Thursday, May 28, 2009

EVERYONE Needs More B12

I don't care if you're vegan or not, most people don't get enough B12. If you don't take a supplement, you should. It seems to be one of the most researched things out there-- and they've linked B12 deficiency to numerous ailments such as cancer, Alzheimer's disease, hearing loss, and more. I think we beat this one over the head by now, but it's an important one. [[more on the research here]]

Unless you're eating cow liver every night [[or various other organs]], as a meat eater you're not getting much B12, either.

COMPARE*:
Common omnivore foods:
- 1 piece of steak, 203 grams - ranges from 4 to 8 mcg. depending on the part
- Pork isn't even a measurable source of B12, unless you eat the organs
- Ground raw chicken, 1 ounce - less than 1 mcg.
- Cow's milk, 1 cup - 2 mcg.
- 1 chicken egg - 3 mcg.
Common vegan foods:
- Silk, light plain soy milk, 1 cup - 8 mcg. [[equivalent to the best kind of steak]]
- Morningstar's sausage style breakfast crumbs, a mere 55 grams - has 14 mcg.
- Nutritional Yeast, 1 1/2 tbs - 133% of your daily value [[I couldn't find it in mcg.]]
- Tofu and tempeh are not a significant source of vitamin B12

At the end of the day, we're both getting about 5-10 mcg. a day. I'm sick of the age-old question "Well, how do you get your B12?" [[or the ever popular, and stupid "How do you get protein?"]]. If anyone asks you this, tell them some of these facts. And suggest they take a supplement too, because they're probably not getting enough either [[unless they're a freak who eats ostrages and cow tongue all day-- gross]].

*All this information can be found at nutriondata.com

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