Vitamin B-12: Where To Get It Cheap And Vegan

[beforewisdom]

Someone PMed me asking where I buy my vitamin b-12 supplements, so I thought I would post that here in case anyone else is interested.

Jack Norris, a Registered Dietitian (RD) and a cofounder of Vegan Outreach in his Daily Recommendations For Vegans recommends 25 - 100 micrograms of vitamin b-12 in lozenge daily.

You can also choose to take a larger lozenge twice a week, but I find doing it every day makes it easier to remember.

I buy these from Freeda Vitamins. I buy 4 bottles, a supply for a year, once a year, to save on shipping costs. It costs me ~ $30 a year, with shipping, or about 8 cents a day.

[graham_ryan]

nutritional yeast is great food source for B12 (and every other B vitamin). two heaping tablespoons has 133% RDV. trust me, once you start using it, you will find it easy to use more than that in a day. i put it on everything savory now. its delicious.

[chrisjs]

nutritional yeast is great food source for B12

By "food source" you mean some brands of nutritional yeast that are fortified with B12 of course. Nutritional yeast itself is not a source of B12.

[Duncan_Idaho]

I've been vegan for almost 3 years, vegetarian for 10 and alive for 29, I can do 50 dips and I have never cared where I get vitamin B12 from:)

[chrisjs]

I've been vegan for almost 3 years, vegetarian for 10 and alive for 29, I can do 50 dips and I have never cared where I get vitamin B12 from:)

Three whole years? The body can hold a pretty good stash of B12 but it's not a myth that we should be mindful of intake.

[Duncan_Idaho]

I've been vegan for almost 3 years, vegetarian for 10 and alive for 29, I can do 50 dips and I have never cared where I get vitamin B12 from:)

Three whole years? The body can hold a pretty good stash of B12 but it's not a myth that we should be mindful of intake.

Well, almost 3 years I doubt the body can hold a stash of something for 3 years. The pharmaceutical companies dream of such shelf lives for their products . This vitamin is produced by bacteria and I'm sure that nature has provided ways of such bacteria entering the human blood flow (or wherever they are needed).

[vegimator]

Duncan, you should read this before you do permanent damage to your body -
http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/vitaminb12

[sosso]

Well shit, I can only do about 10 dips. Maybe I should stop supplementing B12?

[vegimator]

Haha, obviously sosso! If you stop cooking for food too, who knows how many you can do?

[I'm Your Man]

One thing is sure is its better to start supplementing with b12 as a vegan rather than begin to eat "free-range eggs" after experiencing B12 deficiency and needed b12 shots, as I heard from some ex-vegan. I heard B12 lozenges provide that you let melt with your saliva provide b12 that is much better absorbed than any food, including eggs that anyway are much more expensive and quality has been deteriorated by cooking.

[lobsteriffic]

My dr. has me on a vegan multi, as she is really concerned about folic acid and a few other things. This multi has b-12 in it. I know stuff has been posted on these boards previously about how lozenges are the most readily absorbed, but if I am already taking a vitamin pill with b12 do I need to take a lozenge as well?

[vegimator]

Lobsteriffic- if you're good about taking the multi every day and it has at least 25 micrograms of b-12 in it (preferably as cyanocobalamin) you should be fine.

It's weird that your doctor would be worried about your folic acid intake as vegans generally have considerably higher folic acid status than the general population.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20648045
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19279075

[Rob_T]

I take NOW b-12 chewables and comes with folic acid 100mcg and 1000mcg b12

[kckas]

Lobsteriffic- if you're good about taking the multi every day and it has at least 25 micrograms of b-12 in it (preferably as cyanocobalamin) you should be fine.

It's weird that your doctor would be worried about your folic acid intake as vegans generally have considerably higher folic acid status than the general population.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20648045
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19279075

I think many doctors worry about folic acid deficiency in women of reproductive age due to the fact that babies can be born with neural tube defects if the mother does not consume enough of it.

[beforewisdom]

My dr. has me on a vegan multi, as she is really concerned about folic acid and a few other things. This multi has b-12 in it. I know stuff has been posted on these boards previously about how lozenges are the most readily absorbed, but if I am already taking a vitamin pill with b12 do I need to take a lozenge as well?

Well first off, it can't hurt and it is cheap.

Multivitamins are thought as bad bets because some vitamins and mineral interfere with others. The larger pills having more binders means it is less likely that the pill will break down in time for you to get stuff out of it.