B12 can only be found in animal products

First question? Where get the animals their B12 from? B12 is a vitamin which is made by a bacterium which can be found on the plants or to be more specific the bacterium lives in the soil on the plants and produce B12. So why do we only get B12 from animals? The simple answer is, that our food is too clean, because of all the processing steps our vegetables and fruits are going through. Otherwise, we would also be able to get our B12 just from plants. As the animal’s food isn’t as clean as ours, they still manage to get it from the plants. That’s why in some regions in India people are able to live on a plant-based diet never have a B12 deficit. Just because their products aren’t as sterile as ours. But there is already a tendency to supplement B12 to the farm animals. This happens especially in factory farms, where those animals eat mast feed, which is cleaner than the regular grass on the meadow and they have therefore the same struggles as most western humans. The B12 gets into your body through your mucous membrane in your mouth. If you are very often tired, even if you sleep enough, this could be a sign for a too low level of B12.

And I recommend taking some B12 supplements if you are a vegan. They are neither expensive nor unhealthy. And even if you are not vegan (yet) 😉 at least do me the favour and do a regular blood test to check your B12 levels. Or even better, just do a full check-up/blood test (and not because you are a vegan, everyone should do one from time to time) just to make sure you don’t have a deficit which could harm you in the long term. Because too low B12 levels can have a significant impact on your wellbeing. But it is definitely not a reason for not going vegan, because there are also a lot of people (which eat meat) with B12 deficits which have to take supplements.

Fun Fact: 100ml of Red Bull contains about 2 microgram B12. The recommended intake for adults is about 2.4 microgram. So you can cover your B12 level by drinking 5-6 cans of Red Bull per day. But as we all know, this is not such a good idea 😛 so better use some kind of supplement (see the post on how to supplement B12).

So to sum it up: The source of B12 is not in plants, but today as a western human being you only get it from animal products or supplements. And no it’s not unhealthy to be vegan just because you need to supplement B12, it is rather an issue of our demand for “clean” food in supermarkets than a “vegan” problem.

Do the change and go vegan

By simply making other choices in the supermarket you can have a direct impact on the harm caused to other living beings. If you have any concerns regarding veganism have a look at my other articles and if you still have open questions or if you are struggling at a specific point, just leave me a comment or contact me directly. If you want to support this webpage and me to continue spreading the vegan message you can do this here. Thank you a lot.

Don’t close your eyes and ask yourself what stops you to make a difference? I am convinced you won’t regret it.

Cheers,