"All Vitamin B12 comes from bacteria. These bacteria live in the soil and in the intestines of animals. The B12 they produce gets incorporated into animal tissue and animal products such as milk and eggs. Thus, animal products become a source of B12 for humans. Bacteria on the outside of plant foods also produce B12, and theoretically, when these foods are consumed, they can provide humans with B12. Realistically, normal cleaning of food eliminates most of the available B12; consequently, these foods are not a reliable source."
"It has been suggested that some plant foods are good sources of B12, most notably sea vegetables, tempeh, and miso. However, they actually contain what are called B12 analogs. These are B12-like compounds that have no vitamin activity. In fact, they compete with real vitamin B12 for absorption. Relying on these foods for B12 can actually raise a vegan's risk of deficiency."
"Vitamin B12 is also produced by bacteria living in the human intestines and mouth. Unfortunately, this seems to be of little significance. Only very minute amounts appear to be produced in the mouth-probably not enough to make much of a contribution to intake."
"Certain brands of nutritional yeast, such as Red Star Vegetarian Support Formula, are also good sources of vitamin B12"
now the question is....
all of the above quoted information was excerpted from the Vitamin B12 section in the Vegan Sourcebook. this information was/is of interest to me. i'm wondering why the body doesn't respond the same way to the nutritional yeast (that they're suggesting) as to the sea vegetables? wouldn't that be considered a B12 analog as well (the nutritional yeast)? this book was released in 1998 so i'm thinking the information could be outdated by now. or maybe not. that's where the dherbs community forum enters. i remember you shared a list (from dherbs) that provided b12 food sources, but now that i've read that, i am a bit concerned. just seeking clarity on this health related topic. thanks!
.....so what chaw think?
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