The Vitamin B12 [cyano-cobalamin] Facts:

What is "Vitamin B12"?
Vitamin B12 is the general term which covers a group of compounds called corrinoids. Most of the corrinoid compounds, although predominantly cyanocobalamin (the free vitamin), can be converted into the active forms, methylcobalamin and 5-deoxyadenosylcobalamin.

[[The Least You Need To Know: Vitamin B12 is a bacteria naturally found growing in abundance in soil. Animals -including us humans- produce B12 within their intestines -- the appendix is a bacteria producing factory!]]
         There's much talk about how the processing of foods affects their B12 levels. As a result, some people feel you shouldn't count on foods as reliable sources, but that goes against the law and logic of nature. Foods are always the best way to feed your body and should be the first option you choose to achieve good health, but there's nothing wrong with having a little insurance now and again, which is why supplements come in so handy. Including some sort of B12 supplement certainly won't hurt, and you only need to think about it a couple times a week. Vitamin B12 is naturally made of the mineral cobalt and nitrogen amines and is also commonly referred to as cobalamin [cyanocobalamin is the synthetic form.] Be careful when purchasing any vitamins as many capsules tend to have a gelatin base, particularly lower-quality brands. Summary: supplementation is unnecessary, but can be beneficial.

         The B12 bacteria, and other microorganisms in nature, attach themselves to a host and work their way into its system. B12 is Not naturally produced by plants or animals directly, but plants and animals often find themselves as its hosts. All the B12 in nature is produced by microorganisms, bacteria, fungi, and algae; plants and animals cannot synthesize the vitamin. The human body can amply store vitamin B12 up to a 3 to 6 year supply in our livers, and the Recommended Daily Allowance for adults is a mere 2.4MICROgrams(2.4millionths of a gram) per day.

         Animal foods are sources of B12 because animals ingest B12-containing microorganisms or because they are able to absorb some of the B12 produced by their intestinal bacteria. Much of the trace B12 found in meat products were produced within the gastrointestinal tracts of the animals and not exactly within the cut of decomposing flesh itself. Without going into all the gory details, the slaughtering process is what really helps disperse the B12 onto the meat. Fortunately for vegans, there are many better ways to get vitamin B12!

         You do not need to rely on dirt particles alone for your B12; this nutrient can also be fortified into many vegan-friendly foods, including orange juice, grains, breads, nutritional yeast, cereals, sea vegetables, and many other plant-based products. However, just because it’s easy to get enough vitamin B12 while being vegan, don’t get careless about it. Deficiencies in B12 can cause serious problems, including increased risk of stroke, heart disease, and Alzheimer's - all of which are prevalent among omnitarians, not vegetarians or vegans.


[[In a Nutshell: Dr. Frey Ellis and Dr. T.A.B. Sanders, both British hematologists and natural hygiene pioneers, along with Dr. E. Lester Smith, discoverer of vitamin B12, showed in their studies in the 1960s that vegans have generous levels of vitamin B12, even without supplementation.]]
Meat-eaters{omnitarians} are more likely to have "B12 deficiencies"

         The baseless claim that a vitamin B12 deficiency is more widespread in vegans or vegetarians is just another marketing lie. In fact, many studies (showing vegans 'deficient') have to be carefully studied themselves - many of them do not prove vegans to be deficient at all, but rather the opposite. Quite to the contrary of meat and dairy industry propaganda, meat-eaters are known to be more likely to have a vitamin B12 deficiency - this has been known since 1959. Having said this, we must bear in mind that many vegetarians and vegans still take antibiotics or consume antibiotic-containing foods such as onions, garlic, strong radishes and other foods rich in mustard oil, which are lethal to intestinal flora.

         The trouble is that once we have damaged our intestinal flora, it is difficult to correct without proper and knowledgeable healthcare and dietary advice. It is of far greater importance to correct intestinal flora problems than to rely on so-called supplements[suckling at fecal laden flesh to acquire B12 is a form of 'supplementation' in itself]. People who have a physical problem because they think they are not getting enough vitamin B12, are in fact often not assimilating their foods properly because of poor digestion. When digestion is straightened out, B12 can be utilized and produced once again.

         According to Marieb`s Human Anatomy and Physiology, vitamin B12 can be destroyed by highly alkaline and highly acid conditions. This assumes that the B12 in meat would be easily destroyed because the hydrochloric acid in our stomachs during the digestion of meat is highly acidic. This may explain why meat-eaters are much more likely to have a B12 deficiency than vegans. Also, for meat-eaters, there are many antibiotics contained in meat. Of course, many meat-eaters destroy friendly bacteria in their intestines by the constant putrefaction and the putrefactive bacteria naturally present in meat that will give the body a hard time with normal functions.

