Comparison of the quality and amount of Vitamin B12 in animal versus plant-based foods and whether the gut produces this nutrient in usable form.
Modern dietary propaganda consistently gets it wrong…very VERY wrong…when it comes to the critical nutrient Vitamin B12.
The false notions pertaining to proper food sources of B12 have resulted in epidemic numbers of people being deficient in this all-important nutrient. The health consequences of this can be nothing short of devastating over the long term.
Vitamin B12 Deficiency Signs
Deficiency of B12 is extremely dangerous to health and can lead to dementia and even death if not rectified.
Early symptoms include paleness and overall weakness and fatigue. As the anemia caused by B12 deficiency progresses, symptoms can mimic aging.
Thus, some physicians can easily dismiss these signs as a somehow natural or “normal” occurrence.
Later signs include shaky hands or spastic movement in general, sleeping disorders, unsteady gait, incontinence, and memory loss.
Easy bruising is one of the most visible signs. Personality disorders and anger issues can also sometimes manifest.
For those trying to lose weight and using fascia blasting devices to help reduce the appearance of fat, severe bruising can occur.
Nervous system, reproductive, and digestive problems such as depression, tingling hands/feet, stomach upset, constipation (or diarrhea), and difficulties getting pregnant are also warning signs of low B12 status.
Children with B12 deficiency are particularly at risk with permanent damage to development a very real possibility. Growth retardation, delay in motor skill development, and significantly reduced problem-solving, spatial ability, and overall ability to learn are the consequences of low B12 in the developing years.
The real culprit in the B12 deficiency epidemic (by some estimates, about 40% of people are deficient and most are completely unaware of the situation), is the demonization and consequent avoidance of B12 rich foods by a duped public.
B12 High in Animal Foods
The very foods highest in B12, particularly pastured organ meats and fresh eggs, are the very same ones erroneously labeled as unhealthy by conventional nutritional circles. These include:
- liver
- egg yolks
- kidney
- meat (cooking meat only destroys B12 on the surface, not the interior of the meat)
- fish
- shellfish
- dairy products. Note that raw dairy has more B12 than pasteurized. In addition, the milk enzymes that assist with absorbing this nutrient are present in unprocessed dairy.
Ironically, these very same foods were revered by Traditional Societies. The reason is that they imparted vibrant health, vitality, fertility, and healthy babies and children to those that consumed them:
Do Gut Bacteria Produce B12?
Because the original source of B12 in nature is bacteria, some nutritional sources confuse the issue by maintaining that beneficial B12 is synthesized by gut flora in the colon of humans.
While this may be true, the B12 that is produced this way is not in a usable form. The body is able to absorb very little if any bacteria-produced B12 across the walls of the large intestine or colon.
The reason is that the bacteria produced B12 in the gut is not attached to the “intrinsic factor” (IF). This is a special protein that is secreted in the stomach.
B12 must attach to an intrinsic factor protein to be absorbed effectively. This happens when B12 binds with the intrinsic factor that has been broken down by pancreatic enzymes in the small intestine.
The tightly bound B12-intrinsic factor complex then moves through the gut to the Ileum or lower portion of the small intestine. From there, it attaches to cell receptors for absorption.
B12 in Plant Foods
Contrary to claims by the vegan community, usable B12 is not available in algae like clean sources of spirulina or tempeh (a fermented soy product).
The B12 found in these foods is similar to true B12 but not exactly the same thing. The B12 in brewer’s yeast also called nutritional yeast, is due to factory fortification. In other words, it is a synthetic source and not naturally occurring.
Algae Contains B12 Imposter
Studies have indicated that these B12 analogs in algae and tempeh are not bioavailable. Blood levels of the nutrient did not change even after these plant-based foods were added to the diet.
Even worse, these B12 imposters can actually inhibit the absorption of true vitamin B12 as the result of a competitive situation in the digestive system. This puts those that avoid animal foods at an even greater risk for deficiency!
Hindu Vegans without B12 Deficiency
Proponents of the B12 in plant foods myth like to point out that Hindus from India do not seem to suffer from any B12 deficiency despite a diet that includes no animal foods.
However, the discussion conveniently omits that vegan Hindus that move to England quickly develop B12 deficiency symptoms. This is the case even if they continue to follow their Indian diet.
Why?
This is because, in India, the plant foods consumed by vegans include many insects and insect larvae via unprocessed grains.
In England, insects and their residues are completely removed from plant foods before they are consumed. This occurs due to more modern processing methods. This removes the tiny and yet plentiful animal foods serving to preserve the Hindu vegans’ health in their traditional homeland.
Can B12 Supplements Fill the Gap?
It is always best to seek critical nutrients like B12 from food. However, if absorption is not optimal due to digestive issues or restrictive food philosophy, supplementation can become necessary.
The best whole food supplement for B12 is desiccated liver tested to be glyphosate free.
For extremely low B12 status, this is an excellent brand to raise levels rapidly.
The pathways for the uptake of this critical nutrient are very complicated. In addition, common physical issues such as reduced stomach acid, compromised protein digestion, lack of pancreatic enzymes, and autoimmune disorders can cause disruption in the absorption process.
Preventatively, the best approach is plentiful servings of foods rich in B12. This liver and bacon pate recipe is a delicious way to get this sometimes difficult food into your family. This single dietary tweak can easily avoid this common nutrient deficiency by maintaining optimal levels for maximum vitality.
