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Vitamin B12 supplements: where to buy them on the internet
Internet natural food stores where you can buy vitamin B12 supplements and B12 fortified foods directly online:
IN USA
IN UK
They all have many totally cruelty-free brands, among which Solgar, Nature's Best, Nature's Gate, Kiss My Face, Reviva, MillCreek, Aroma Vera, Nutribiotic, Nature's Plus, and others.
Vitamin B12 (cobalamin): role, deficiency, sources
Who are the groups most at risk of vitamin B12 deficiency, and most likely to require supplementation?
- Vegans
- Lactating women
- Babies of vegan mothers
- People aged 65 and over
Vitamin B12, or cobalamin, is a bit special, in that it is perhaps the only nutrient which cannot be found in foods of vegetable origin in a digestible and assimilable form for the human body. The term for such a nutrient is "essential", meaning that it cannot be produced by the body itself but has to be found in the foods or supplements we take.
It is a precious, necessary substance. Vitamin B12 is necessary for the synthesis of red blood cells, the maintenance of the nervous system, and growth and development in children. Its deficiency due to very low B12 intakes can cause anaemia. Vitamin B12 neuropathy, involving the degeneration of nerve fibres and irreversible neurological damage to the nervous system, can also happen.
Despite much research, no reliable plant sources of vitamin B12 have been found. Soya products, algae and seaweeds have all been reported to contain significant B12. This could be the result of bacterial contamination, or it could be an "analogue" of B12 which is not biologically active.
However, whatever the reason, the current nutritional consensus is that any B12 present in plant foods is likely to be unavailable to humans, and so vegetable foods should not be relied on as safe sources of vitamin B12.
Nutritionists recommend that vegans, ie the strict vegetarians who only consume foods of vegetable origin, take commercially available vitamin B12 supplements, or include in their diet foods fortified with vitamin B12.
Many vegan foods are indeed supplemented with B12, so a range of B12 fortified foods are available to vegans. These include yeast extracts, Vecon vegetable stock, veggieburger mixes, textured vegetable protein, soya (or soy) milks, other soy products, some plant milks, vegetable and sunflower margarines, fortified orange juice, nutritional yeast, and many breakfast and other cereals.
In the UK, you can buy many of these foods directly via the internet from Tesco online. You can find them quickly by typing their name in its search box. You have to register first, but it'll take only a few seconds:
Pregnant women are not thought to require any extra B12, though little is known about this.
Lactating women need extra B12 to ensure an adequate supply in breast milk.
Also, the US Institute of Medicine recommends that babies of vegan mothers are supplemented with B12 from birth because their stores at birth and their mother's milk supply may be low.
Another group of people for whom medical authorities recommend vitamin B12 supplements are older people over 65.
B12 has very low toxicity and high intakes are not thought to be dangerous.
B12, as all vitamins of the group B, is a water-soluble vitamin. That means 2 things:
- it cannot be easily stored in the body, and therefore it requires small intakes frequently; its stability in foods is also variable, and it may be destroyed by heat, light and cooking
- its risk of toxicity is low, because high intakes are usually excreted in urine.
The recommended daily amount of vitamin B12 in the UK (called RNI, Reference Nutrient Intake) is:
- 1.5 µg (micrograms) for adults generally
- 2 µg for lactating women.
- 2.4 µg for adults generally
- 2.6 µg for pregnant women
- 2.8 µg for lactating women.
Professor Tom Sanders, research director of nutrition and dietetics at King's College in London, made a study of vegan nutrition which followed children from conception to the age of 26, and showed that the development of vegans was normal.
Professor Sanders said.
Their diet in developed countries contains plenty of wheat, soy, pulse and salads, and provided they avoid Vitamin B12 deficiency by eating fortified foods or supplements, they are not at any disadvantage,
Sir Paul McCartney, the ex-Beatle who has been a strict vegetarian for 20 years, said he had raised his children as non-meat eaters with no ill-effects.
It has been a good thing for me and my children, who are no shorter than other children,
he said.
Britain's 500,000 vegans and vegetarians had half the mortality rate of the general population, Sir Paul added.
Vitamin B12, whether in supplements, fortified foods, or animal products, comes from micro-organisms.
Most vegans consume enough B12 to avoid nervous system damage and anaemia, but not many get enough of it to minimise potential risk of heart disease or pregnancy complications.
If relying on fortified foods, check the labels carefully to make sure you are obtaining enough B12. Others may find the use of B12 supplements more convenient and economical. The less often you get B12 the more B12 you need to take, as B12 is best absorbed in small amounts.
Other, non-human primates get their necessary vitamin B12 from feces, dirt, unchlorinated water, and insects. Some people believe that this essential vitamin once occurred naturally on the surfaces of potatoes, beets, and other root vegetables, and the end of the use of natural fertilizers has caused it to disappear from our soil.
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