         Another side to the equation is that low serum B12 levels do not equate to a B12 deficiency necessarily. Just because there is a low level of B12 in the bloodstream, this does not mean that there is a deficiency in the body as a whole, it may well be being utilized by the living cells (such as the central nervous system). In any case, a person who takes supplements may well have "vitamin B12" floating in their bloodstream, but this does not mean it is usable to the human body as it is often synthetic, inorganic vitamins are not B12 synthesis is known to occur naturally in the human small intestine (in the ileum), which is the primary site of B12 absorption. As long as gut bacteria have cobalt and certain other nutrients, they produce vitamin B12.

How is it absorbed?

         Once vitamin B12 in food enters the stomach it is freed from the food by stomach acid. Within the stomach the free vitamin then binds with R-protein (produced in the salivary glands). In the small intestine it is released from R-protein and then binds to intrinsic factor (produced in the stomach). It then travels to the last section of the small intestine (the ileum), where it is again freed and finally absorbed by cells lining the intestine. These cells transfer it to transport proteins called transcobalamins and it is transported via the blood stream to liver, bone marrow and blood cells. Once inside these cells it is finally converted to its active forms, methylcobalamin and 5-deoxyadenosylcobalamin. Unlike the other water-soluble vitamins, vitamin B12 can be stored in the body. Approximately, 60% is stored in the liver and about 30% is stored in the muscles.

         According to Dr. Michael Klaper, vitamin B12 is present in the mouth and intestines. B12 must be combined with a mucoprotein enzyme named Intrinsic Factor, which is normally present in gastric secretions, to be properly assimilated. If the intrinsic factor is impaired or absent, B12 synthesis will not take place, no matter how much is present in the diet.

         A vitamin B12 deficiency is never just a B12 deficiency because vitamin and mineral deficiencies never happen in isolation. Many nutritional analyses of foodstuffs were carried out such a long time ago, and, as such, have not taken account of more up-to-date technology in scientific procedures. Current books on nutrition in the U.S. have now stated that there is B12 in any food that contains quantities of the B vitamin complex, but previously they were just not able to assay the amounts. Nowadays, more modern technology has allowed them to discover that there is B12 in those foods rich in the B complex.

         Robert Kay, PhD candidate in nutrition at the Univ. of Connecticut, emphasized uncertainties in B12 research, especially in light of new methods to measure B12 and new insights these methods made available. He also cautioned that the categorization of "true" vs. "false" B12 may be too absolute. "We no longer talk about simply B12, since we now know there are many varieties of cobalamins with varied biological action (i.e., availability). There is no `gold standard` in this area." Vitamin B12 is excreted in the bile and is effectively reabsorbed. This is known as enterohepatic circulation. The amount of B12 excreted in the bile can vary from 1 to 10ug (micrograms) a day.

         People on diets low in B12 may be obtaining more from reabsorption than from dietary sources. Reabsorption is the reason it can take over 20 years for a deficiency disease to develop. In comparison, if B12 deficiency is due to a failure in absorption, it can take only three years for a deficiency disease to occur. Since vitamin B12 is recycled in a healthy body, in principle, internal B12 synthesis could fulfill our needs without any B12 provided in the diet, but if cobalt in our diet is lacking, the problem is not so much a lack of B12 synthesizing intestinal flora, as a lack of cobalt (which again will need other factors for efficient absorption).

         Among the many controversies surrounding vitamin B12, there is the argument that, although intrinsic factor is produced in our stomachs and that our intestines are known to produce vitamin B12, the bacteria is 'produced too low down in the intestines and cannot be absorbed by our bodies'. This unfounded argument is sadly still hanging around, however, according to Dr. Vetrano, it was disproved by research over 20 years ago and is nothing more than an obsolete scientific hypothesis. Indeed, in a 1999 version of "Human Anatomy and Physiology" by Marieb, it states quite clearly that we do indeed absorb vitamin B12 through our intestines. Many people say that the only foods which contain vitamin B12 are animal-derived ones, this also is untrue. No foods naturally contain vitamin B12 - neither animal nor plant. Vitamin B12 is a microbe - a bacteria - which is produced by microorganisms.

         Animal and dairy products are poor sources of Vitamin B12 since the vitamin is contained in nutrient-deranged foodstuffs which will inevitably destroy the usability of the vitamin. Studies show that those following a typical animal-based diet require more vitamin B12 than those who do not. This is because the typical diet leads to digestive atrophy. Because B12 is peptide-bound in animal products and must be enzymatically cleaved from the peptide bonds to be absorbed, a weakened gastric acid and gastric enzyme secretions causes an inability to efficiently extract vitamin B12 from external food. Nevertheless, vegans who have more powerful digestive capabilities actually get more B12 by reabsorption from the bile than they do from external food. B12 is the only vitamin synthesized solely by certain microorganisms: many of which are abundant in soil [animal agrikulture greatly jeopardizes these organisms...as well as everything else].

The only vitamin containing a trace element: cobalt.

