Seriously, take a B12 supplement!
I've been vegan for nearly 4 years now and in March I had my first bloodwork in about 7 years. Everything came back fine, except the doctor said that my red blood cells were large (macrocytosis). She said that can be caused by liver or thyroid problems, but that both of those looked normal on my test. So, I fessed up and told her I was vegan. "That's it!" she cried (just like Lucy Van Pelt), "It can be caused by vitamin B12 deficiency!" And she showed me this article http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/now/apr15/.
So I told her about how a nutritionist told me a long time ago that I should take a sublingual B12 supplement, even if I eat fortified foods, because it's not well absorbed through the digestive system. I had started taking it but then slacked off, thinking that the dosage of my supplement was so large (1000 mcg) that I could just take it once in a while and be fine.
The doctor and I agreed that I would go back to taking the sublingual B12 supplement regularly and come back for another test in a couple of months. So I started taking them again, first 2000 mcg per day for 2 weeks, then 500 mcg per day (still more than I really need, but it's easier to remember to take it daily and it was easiest to cut the pills in half). I just got the results of my second test, and my blood cells, B12 and folic acid levels were normal. Yay!
In the meantime, I saw this item by vegan dietitian Jack Norris that he had upwardly revised his recommendations for B12 intake, because research showed that intake high enough to prevent macrocytosis was not enough to prevent elevated homocysteine levels, which can "increase risk of heart disease and stroke and pregnancy complications".
The moral of the story (especially if you're not young anymore): even if you're drinking fortified soy milk every day and eating all the nutritional yeast in the world, take a supplement! We want a lot of healthy vegans running around!
More info: http://veganhealth.org/articles/vitaminb12
I couldn't agree more. I take it every day.
At 47 years old I've never been stronger or healthier in in my life.
I take. . .
B mult-vitamin
Alpha Lipoic Acid
L-Lysene
. . . and the fountain of youth - DHEA.
What brands do you two take? I went to the vitamin store and my co-op today and was completely overwhelmed by their wall of vitamins.
This is the one I take:
http://www.thriftyvegan.com/images/b12.jpg
(I put a link to it in my post, but the link text isn't really easy to see.)
eta: There I fixed it.
awesome, thanks!
I never thought so much of taking vitamins, figuring my nutritional yeast intake was good enough. Until I developed cracks in the side of my lips and the culprit... lack of b12!
Now I religiously take my B12 supplement everyday!
Thanks for sharing!
do we have to take them for the rest of our lives? Everyday?
Anyone know a time frame? I used to take a bottle every 2 years. but im slack and probably this one has taken 3 years to finish.. i probably go good for 2 months taking them and then forget opps...
I eat probably nothing fortified because there isnt anything here that is!
I used to use Freeda Vitamin 12 with 250 mcg
Yes, you do need to take B12 for the rest of your life, but not necessarily every day. I just find it easier to remember to take it daily. You could, for instance, take it twice a week but you'd have to take a much larger dose. If you're taking 250 mcg just once in a while, then that's not enough, according to VeganHealth.org.
Here is the recommendation from VeganHealth: http://veganhealth.org/b12/rec
is it possible to get too high of a daily dose? i always buy the highest mcg because i thought thats what i had to do. :/ should i not do that? lol
i have been noticing some problems with short term memory loss... and i will be the first one to admit i am not a healthy vegan eater... but ya i got Deva B12, DHA, and ALA on amazon... i plan on taking them every morning at work with my Odwalla Chocolate Soy Protein or Naked Juice, hopefully this weird bout of mental fog will clear
AFAIK, B12 can be stored in your body for upto 3 months, and lots of pts who are B12 deficient get 3 monthly intramuscular B12 injections, so like veggydog said, you could take a larger dose of B12 but less frequently - if you remember!!
B12 supplements are generally not very well absorbed when taken orally, but even so 1000mcg daily does seem excessive - in the UK we used to recommend 50-100mcg for B12 deficiency.
I personally don't think that you can have too much B12 in your supplement as it's a water soluble vitamin and your body will just excrete the unused amount. It's more the fat soluble vitamins that you need to be careful about taking too much, as they are stored in fat and not as easily excreted.
I'm too lazy to take a B12 supplement, but maybe I should look into it again.
is it possible to get too high of a daily dose? i always buy the highest mcg because i thought thats what i had to do. :/ should i not do that? lol
Like shelloid said, you don't really need to take that much, but it shouldn't hurt you. According to this other article the doctor gave me, "no upper limit has been set" for B12:
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/vitamin-b/
I get monthly B12 shots. Even with them my B12 levels sit at just above the bottom "ok" numbers. It works better for me than pills.
I would not take the dose of 1000 mcg or higher because that is overkill and the body tries to eliminate what you don't need (through the intestines I think), unless you're MD specifically says you're low in B12 (such as the OP). Many meat eaters are low in B12 as well, and it's an important vitamin for sure, but without a bloodtest, I would stick to the RDA or the recommendations in the OP's post.
How do we know how much gets absorbed? I have 1,000 mcg sublinguals because B-12 doesn't absorb well, but I'm not sure if I'm just paying for expensive pee.
I think sublinguals absorb better and you shouldn't worry since it's going through your bloodstream and not your GI tract.
I suppose the only way to know if you're getting enough is to get a B12 level drawn next time you go to the doctor, if you go regularly. But if you've never been told your anemic, you're probably o.k.
1000 mcg is the dose many MDs subscribe to people with known deficieincies and they don't prescribe it daily for the rest of their life, just until their levels improve and then maybe a monthly shot. Daily, perhaps if they have a known absorption problem.
I don't suppose it's doing you any harm, but my guess if you have expensive poop (which I think it where it comes out, not your pee...which is why they manure grown vegetables might have some B12 on it if you don't wash too well....eeewww), since you probably don't need that much daily.
I take B-100 Complex and make sure that it has B12 in it.
On the subject of Omegas, I tried Deva and didn't really like it. Does anyone have any other recommendations? I'm on the fence about taking these anyway because I recently read a study that said omegas (they used fish oil) don't improve cognition like once thought. The article I read though wasn't very clear but I'm a "safe than sorry" type of person so I thought I would try it out anyway.
On the subject of Omegas, I tried Deva and didn't really like it.
Dude I just got the Omega ones in the mail and the pills are freaking huge... Hopefully I can swallow them :(
On the subject of Omegas, I tried Deva and didn't really like it.
Dude I just got the Omega ones in the mail and the pills are freaking huge... Hopefully I can swallow them :(
Oh yeah! I tried to do that thing where you try to throw it in your mouth and quickly drink a big thing of water but it ends up not going down or it'll start but come back up again. Then I would have a slimy pill left to try to force down somehow.