For Vegans

[Guest guest]

For all pure vegetarians

No doubt there must be something in the files for the following ,nevertheless , being a vegetarian on and off for some time and now the longest period of time I have been a vegan,(6 years) I came across a potential problem that I have now corrected.

To me the problem is B12.

Because vitamin B12 is found in animal but not vegetable foods, complete vegetarianism may lead to deficiency.

Vitamin B12 was the last of the vitamins to be isolated (in 1948). It is water-soluble, has the highest molecular weight (1,355) of any vitamin, and is absorbed by a complex mechanism. Failure of absorption (pernicious anemia) is more common than dietary deficiency. Vitamin B12 is found only in animal foods, so that vegans (pure vegetarians) are at risk of deficiency over the course of several years. The requirement of vitamin B12 is (with vitamin D) the smallest of all the vitamins, only two micrograms per day, with liver stores usually enough to last for five years of deprivation. Vitamin B12 participates with folic acid in DNA synthesis so its deficiency leads to a similar anemia. There is a separate effect of vitamin B12 deficiency on the nervous system.

The problem was excacurbated by the fact that I don't drink milk or eat butter(animal fats) ( I just don't like the taste).

So all ye Vegans out there can you possibly add anything to this . I am now taking a supplement that contains B12 and thiamine and my supplement conforms to all 13 true vitamins.( Most multivitamin preparations do not contain all 13 true vitamins, and the doses of vitamins they do contain usually deviate far from their RDAs. ).

Is the solution to eat meat for a month every 5 years?

Barrie