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


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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.

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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.
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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).

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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.

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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?

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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

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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.

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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.

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Thanks for the info.

 

My doctor is (was? I changed doctors now that I've moved to the U.S.) really adamant that women of reproductive age should take folic acid. Since I sort of plan on perhaps having a child in 2-3 years I figured it couldn't hurt to err on the side of caution.

 

Beforewisdom, if multivitamins are worrisome because some vitamins/minerals interfere with others, wouldn't taking individual vitamin pills at the same time have the same problem? For instance, if I took an individual b-12 lozenge, folic acid, vitamin d in the morning, wouldn't I encounter the same problem, or are you supposed to take different vitamins at different times of the day?

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Since I sort of plan on perhaps having a child in 2-3 years I figured it couldn't hurt to err on the side of caution.

 

Gestation is only 9 months, do you have some sort of problem that you are going to be pregnant for 3 years?

 

On a serious note, vegans can and do get folic deficiencies. The bulk of folic acid comes from green vegetables, the serious kind ( not lettuce ). As we all know just because someone is vegan, doesn't mean that s/he regularly eats and digests, serious green vegetables.

 

Beforewisdom, if multivitamins are worrisome because some vitamins/minerals interfere with others, wouldn't taking individual vitamin pills at the same time have the same problem?

 

Yes.

 

I think your main concern with b-12 and your multivitamin is that you might not get that pill braking down soon enough to get all of the b-12 absorbed. You can't overdose on b-12 and it is cheap, so you might just want to add a separate b-12 lozenge.

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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).

^^^ This kind of mindless new-age pseudo-science is what gives alot of vegans a bad name.

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