Post Punk Kitchen Forum

An activist brought to my attention the article B12 Deficiencies in Vegans? Not True! at Flaming Vegan. I guess I’m naive about what vegans are saying about vitamin B12, but I was very surprised to read the article and the comments, and so I posted a response below it. It’s mostly about seaweed as a source of vitamin B12.

Another reader brought my attention to a page on vegan triathlete Brendan Brazier’s site, Lesson 2: [url=Lesson 2: High Net-Gain Nutrition]High Net-Gain Nutrition[/url]. On that page, he claims that miso is a source of vitamin B12. In fact, the two studies that have measured vitamin B12 in miso have found none.

Brazier also claims that chlorella is “the best source of B-12!” Two studies have found vitamin B12 analogues in batches of chlorella while one study found practically none. This could mean that the B12 analogues in the two studies that found it were there from contamination, which means it cannot be relied upon. More importantly, Chlorella has not been tested to see if it improves vitamin B12 status in humans. The track record of other seaweeds that were once considered a source of B12 has not been good, so there is reason to be skeptical of chlorella as well. Thus, chlorella is far from the best source of vitamin B12.

Citations for the miso and chlorella studies can be found in B12 in Tempeh, Seaweeds, Organic Produce, and Other Plant Foods.

As an aside, Brazier lists romaine lettuce and arugula as sources of calcium. According to the USDA, one cup of shredded romaine has only 15 mg of calcium, making it a poor source. One cup of arugula has 32 mg of calcium, making it a somewhat better source, but still not very good.

I sent Mr. Brazier a note through his contact form on May 5 in an attempt to alert him to these issues and did not get a response. As of today, this information is still on his website so I thought it was appropriate to let readers know they should not rely on this information and continue my attempt to spread the word to the vegan community about reliable sources of vitamin B12.

Apparently I am also naive, because i'm always surprised when people are like, "Vegans don't need supplements! Eat food instead! P.S. I get my B-12 by eating nutritional yeast." I guess I became vegan in the right environment?

Also every time someone says something false about B12, I remember to pop a tablet.

Not that this is really the point, but it'd be a lot harder to eat 100g of arugula then 100g of broccoli. 100 grams of broccoli is about a cup raw and 100g of arugula is about 5 cups (also according to nutritiondata)

And I would definitely do my part of the research as well before amending anything. I've only too often read that B12 deficiencies in vegans aren't as bad as everyone thinks because we don't get the same amount as meat-eaters, but since the types we get are absorbed more easily, we get an important amount. So please do not ask me to modify my article as I don't have either the time to do the research nor the power to change this article.

Jack Norris is nicer than I am. I read the article he linked to and dismissed it when I saw that the author wrote an article promoting juice fasts and believes that there is a conspiracy to keep the B12 content in veg and fruit a secret so some mysterious cabal of doctors, researchers, and food manufacturers can profit from supplements.

Years ago I got kicked off of a European forum for a combination of posting links about the NAVs vegfest and links to what Jack Norris had to say about why vegans should supplement with vitamin b-12.

The owner of the forum thought that posting about a vegan event on a vegan forum was trolling. He also thought, like the woman you mentioned above, that there is a money making conspiracy among health professionals to get vegans to buy b-12 supplements.

Pointing out that I spent about $30 a year on b-12 supplements...or about 8 cents a day didn't change his mind about there being a conspiracy to profit off of b-12 supplements.