B12

[Beachhunter]

I had a visit with my chiropractor today and I told her that I just started the RAW Diet and she asked me where I was going to get my B12. I, being new to the RAW life, said "I dunno". Does anyone know?

Thanks.

[Rawkinlocs]

Hi there!

You may wish to view this: http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=2911 and also do a search on here regarding B12 - there is an ongoing argument about whether or not we NEED to (or should) supplement or not. Some say we don't have to and should not...others say we definitely should take a supplement every so often (and THEN there's the whole thing about there are certain ones we should take and certain ones we should avoid). There's still a great deal of controversy surrounding this issue...but if you are not objected to supplementing, then you can just take the supplement and be done with it. But I'm sure you'll see what I mean when others begin to chime in on this thread how people's views, thoughts and opinions on this vary greatly! ;)

[Indie]

I just read today that there's loads of energy-giving B12 in parsley - has anyone heard of this before?

I read it in the book 10 years younger by Nicky Hambleton-Jones.

[tinystrawberry]

that would be so neat if parsley had b-12! im gonna research it

[Eveleaf]

I was pretty sure E3Live had quite a bit of B12 in it - several times the daily recommended dose, in fact. Can anyone confirm this? I suppose I'll research what their website has to say.

[Rawkinlocs]

I just read today that there's loads of energy-giving B12 in parsley - has anyone heard of this before?

I read it in the book 10 years younger by Nicky Hambleton-Jones.

I went to a few sites and like with anything else, there was conflicting info so who to believe? I mean, sites such as the ones named below say there has been b12 found in parsley but then when viewing a few sites where they list the nutritional data for parsley, it has 0% for b12! :( So again, who do we believe? :confused:

Here's one of the "good" reports: http://www.positivehealth.com/Reviews/books/mckith53.htm

Parsley: Like a Multi-vitamin
Nutritionally: the culinary multi-vitamin; a nutrient powerhouse. Contains high levels of beta carotene, vitamin B12, chlorophyll, calcium, more vitamin C than citrus fruits, and just about all other known nutrients. ---

Parsley contains traces of B12 producing compounds. Such compounds are needed for the formation of red blood cells and normal cell growth, important for fertility pregnancy, immunity and the prevention of degenerative illness. The action of vitamin B12, however, is inhibited by birth control pills, antibiotics, intoxicants, stress, sluggish liver, and excess bacteria or parasites in the colon or digestive tracts. Parsley helps to counteract these inhibitors.

This next excerpt indicates that some foods (including parsley) have shown to have b-12, but there is the concern that perhaps non-human active analogs may block the absorption of b12 - I'm wondering if the above info about parsley would be the solution to that!
http://www.living-foods.com/articles/b12article.html

There are many ideas of vegan foods that have active B-12, but few are proving to actually raise B-12 or prevent its loss. The research has shown, for example, that tempeh does not supply human active B-12. Research in both the U.S. and the Netherlands has confirmed this. There was one paper that showed that tempeh from one particular source in Thailand did have some B-12, but what they basically found was that fermented soybean did not contain B-12. Other foods such as barley, malted syrup, sourdough bread, parsley, shitake mushrooms, tofu, and soybean paste, had some B-12 in them. Amazake rice, barley miso, miso, natto, rice miso, shoyu, tamari, umeboshi, and a variety of nuts, seeds and grains did not contain any elements or even any detectable B-12 analog. My study using the earlier gold standard test for B-12 active bacteria did show indeed that arame, dulse, kelp, kombu and wakame had significant human active B-12. Other studies have shown that dulse did have a certain amount of B-12 analog per serving. Until research is done to see if it actually lowers the methyl malonic acid levels, the question has to be raised that we can't assume that because a food has human active B-12 it will help avoid a B-12 deficiency, because the actual non-human active analogs may be blocking the human active B-12. The same question arises now with the aphanizomenon flos-aqua and spirulina, as well as chlorella. So, until we actually do the gold standard test of these, through the methyl malonic test, to see if it actually lowers the methyl malonic acid, I think it is reasonable to eat these foods, but not expect that they are actually going to raise your human active B-12. My serum B-12 of 600 pg. may have thrown off my conclusions when I wrote my summary in 1990. I may have been in that 20% of vegans and live food people that don't seem to be affected. But I am more concerned about the other 80% that are B-12 deficient and that 50% whose B-12 levels go down to less than 100 pg. A study done in 1991 by Miller found that serum B-12 appeared to be unrelated to consumption of wakame, kombu, and other sea vegetables or tempeh in macrobiotic children. Other researchers feel that it is possible that raw nori, not dried nori, is a source of active B-12. Some of these conclusions are not finalized.

[Raw Angel Mom]

Update September 7, 2007

I have watched Dr. Cousens dvd. He has been raw vegan for more then 20 years. He isn't B12 deficiency but he emphasis that we should consider seriously to take B12 supplement. He found that the Nano B plus supplement was absorbed by the body. Many supplement don't get absorb with our body. He says that only 20% of vegan aren't B12 deficiency. Sometime, it takes years before we see the symptome because we do have a reserve. He consume many sea weeds vegetables he suspect that this might be the reason that he wasn't deficient but neither less, he recommend supplements. Especially pregnant wowan for their child could be born B12 deficiency.

My say, would be to get some blood test done occasionally. It is more natural to be healthy then not taking supplements if you need them. Yes B12, can be found in so many food but your body may not absorb it. Also, some meat eaters are as well B12 deficient.



-------------------------------------------------------
This is a myth that B12 can only be found in meat. Some of the greens has B12, e3lives is rich in B12, bee Pollen, and Nova Scotia dulse. You can always take an organic vegan B-complexe supplement. Also, sometime when we have been eating sad food for so long, our intestine will built up a protection but the downside is that we cannot absorb as much nutriments and including B12. By taking extra enzyme, apparently it clear up easier according to a nutritionist. It is always good to get our blood check once in a while but not to worry this is just to see if we need to make adjustment. Make sure to eat as much variety as you can, so your body can learn which food contain the perfect nutriment for you and will create a desire to eat this. It cannot generate a craving to drink wheat grass juice if you never had this before.

Again, do not worry about all those myths. ALL the nutriments in meat can be found in the world of vegetal. Also the four groups of food that was thaught to us at school was paid by the dairy farm association. We do not need meet, or dairy or eggs or fish. Our body did adapt to this nutrition and for some people they aren't ready to go vegan. I have been vegetarian since 2000 and raw vegan since April 2007, i am perfectly fine, healthy and full of energy. I actually was in shoke to see how much energy i had left after hicking a mountain and going back down. This is amazing what that raw diet has done for me in such a small amount of time.

Best wishes on your journey.

p.s I would recommand that you take greens juice or smoothies everyday (Home made greens such wheat grass, spinach, kale, boston salad, greens of beets, greens of carrots, etc....) visit www.rawfamily.com

[Little Mango]

Dulse has B12

[solarliving]

One of my clients who is an avid meat eater in his 60's just got blood work done and has low levels of B-12. Go figure.