Vitamin B12 intake

[TheAppleCore]

According to my (relatively superficial) online research, it seems that most omnivores, let alone vegetarians or vegans, are not getting nearly enough dietary Vitamin B12. According to the Dietary Reference Intake, to get the recommended dietary allowance of B12 in a single day, you'd need to eat 7.5 ounces (nearly half a pound) of broiled top sirloin beef, or four cups of yogurt, or 7 cups of milk, or ten large eggs. The only reasonable dietary sources of vitamin B12 seem to be calf's liver, clams, trout, and salmon.

This would seem to indicate that to successfully satisfy B12 requirements with whole foods, one would need to very carefully and intentionally construct a B12-rich diet. Which is not something that most people do. Hence, widespread B12 deficiency.

Firstly, am I correct in my assumptions? Second, is B12 supplementation a reasonable solution to the problem?

 

[mgmt&mdma]

According to my (relatively superficial) online research, it seems that most omnivores, let alone vegetarians or vegans, are not getting nearly enough dietary Vitamin B12. According to the Dietary Reference Intake, to get the recommended dietary allowance of B12 in a single day, you'd need to eat 7.5 ounces (nearly half a pound) of broiled top sirloin beef, or four cups of yogurt, or 7 cups of milk, or ten large eggs. The only reasonable dietary sources of vitamin B12 seem to be calf's liver, clams, trout, and salmon.

This would seem to indicate that to successfully satisfy B12 requirements with whole foods, one would need to very carefully and intentionally construct a B12-rich diet. Which is not something that most people do. Hence, widespread B12 deficiency.

Firstly, am I correct in my assumptions? Second, is B12 supplementation a reasonable solution to the problem?

yeah your right, i was just reading about vitamin deficiencies and read that the best source of B12 was from liver:D

and yeah B12 supplementation would be the solution. unless you wanna eat 1/2lb of sirloin beef a day haha my Multivitamin has well over the RDI of the B-vitamins.

theres a few different types of b12 though. multivitamins and B-complexs usually only contain cobalamin. if your gonna get b12 as an individual supplement id look for methycobalamin because i believeeeee its the best kind.

 

[addictivepersona]

There's B12 in a plethora of foods, albeit in miniscule amounts. Your body stores enough B12 for 3-5 years and will run out if it's not replenished at all. In my opinion, I don't think B12 should be supplemented on a daily basis--I try to get a good dose of it from fortified nooch (nutritional yeast) every once in awhile, though if you drink store-bought plant milk, many are fortified with it. Also, Vegemite or marmite have it in it.

If you're concerned, I say go have blood work done to see if supplementation is necessary--That's what I'm going to do within the next couple months.

 

[Changed]

I had my blood tested after being a vegetarian/raw foodist for 2+ years and I had totally normal levels of everything.

Take a multi-vitamin and don't worry about it, I say... Or eat a can of tuna or some greek yogurt and don't worry at all.