www.veganhealth.org/b12/plant

Source(s):

Noah does have a point. There are very conflicting opinions about B12. It's difficult to muddle through all of the articles and studies. How can the average person be sure what they are reading is the truth?

You are going to have to go with your intuition. You may want to have an appointment with your doctor, and have them take blood, so you can make sure if you have a deficiency or not.

Answer 4

Dr. Stephen Walsh, trustee of the Vegan Union wrote a very interesting article about the lack of B12 in vegans and vegetarians. While most get enough to survive, many don't get enough B12 to prevent heart disease and pregnancy complications. Pay special attention to the second to last paragraph for test results on seaweeds. .


Here it is:

. by Stephen Walsh, Ph.D., Trustee of The Vegan Society [U.K.],
and other members of the International Vegetarian Union
science group (IVU-SCI)
(Attention: see reproduction restrictions specified below.)



Very low B12 intakes can cause anemia and nervous system damage.
Clinical deficiency can cause anaemia or nervous system damage. Most vegans consume enough B12 to avoid clinical deficiency. Two subgroups of vegans are at particular risk of B12 deficiency: long-term vegans who avoid common fortified foods (such as raw food vegans or macrobiotic vegans) and breastfed infants of vegan mothers whose own intake of B12 is low.



The only reliable vegan sources of B12 are foods fortified with B12 (including some plant milks, some soy products and some breakfast cereals) and B12 supplements. Vitamin B12, whether in supplements, fortified foods, or animal products, comes from micro-organisms.

Most vegans consume enough B12 to avoid anaemia and nervous system damage, but many do not get enough to minimise potential risk of heart disease or pregnancy complications.

To get the full benefit of a vegan diet, vegans should do one of the following:

eat fortified foods two or three times a day to get at least three micrograms (mcg or mg) of B12 a day or
take one B12 supplement daily providing at least 10 micrograms or
take a weekly B12 supplement providing at least 2000 micrograms.
If relying on fortified foods check the labels carefully to make sure you are getting enough B12. For example, if a fortified plant milk contains 1 microgram of B12 per serving then consuming three servings a day will provide adequate vitamin B12. Others may find the use of B12 supplements more convenient and economical.

The less frequently you obtain B12 the more B12 you need to take, as B12 is best absorbed in small amounts. The recommendations above take full account of this. There is no harm in exceeding the recommended amounts or combining more than one option.

This is not however the end of the story. Most vegans show adequate B12 levels to make clinical deficiency unlikely but nonetheless show restricted activity of B12 related enzymes, leading to elevated homocysteine levels. Strong evidence has been gathered over the past decade that even slightly elevated homocysteine levels increase risk of heart disease and stroke and pregnancy complications. Homocysteine levels are also affected by other nutrients, most notably folate. General recommendations for increased intakes of folate are aimed at reducing levels of homocysteine and avoiding these risks. Vegan intakes of folate are generally good, particularly if plenty of green vegetables are eaten. However, repeated observations of elevated homocysteine in vegans, and to a lesser extent in other vegetarians, show conclusively that B12 intake needs to be adequate as well to avoid unnecessary risk.

If for any reason you choose not to use fortified foods or supplements you should recognise that you are carrying out a dangerous experiment - one that many have tried before with consistently low levels of success. If you are an adult who is neither breast-feeding an infant, pregnant nor seeking to become pregnant, and wish to test a potential B12 source that has not already been shown to be inadequate, then this can be a reasonable course of action with appropriate precautions. For your own protection, you should arrange to have your B12 status checked annually. If homocysteine or MMA is even modestly elevated then you are endangering your health if you persist.

If you are breast feeding an infant, pregnant or seeking to become pregnant or are an adult contemplating carrying out such an experiment on a child, then donât take the risk. It is simply unjustifiable.

Claimed sources of B12 that have been shown through direct studies of vegans to be inadequate include human gut bacteria, spirulina, dried nori, barley grass and most other seaweeds. Several studies of raw food vegans have shown that raw food offers no special protection.

Reports that B12 has been measured in a food are not enough to qualify that food as a reliable B12 source. It is difficult to distinguish true B12 from analogues that can disrupt B12 metabolism. Even if true B12 is present in a food, it may be rendered ineffective if analogues are present in comparable amounts to the true B12. There is only one reliable test for a B12 source ö does it consistently prevent and correct deficiency? Anyone proposing a particular food as a B12 source should be challenged to present such evidence.





Good information supports vegan health, pass it around.

Source(s):

www.beyondveg.com

Answer 5

How old is your nutritionist?
The older ones tend to have a solid belief of a traditional healthy diet. Veganism and vegetarianism isn't as popular as it is now.

Answer 6

Yup - at age 16 you know it all. Certainly more than those silly doctors and nutritionists.

BTW - the Vegetarian Resouce Group (www.vrg.org) states that:

"When only active vitamin B12 is measured, plant foods including fermented soyfoods and sea vegetables do not contain significant amounts of active vitamin B12"

They cite this paper as the source: van den Berg H, Dagnelie PC, van Staveren WA. Vitamin B12 and seaweed. Lancet 1988;1:242-3.

The full article about B12 and veg*ns is at: http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/b12.htm

So it isn't like some old-school anti-veg*n group telling you that - it is vegetarians who study nutrition who tell you that.

Just because something satisfies your view of the world as it should be - doesn't make it true.

Answer 7

As you can see, this is a large debate. B12 for vegans is most easily obtained naturally through fermented foods. For anyone claiming that vegan B12 sources are somehow inferior, keep in mind that there are two forms of B12: cyanocobalamin and methylcobalamin. The body must convert the cyano form into the methyl form to use. In plants, the cyano form is present. Guess what kind is present in animal products? Yep, the cyano version as well. Methylcobalamin is only found in the laboratory, and is made into supplements...even then, most B12 supplements are in the cyano form anyway.

Source(s):

vegan bodybuilder and personal trainer

Answer 8

nutritionists are usually fat
They offer people things like yogurt when they say they are vegan
They think cottage cheese is a healthy choice for protein
They are useless

Source(s):

wheatgerm has b12

Answer 9

most studies show that the b12 in seaweed is an in-active form not usable by the body, and some studies show it actually interferes with absorption of active B12 so can actually lower your levels.

it is true that there are no natural forms of b12 in a plant diet (except eating faeces on veg - and incidentally many many tribes people do eat animal droppings, buffalo droppings, etc, and most animals eat other species feaces, so it is actually natural to eat, and was probably a part of the diet we evolved on)
humans evolved eating meat - at the point in our evolutionary history when we were vegetarian we were apes. modern humans have always eaten meat. it is our natural diet. but so what? popping a b12 pill is not hard, not a big deal, and is a perfectly "sustainable way of eating"