Be smart, eat B12

Why do you believe in a vegan diet, if you do that is? For many it's about the environment, for others about the health benefits of eating a plant-based diet. And it is true, by saying yes to eating more gorgeous veggies, fruits, legumes and grains you in many ways open the doors to a vitamin-stuffed healthy diet. The health benefits of going vegan have been proved, but there is one little aspect that even I want to close my eyes and not think about. I don't believe in eating supplements. Instead I believe in a complete and varied diet, planned to include everything I need. For a long time I've held on to my no-vitamin-pills-conviction. But I may have to loosen my views on the subject a bit because of a one important vitamin known as B12.

B12 is a large and complex vitamin that is found in meat, fish, dairy and eggs. Not great for vegans... The reason it is only found in these foods is because B12 is the only vitamin that can solely be synthesized by microorganism. These microorganism (bacteria mostly) usually live in the intestines of animals. Through fermentation these bacteria produce B12. Herbivores either have to digest food in a way that enables this production or eat foods that have been in contact with feces. That may sound slightly disgusting, but when you think about it, feces is just natural manure. For us humans, this is not a suitable source, since natural manure is far from always used, we wash our produce a bit too well and the levels are too low anyhow. It has been shown that certain fermented foods contain B12 produced from the bacteria that perform the fermentation. Also, some bacteria in the human gut can produce B12, but it is not known if the amounts produced are high enough.

This leads us to a slightly troubling situation for vegans. B12 is necessary for cell renewal, carbon metabolism, DNA synthesis, intracellular reactions and production of red blood cells. Quite important bodily functions to say the least. Deficiencies on the other hand can lead to increased levels of homocysteine in the body. We're getting into some big word here, but to keep it simple homocysteine is an amino acid created from dietary sources of another amino acid, methionine. Increased levels of homocysteine in the body, known as hyperhomocysteinemia (try saying that fast), has been showed to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease as well a the risk of dementia. B12 plays an important role in the metabolism of homocysteine, together with folic acid. Symptoms of B12 deficiency are quite generic and not very specific. They include fatigue, problems with digestion, frequent infections in the respiratory system, decreased appetite, anxiety and mild depression. That is, pretty much the same symptoms as any other vitamin or mineral deficiency. It has been shown though that B12 deficiencies are much more common among people on a plant-based diet, as are increased levels of homocysteine. Which is a bummer to say the least.

So does this mean that a vegan diet is not preferable, or even suitable for humans? Apparently it does not give us everything we need. Well, I would say that depends on the reason you eat only vegan food. If your sole reason is getting the most natural and complete diet and not taking any supplements, then you might want eat an egg or drink some milk every now and then. But if the reason is that you believe it to be a good move to save the environment, want to reduce animal suffering or enjoy the large number of other health benefits and feel good eating vegan you might consider supplements after all. After all, the reason I don't like supplemental vitamins is because I feel like people use them as an easier alternative to eating an actually healthy diet. A vegan diet on the other hand, is healthy, just has some minor setbacks. Eating vegan is my small way of contributing to saving the planet, and it would really be too bad not to be able to do that just because carrots don't have intestines with bacteria in them.

All sources I've encountered say that B12 supplements are necessary for vegans. Luckily the producers of vegan foods know this. Therefore B12 is added to many vegan staple food such as plant milks and cereal. Nutritional yeast (that happens to have a crazily cheesy flavor) is often also enriched with B12. There are also dietary supplements available that give you all the B12 you need. As I started of by saying, I may have to reconsider my negative view of supplements in order to stay on a vegan diet. I make my own granola and my own oat milk and therefore probably don't get my B12 from enriched foods. At the end of the day I don't want a B12 deficiency to stop me from being vegan. My advice to you is to look over your diet and make sure you get the recommended amounts of B12, as it turns out to be a quite important little vitamin.

Stay healthy!