more on b12 deficiency

[Guest guest]

Sent to me privately, but I wanted to reply publicly, so the author

is not identified:

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Marjorie, did you all do a search on meating-eating diets and B12

deficiencies? It is my understanding that more meat-eating people

show a deficiency in B12 than vegans/vegetarians.

B12 deficiency is an environmenal, world-wide issue. B12 is a

bacteria that lives in the soil. Animals ingest it when they eat

grass, etc. Humans used to ingest it when eating vegetables. As

well, in a healthy gut, B12 can be manufactured by both animals and

humans. However, due to the harmful farming practicies used world-

wide, the earth's soil has become alarmly deficient in B12 bacteria.

Add to this that most people scrub their vegetables as well most

people cook their vegetables before eating them, it's no wonder that

people are becoming B12 deficient.

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First, B12 is not a bacteria -- it is a vitamin that is made by

bacteria. Yes, the bacteria in our bodies makes B12, but even in the

healthiest individuals the majority is made in the lower intestines,

whereas B12 absorption takes place higher in the GI tract (in the

small intestines). So B12 from our bodies, healthy or otherwise, is

made either too little or too low to be helpful to us. That B12 just

gets excreted out along in our feces.

In countries without good public health systems, their soil is

contaminated with human feces (and its B12), and that's the source of

B12 in humans who eat unwashed vegetables from that soil. They may

not be Vitamin B12 deficient, but they are subjected to all the

infectious diseases that come from exposure to human waste; that

doesn't sound like " harmful farming practices " to me. <g>

The problems with B12 deficiency among non-vegetarians has nothing to

do with diet, but is related to the availability and function of the

stomach's intrinsic factor and other requirements for B12 to be

properly absorbed from food. So supplementation (in vitamin pills or

fortified foods) is recommended for everyone over the age of 50,

whatever diet they are on. (see

http://www.cc.nih.gov/ccc/supplements/vitb12.html)

I don't believe people in countries with horrible public health

survive commonly into their 50s, but those that do would require

supplementation as well, even if they continued to eat their feces-

covered vegetables.

Stores of B12 are such that it takes decades for a previous meat-

eater to develop B12 deficiency. Not so with children, however, which

is why many of the studies in the Medline search talked about

children of vegetarian/vegan mothers.

Here are some vegetarian sites that support the above information:

http://www.vegsoc.org/info/b12.html

http://chetday.com/b12.html

Marjorie

Marjorie Lazoff, MD