         B12 owes its chemical name "cobalamin" to the cobalt at the center of its molecular structure. Humans and all vertebrates require cobalt, though it’s assimilated only in the form of B12. Cobalt is important in the plant world. Bacteria on root nodules of legumes (beans, alfalfa, clover) require cobalt (and other trace elements) to synthesize B12 and fix nitrogen from air.

         Soybeans grown without cobalt are severely retarded in growth and exhibit severe nitrogen deficiency, leading to death in about one of four plants. Adding only a few ounces of cobalt per acre can resolve deficiency symptoms in ten to 21 days. Cobalt deficiency is far more dramatic in animals, particularly ruminants (cattle, deer, camels, and sheep) grazing on deficient pasture. These animals obtain all their B12 from their gut bacteria, but only if bacteria are provided cobalt salts from pasture. Legumes with less than 80 parts per billion (ppb) cobalt can`t meet ruminant B12 needs. Under deficient conditions, calves and lambs thrive and grow normally for a few months as they draw on B12 reserves in liver and other tissue, but soon exhibit gradual loss of appetite and failure to grow, followed by anemia, rapid weight loss and finally death. Marginally deficient pastures cause birth of weak lambs and calves which do not survive long. These symptoms mirror B12 deficiency in human infants.

         To prevent or alleviate cobalt-B12 deficiency, farmers routinely add cobalt to animal feeds or salt licks. Some fertilize pastures with cobalt-enriched fertilizers; others opt for periodic quick-fix B12 injections. With any of these measures, all symptoms are reversed and B12 in milk and colostrum dramatically increases. B12 synthesis by indigenous bacteria is known to occur naturally in the human small intestine, the primary site of B12 absorption. As long as gut bacteria have cobalt and certain other nutrients, they produce B12. In principle then, internal B12 synthesis could fulfill our needs without any B12 provided by diet. But if cobalt in our diet is on the wane, perhaps the problem is not so much a lack of B12-synthesizing intestinal flora as lack of cobalt, the element with which bacteria weave their magic.

Excerpt from Dr. Klaper’s article ‘Nutrition for Optimum Health’:

         "Let me be very clear about this, cows do not make vitamin B-12. They never have, they never will. Pigs don't make vitamin B-12, chickens don't make vitamin B-12, no animal makes vitamin B-12. They never have, they never will. Vitamin B-12 is synthesized by single-celled microbes (bacteria) that live in the soils of the earth. And long ago when the earth and soils were healthy, before we put all sorts of chemicals on them, the surface of the earth was covered with vitamin B-12.

         There used to be lots of vitamin B-12 in our lives. Even if you were a pure vegetarian 300 years ago, you could open up the back door of your cottage and outside would be a beautiful organic garden. Every carrot you pulled out of the ground would have little particles of vitamin B-12 sticking to it. When it came time to get your water, you'd take a bucket of water out of the stream, and there too you would find vitamin B-12. There would be B-12 under your finger nails from working in the garden. There would be plenty of B-12 in your life, and since you needed so little of it, concerns about deficiency would not be an issue. We've become very isolated from the earth and we've lost our natural sources of B-12.

         Cows have B-12 in their muscles because they're eating grass all day and their pulling up clumps of dirt that have B-12 producing organisms clinging to the root of the grass. They eat the B-12 producing organisms who produce the B-12, which gets absorbed into their bloodstream, goes out into the muscles, and is deposited into their muscles and livers. But that is bacterial B-12 in the cow's muscle. The cow did not make it, nor did the pig or chicken. Those same organisms are now cultured in big vats, producing their B-12 that is eventually separated out. It is then added to breakfast cereals, soy milks soy burgers, nutritional yeast, and vitamin tablets.

         It's easy to get vitamin B-12 without consuming animal products and I suggest if you really want to lighten up your diet, find a non-animal source of B-12. We are evolving as a species. What our caveman ancestors ate is of little import to us now. The question is what is the best diet for modern human beings? Medical literature is clearly showing that the less animal fat and animal protein you put in your system, the healthier you are going to be."

Excerpt from What Every Vegan Should Know About Vitamin B12 by Dr. Stephen Walsh:

         "To be truly healthful, a diet must be best not just for individuals in isolation but must allow all six billion people to thrive and achieve a sustainable coexistence with the many other species that form the "living earth". From this standpoint the natural adaptation for most (possibly all) humans in the modern world is a vegan diet. There is nothing natural about the abomination of modern factory farming and its attempt to reduce living, feeling beings to machines. In choosing to use fortified foods or B12 supplements, vegans are taking their B12 from the same source as every other animal on the planet - micro-organisms - without causing suffering to any sentient being or causing environmental damage."

"Strict" vegetarians (e.g. the Jain religion) have lived for many hundreds of years in India. If B12 deficiency was such a problem, Jainism would not have continued to this day. Industry propagandists would have us believe that we humans are the only species on this planet who are unable to obtain B12 without eating flesh...and hope that their customers don't wake up and raise the question "where does every other plant-eater, especially cows, derive their B12 from??"