How do I get vitamin B12 as a vegan and how do I know if I am getting enough? 

 

The adage used to be that it was best if vegans took one B12 pill of 1000 micrograms a week.  Now, the instructions are a bit more specific, and ensuring adequate amounts of Vitamin B12 for everyone – not just vegans – is recommended by the experts. 

 

We turned to Vegan for Life (Jack Morris and Virginia Messina, both Registered Dieticians) for updated instructions on this topic.  In their book, they tell two important things to remember.  The first item to know is that it is best to take a Vitamin B12 that is either chewable or sublingual (dissolves under the tongue) as it may not be well absorbed if simply swallowed.  The second item to know is that the body can only absorb small amounts of Vitamin B12 at a time.  So, they suggest that we do one of the following:

 

-Eat 2 servings daily of B12 fortified foods providing 1.5 to 2.5 micrograms of B12 each.

-Take a B12 supplement of at least 25 micrograms daily (25 to 100 micrograms)

-Take a B12 supplement of 1000 micrograms twice a week.

 

If you choose to go the first route, foods that are likely to be fortified with Vitamin B12 include some brands of nutritional yeast, many brands of soy milk, meat analogues, cereals and protein bars, and Marmite yeast extract.  Check brands and serving sizes for B12 content. 

 

If you’d like to learn more via video, we really like the videos and blogs found at Dr. Michael Greger’s site, www.nutritionfacts.org   Specifically, see  http://nutritionfacts.org/?s=b12 for a choice of videos on many aspects of Vitamin B12, and for a short blog on this topic see: http://nutritionfacts.org/questions/what-is-the-best-way-to-get-b12/   Dr. Greger discusses various types of B12, where to get it, where it’s cheapest, and much more.

 

Note that you can sign up for Dr.  Greger’s daily or weekly emails for free, and you will get informative short videos and blogs on various nutrition related topics as well as being able to research his website for nutrition information, as we did here.  We highly recommend it!

 

For additional information, please see http://nutritionstudies.org/12-questions-answered-regarding-vitamin-b12/