References
(1) Myths of Vegetarianism
(2) Vegetarian Myths
(3) Vitamin B12 Food Sources
(4) Vitamin B12 from Algae Appears Not to be Bioavailable
(5) Vitamin B12: Plant Sources, Requirements, and Assay
(6) B12 Deficiency
I have to respectfully disagree with some of your info. I believe yes there is a good deal of b12 deficiency going on but Come on the Hindu Indians eat enough bugs unbeknownst to them to keep levels up? That to me is completely ubsurd. Thank you but I will continue on my journey in vegetarianism and keep taking my b12 and using my nutritional yeast with no problems and no deficiencies unlike some of my meat eating friends and family 🙂
I agree, living in India now, after regular stays for over 20 years. Hindus are vegetarian, not vegan, which is a strange man made construct. So, cow and buffalo are everywhere and milk and its many byproducts are common foods that we Hindus consume. And I can assure you, my foods don’t have insects in them! Wild theory that is itself a myth, so let’s bust that one, too, shall we?
however the bruise shown can be low vit c. i bruise easy if I don’t take 2000 of c everyday.
Hi Sarah
we have been bone brothing and as we live in Greece we have pretty healthy food, and we can get very fresh, wild goat and naturally raised sheep. However all the beef comes from Holland and it is probably not grass fed, they are exporting huge quantities of beef at lower prices to big supermarkets. These are the bones we have been making broth with. Our dilemma, better not eat broth at all or use these beef bones anyway, we do ozone them first.
the bones we get for free, no one else uses them here. The goat does not have bones that we can buy for bones only cuts which have bones but they are very expensive.
Thank you
How do you ozone bones??
We have an ozonator, they are quite common and reasonably cheap here in Europe. it is a little box that when plugged in produces ozone, it has a plastic tube with a stone diffuser on the end. this you put in your water and it cleans the water of microbes, parasites, viruses, and changes some metals, it gets rid of chlorine in the water too. After about 5 mins the ozone diminishes in the water, which is now purified, but if you are doing ozone therapy you have to drink the water right away.
SO, getting to your question, when you want to clean vegetables or chicken , meat bones etc you put them in a basin of water and ozone it for 5 to 10 mins and voila!! everything is clean!! Debatable how much it removes of antibiotics, hormones in meat which is why I want to know how safe it is to make bone broth from cows that come from who knows where and are fed who know what??!!!etc
Vitamin D is another classic example of a deficiently that (in general) has to be addressed via animal protein. It can be obtained from the sun, however in Northern climates in the winter it becomes a big problem. For African Americans such as myself, and even bigger issue, since we can’t get it from the sun. Nonetheless, Wild Caught Alaskan Salmon is the most practical way to consistently get it into your diet. Another way is cod liver oil, but it has a horrible taste, although they are making flavored cod liver oil now. I have optimal vitamin d levels of 46.5, whereas most African Americans score in the teens or even single digits, and lighter skinned Americans often score in the low 20’s. When you get below 20 you are in that danger zone. I wrote a blog article on it : http://www.gaiahealthblog.com/2012/03/06/a-case-for-quality-animal-protein-optimal-vitamin-d-levels-from-salmon/
Hi Sarah, Thanks for this post. Do you have any information about how well we absorb the b vitamins from kombucha? The store bought version I buy lists a pretty significant amount of b, including b 12. I drink quite a bit of it and assume it’s a good back up when I am not eating much in the way of organs. What do you think, is this a usable form for my body? Thanks very much!
Also, if you have the MTHFR mutation as I do, you need to take a methyl version of B12 for it to absorb. I am new to this so cannot explain well, but you can google MTHFR and B12 to read more about it. More and more people are testing positive for this mutation which can be very bad if left undiagnosed. I also have to take a methyl version of folate as well, for life.
Gut bacteria I think does play a role in proper absorption of B12 from animal foods, though.
My daughter was seriously B12 deficient as a toddler, despite that she ate lots of grass-fed beef and eggs. We knew from blood tests that her body was unable to absorb or make use of the B12.
We did GAPS with her and have been working on fermented foods since then. She is no longer deficient, to my knowledge. She made huge developmental leaps that her doctor felt were related to B12 after GAPS. I have read that another early sign of B12 deficiency is not remembering your dreams…and she now tells me about vivid ones she has had (she is almost 5).
So if your gut flora is disturbed you may not be able to benefit from the animal foods…both are important.
I live in India and most vegetarians here consume dairy and eggs, there are no insects on the produce here unless it’s from an organic farm which is rare. The use of pesticides is way over the top ridiculous. Non organic produce is completely unsafe. The farmers have no idea how to read instructions for pesticides and so sometimes use wrong amounts and even the wrong pesticide… A friend of mine is a mango farmer and when I asked him does he use pesticides he answered ‘of course!!, it’s a commercial venture and everyone does it!’ Pesticides banned in other countries like the USA are used liberally here. They even spray bananas just for the heck of it.
My (Indian) friends Auntie however is vegetarian but consumed a litre of raw milk a day. She’s still alive at 106 and is in the guiness book of records for still having all her teeth in tact at 100 or 103… Anyway she’s the oldest known living person with all her teeth.
Another great post, Sarah. In an effort to get more organ meats for my daughter who is healing well from rheumatoid arthritis, I scored an awful lot of offal from a grassfed beef farmer. We got pancreas, kidney, brain, heart, oxtail, tongue….
So. Okay. How do I now prepare these foods in such a way that my family will eat and swallow? Do you have recipes for sausage, haggis type stuff, or other ideas?
There are some great cookbooks for this, like Odd Bits by Jennifer McLagan and the series of Whole Beast nose-to-tail books by Fergus Henderson. Many old cookbooks have organ recipes — even my 1964 edition of Joy of Cooking is loaded with them. Or just Google by ingredient and see what you get.
Thanks, I liked the part about “insects and insect larvae”, Now it makes sense. I suppose primates consume insects along with their fruit. I wonder if cows also eat insects when eating grass. What about Adam and Eve, if their fruit wasn’t sprayed, did they also consume insects?