{"id":212149,"date":"2021-03-23T02:00:48","date_gmt":"2021-03-23T06:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/formnutrition.com\/us\/?p=212149"},"modified":"2021-07-28T05:27:49","modified_gmt":"2021-07-28T09:27:49","slug":"vitamin-b12-vegans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/formnutrition.com\/us\/inform\/vitamin-b12-vegans\/","title":{"rendered":"Vitamin B12: Why It&#8217;s Important for Vegans To Know About the Vital Nutrient"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A diet powered by plants needn&#8217;t be one that compromises any essential nourishment that you&#8217;d otherwise get from animal products. One exception to the rule, however, is vitamin B12. Worry not, though, you&#8217;ll find that omnivores are also deficient, and a simple solution lies in oral supplementation. Here&#8217;s what you need to know.<\/p>\n<h2>Where Does Vitamin B12 Come From?<\/h2>\n<p>Otherwise known as cobalamin, B12 is a water-based mineral that comes from micro-organisms found primarily in meat and eggs (as it grows on bacteria). Animals such as cows and sheep absorb B12 produced by bacteria in their digestive system.<\/p>\n<p>Humans once got their vitamin B12 from veggies, when proper sanitation was still to be developed and the earth\u2019s soil was far healthier. Unfortunately, it\u2019s severely depleted these days though.<\/p>\n<p>While animal products may contain B12, it is not instantly absorbable in this form. In order to absorb it, we need protease (a group of\u00a0enzymes that aid protein digestion) and hydrochloric acid, found in the stomach.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-830303 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/formnutrition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/AdobeStock_310987258-1200x675.jpeg\" alt=\"Stomach vitamin B12\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>What Does It Do?<\/h2>\n<p>B12 has many vital roles in the body, one of the most important being its role in the formation of red blood cells which transport oxygen. It\u2019s also one of the nutrients essential for breaking down and removing excess homocysteine in the blood (which is produced in the body after digesting protein), in turn reducing inflammation.<\/p>\n<p>The vitamin also bolsters and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC3179651\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">protects the brain<\/a> and central nervous system, so is in part responsible for your mental and emotional wellbeing. Not only this, it enhances the immune system and protects against viruses while also facilitating the methylation of many other nutrients. So in a nutshell, it\u2019s pretty important.<\/p>\n<h2>How Should Vegans Get Vitamin B12?<\/h2>\n<p>First things first, up to 5mg of vitamin B12 can be stored in the liver for a very long time, as the body only needs a minimal 0.2 percent of B12 to function optimally. So, though vegans don\u2019t consume B12 every day, your reserves can sustain you for some time.<\/p>\n<p>But even if we eat animal products, many of us are still deficient in B12, so it\u2019s advisable to use a supplement rather than seek it out in your diet. Oral vitamin B12 is advisable as it gets absorbed into the digestive system most efficiently, where it\u2019s then made active and bioavailable.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-788358 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/formnutrition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pills-out-Multi-1200x675.jpg\" alt=\"vitamin B12 supplement\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" \/><\/p>\n<p>B12 supplements come with the added bonus of not being bound to a protein, which naturally makes them more bioavailable to our bodies. With meat and eggs, we rely on the efficiency of our <a href=\"https:\/\/formnutrition.com\/inform\/what-are-digestive-enzymes\/\">digestive enzymes<\/a> and the strength of our hydrochloric acid to break B12 down into smaller components that are then passed into our bloodstream.<\/p>\n<p>That means as well as for vegans, it\u2019s especially crucial for people with digestive disorders such as IBS or Crohn\u2019s to get B12 via a supplement, plus for older people, as our digestive system naturally becomes compromised as we age.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless of its many positive upshots, though, you needn\u2019t worry too much if you\u2019ve been going without a vitamin B12 supplement to this point \u2013 symptoms can take several years to appear.<\/p>\n<p>_<\/p>\n<p><em>Vitamin B12 is one of the carefully selected vitamins and minerals in our <a href=\"https:\/\/formnutrition.com\/plant-based-nutrition\/multi-vegan-multivitamin\/\">vegan multivitamin<\/a>, Multi,\u00a0and added to our <a href=\"https:\/\/formnutrition.com\/plant-based-nutrition\/form-superblend-plant-based-vegan-protein\/\">Superblend protein powder<\/a>. <\/em><em>This article comes from our 28 Days of Plant Power free email series, sign up <a href=\"https:\/\/formnutrition.com\/inform\/28-days-of-planet-power\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vitamin B12 is not easily obtained on a plant-based diet. Here&#8217;s everything vegans need to know about what it is, what it does, and how to get it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12854,"featured_media":212150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-212149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nutrition"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.1 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Vitamin B12: What Vegan&#039;s Need to Know | Form Nutrition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here&#039;s everything vegans need to know about the essential nutrient vitamin B12 from what it is to what it does, and how to get it.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/formnutrition.com\/us\/inform\/vitamin-b12-vegans\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vitamin B12: Why It&#039;s Important for Vegans To Know About the Vital Nutrient\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here&#039;s everything vegans need to know about the essential nutrient vitamin B12 from what it is to what it does, and how to get it.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/formnutrition.com\/us\/inform\/vitamin-b12-vegans\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Form - 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