Vitamin B12 for Vegans: Everything You Need to Know
If you’re plant-based, the first thing you probably found out about in your initial research into the diet is the infamous vitamin b12. And for good reason βvitamin B12 is the only micronutrient that isn’t found in significant amounts naturally in plants!
In this post, we’ll dive into what vitamin B12 is, what is does, why it’s important, the best ways to get enough, and why testing it can get tricky βeverything you need to know!
So What is Vitamin B12 Anyway?
Vitamin B12 is a water-soluble vitamin that plays an ESSENTIAL role in red blood cells, energy, and nervous system health. More specifically, it functions as a coenzyme in two key reactions:
- Converting homocysteine into methionine βcritical for DNA and neurotransmitters!
- Turning methylmalonyl-CoA into succinyl-CoA βhugely important for energy production.
As a result, if you lack vitamin B12, your body will build up methylmalonic acid and homocysteine, which is then diagnosed as deficiency.
Why Are Vegans at Higher Risk?
As mentioned earlier, vitamin B12 is only found naturally in animal products unfortunately. Therefore, we plant-based eaters must obtain this micronutrient through other means.
Long-term vitamin B12 deficiency doesn’t sound like a fun time! In the most severe cases, it can lead to irreversible nerve damage, brain fog and memory loss, and poor infant development during pregnancy.
Luckily, there are 2 very simple ways to make sure you don’t run out!
How Do I Get Enough B12?
Take a Supplement
Taking a vitamin B12 capsule is the easiest and most stress-free way to ensure you’re getting ample amounts of this micronutrient. It’s the most reliable method and the best option for older adults or people who have digestive issues.
It’s always best to check with a nutritionist, physician, or dietitian who can take all of your particular health data into consideration in order to determine the correct dosage. However, for the average healthy plant-based individual, I’d recommend 250mcg daily OR 2500mcg weekly.
Most vitamin B12 supplements come in one of two different forms: cyanocobalamin and methylcobalamin. Both are effective, but cyanocobalamin is typically preferred because it’s inexpensive, shelf-stable, and readily absorbed by the body. More practical than methylcobalamin, which is slightly less stable and usually costs more.
Eat Fortified Foods
Foods such as plant-based milks, nutritional yeast, some meat alternatives, and breakfast cereals are also rich in vitamin B12 due to fortification during processing! This is a great option if you prefer a food-first option and consume multiple servings per day of foods like these.
If you consume around 3 servings of fortified foods each day, you may be able to get in enough B12 through food alone. This is assuming that each servings contains 1.5 to 3 mcg, and assuming that you do this consistently everyday.
So this method of B12 consumption may not be as simple as just taking a supplement. But βfortified B12 may be easier for your body to absorb because it’s in the free form. “Free” means it’s not bound to protein. Which means your body doesn’t need to break it down, making it readily absorbable.
How Do I Know if I’m Deficient?
Low vitamin B12 can present in early stages as fatigue, weakness, paleness, shortness of breath, and lightheadedness. The symptoms in the beginning are fairly non-specific βI mean, a lot of different issues can lead to tiredness. This is how deficiency can creep up on you if you ignore early signs.
Why Standard Testing can be Misleading
Testing vitamin B12 levels can sometimes be tricky because people often look at only total serum levels of B12, which measures all the B12 in your blood. But total serum B12 doesn’t always tell the whole story!
Seeing a high number for your total serum B12 can give you a false sense of security because it doesn’t distinguish between what’s usable and what’s just floating around.
There are three different transport proteins that vitamin B12 will attach to as it travels throughout your body, but only ONE of these proteins carries the bioavailable form that your body can use and absorb! In fact, only about 20% of B12 in the bloodstream is carried by this transport protein.
That means that even if you have high serum levels of vitamin B12, most of that is probably bound to inactive transport proteins and not being of any use to your body.
Better Biomarkers of B12 Status
The tests you’ll want to ask for if you really wanna know your B12 levels!
Holotranscobalamin (holo-TC) βmeasures only the vitamin B12 that’s bound to TCII (which is the only transport protein that carries the active form!)
Methylmalonic Acid (MMA) βan important functional marker to determine if your cells are actually getting enough B12. When B12 is low, MMA will build up, and therefore be high.
Homocysteine βalso a functional marker that accumulates when B12 is low. However, its only useful alongside other tests because this marker alone is not specific to B12.
Final Thoughts
My best advice would be to keep life simple and take a B12 supplement! If you’re plant-based, you most likely aren’t getting enough from food alone unless you’re eating LOTS of fortified foods everyday. But fortified foods are still amazing to include in your diet whether you supplement with B12 or not.
If you suspect that your B12 may be low, it’s important to get tested just in case. Maybe you’ve been vegan for a while and are just learning about the importance of B12 now. Or maybe you’re experiencing some unusual fatigue or weakness.
Either way, it’s better to be safe than sorry! It’d be best to just get tested, and ensure to ask for the right biomarkers.
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