Vitamin B12 for Vegans

A friend of ours has recently been very concerned for his fiance. She had been suffering from muscle weakness and the doctors were concerned that she was developing MS, multiple sclerosis.

The recent diagnosis was perhaps more surprising, yet a relief. She is a vegan and is suffering from a deficiency of vitamin B12. Fortunately this was discovered before permanent nerve damage had taken place, and she will be restored to full health by some changes to her diet.

People who do not get enough B12 may suffer from low energy, depression, lethargy, slowed brain function, and eventually anemia and permanent nerve damage. This is because vitamin B12 is required for cell division and the formation of new blood corpuscles.

Vitamin B12 is not present naturally in any fruits, vegetables or nuts. It is produced by bacteria. Meat, eggs, and dairy products are natural sources.

Although the actual B12 daily requirement is low, possibly as low as 1 microgram a day, vegans need to supplement their diets. Usually 2.4 micrograms is recommended. Some seaweeds, algae and soy products seem to contain B12, but it has not been shown that these are in a form that the body can absorb.

Also, bacteria in the human gut produce vitamin B12, but this occurs too low in the intestines for useful absorption.

Vegans who truly wish to avoid all animal product must add some fortified foods to their diet. Nutritional yeast is one source; as little as a tablespoon a day can provide adequate B12. Supplements in pill form are available. These usually contain 25 micrograms since the body will not absorb the vitamin efficiently.

Vegans need to exercise a little care to protect themselves from a serious health problem.

An Attractive, Useful, Nutritional Widget

web ad income today (4 blogs, 2 web sites): Adsense $.06 Adgitize $.76 Project Wonderful $.04 ______________________ Total: $.86 Total to date in April $1.72 Total in March $4.88

An Attractive, Useful Nutrition Widget

I stumbled across this widget and I like it a lot. It gives a lot of information about eating well in a compact format that is fun to use and nice to look at. For those of us who learn by visual recall it's a great "poster" of nutritional knowledge.



First of all, you can see at a glance the essential vitamins that we need and generally, in a picture to the outer edge of the wheel beside the letter denoting the vitamin, what foods provide that nutrient.

If you click on either the letter or the food you will see that the text in the bottom box changes. There are five tabs in the bottom box. The one on top is Fruit. When you click on a letter or its corresponding food picture you will see a list of fruits with that vitamin. You may click any of the other tabs. Vegetables or Nuts are similar to the information under Fruits - a list of the foods containing the vitamin.

The next tab is Benefits. You can click there to learn what this vitamin does for your body.

The final tab is Guidelines. This is perhaps not quite as obvious in its meaning. I thought that it would give recommended daily amounts. It does not. But it gives additional food sources; for example, Vitamin B12 is not found in fruit, vegetables or nuts, but rather in meat, fish and dairy products. There is also information under this tab about what problem a deficiency of the vitamin will cause.

For a quick and easy reference, this is hard to beat- much easier than looking at columns of text on a page.

If you want to share this widget, click on the bar at the bottom and social network sites will be displayed. If you want this widget for yourself just click on the star at the bottom of the widget, on the right, or go to Clearspring Vitamin Wheel

web ad income today (4 blogs, 2 web sites): Adsense $.03 Adgitize $.19 Project Wonderful $.03 ______________________ Total: $.25 Total to date in March $16.76