Myth Number Four
Vegans do not get vitamin B-12.
I will admit that there is some truth to this. The truth about it is that yes, about 80% of vegans do not get enough vitamin B-12. However, this statement implies that this is a problem associated with vegans. The truth is that this is not just a problem for vegans. The reality is that about 40% of all people who eat meat are also not getting enough vitamin B-12. Everyone, no matter what you eat, should be concerned about getting enough B-12. Fortunately for vegans, we are fully aware of the problem. Meat-eaters are not. Most vegan go with the simple solution of supplementing or consuming a seaweed called nori which is loaded with vitamin B-12. Meat-eaters have no idea until it is too late. Once you are diagnosed as deficient of B-12, there is no way to revert it.
One of the problems with this myth is that people believe that vitamin B-12 comes from meat. They then deduce that if humans were not supposed to eat meat, why would there be a vital nutrient that is only found in meat. The answer to that bacteria make biologically active vitamin B-12 which gets stored as bacteria-synthesized B12 in animal tissues. Humans also store bacteria-synthesized B12. Another plentiful source is feces (you read that right) and until recently most people lived in close contact with their farm animals, and all people consumed B12 left as residues by bacteria living on their un-sanitized vegetable foods. In modern society however, our food is highly sanitized and there is very little chance of acquiring vitamin B-12 through these natural methods.
We could either eat food that are not entirely sanitized or we could simply supplement. I prefer the latter. This is the only nutrient that I supplement and… problem solved. Now, let me ask you meat-eaters what you are doing to ensure that you are also not deficient of vitamin B-12?
