What about vitamin B12?
How do vegans get it?
B12 is an essential vitamin all too often used as a 'magic bullet' by non-vegans trying to argue that a plant-based diet is unhealthy (despite mountains of evidence to the contrary) or that eating vegan is somehow 'unnatural'. The problem with this claim comes when we consider where B12 really comes from because despite the popular belief that it comes from animals, that actually isn't the case.
B12 is a byproduct of bacteria and is found primarily in untreated water sources, soil or in general dirty places.
For the majority of human history this meant people (just like most animals) could easily get their essential dosage through the dirt on their food or from the water they drank (which wasn't the treated and sanitised water we're lucky enough to have access to).
Today though, the modern world a highly sanitised place, something we benefit from greatly through improved health and longevity compared to humans of the past. One drawback of this sanitization however, is that our natural methods of obtaining B12 are lost and it's now much more difficult to obtain.
Yes, B12 can be gained by eating animal products, but before those anti-vegans celebrate their magic bullet they should know that thanks to the unnatural diets we feed most farm animals today, B12 supplements are now added to their feed. So just like going directly to plant sources for your nutrition instead of filtering it through an animal, you can also take a supplement instead of filtering that through an animal as well.
Many vegan staples such as non-dairy milks or nutritional yeast (a powdery cheese-like substance common in many a vegan pantry) also contain B12 so if these are a regular part of your diet your B12 is covered anyway.
Some like to point to the taking of a supplement as some kind of proof that we shouldn't be eating a plant-based diet at all, which is strange when you consider that in the US alone (a country where virtually everyone eats plenty of animal products) people spend a staggering thirty billion dollars on dietary supplements each year. Yet were we to use the very same argument to say this proves we shouldn't be eating animals products, suddenly opinions would change
B12 is a byproduct of bacteria and is found primarily in untreated water sources, soil or in general dirty places.
For the majority of human history this meant people (just like most animals) could easily get their essential dosage through the dirt on their food or from the water they drank (which wasn't the treated and sanitised water we're lucky enough to have access to).
Today though, the modern world a highly sanitised place, something we benefit from greatly through improved health and longevity compared to humans of the past. One drawback of this sanitization however, is that our natural methods of obtaining B12 are lost and it's now much more difficult to obtain.
Yes, B12 can be gained by eating animal products, but before those anti-vegans celebrate their magic bullet they should know that thanks to the unnatural diets we feed most farm animals today, B12 supplements are now added to their feed. So just like going directly to plant sources for your nutrition instead of filtering it through an animal, you can also take a supplement instead of filtering that through an animal as well.
Many vegan staples such as non-dairy milks or nutritional yeast (a powdery cheese-like substance common in many a vegan pantry) also contain B12 so if these are a regular part of your diet your B12 is covered anyway.
Some like to point to the taking of a supplement as some kind of proof that we shouldn't be eating a plant-based diet at all, which is strange when you consider that in the US alone (a country where virtually everyone eats plenty of animal products) people spend a staggering thirty billion dollars on dietary supplements each year. Yet were we to use the very same argument to say this proves we shouldn't be eating animals products, suddenly opinions would change
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B12 supplements used in raising livestock
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Whether you simply eat fortified foods or choose to take the occasional supplement, the point of the matter is that both are a cheap and easy way to avoid causing suffering to animals. Indeed if given the choice of stabbing a defenseless animal to death every week or just popping a supplement instead most would obviously choose the latter. But because we pay someone else to do the killing, it's easy to attack the taking of a supplement or the consumption of fortified foods as a way of deflecting from our contribution to the violent deaths of billions of animals we wouldn't dream of participating in ourselves.
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It's also a simple fact that choosing a cruelty-free source of B12 is actually the healthier option. Dr John McDougall's thoughts from a newsletter he penned on the topic draws attention to the incredible rarity of serious B12 deficiency but the incredible commonality of a wealth of dietary related diseases linked to the consumption of animal products.
"You could choose to eat lots of B12-rich animal foods and avoid the one-in-a-million chance of
developing a reversible anemia or even less common, damage to your nervous system. However,
this decision puts you at a one-in-two chance of dying prematurely from a heart attack or stroke,
a one-in-seven chance of breast cancer or a one-in-six chance of prostate cancer. The same thinking
results in obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, constipation, indigestion, and arthritis. All these conditions
caused by a B12-sufficient diet are found in the people you live and work with daily. How many
vegans have you met with B12 deficiency anemia or nervous system damage? I bet not one!
Furthermore, you have never even heard of such a problem unless you have read the
attention-seeking headlines of newspapers or medical journals."
"You could choose to eat lots of B12-rich animal foods and avoid the one-in-a-million chance of
developing a reversible anemia or even less common, damage to your nervous system. However,
this decision puts you at a one-in-two chance of dying prematurely from a heart attack or stroke,
a one-in-seven chance of breast cancer or a one-in-six chance of prostate cancer. The same thinking
results in obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, constipation, indigestion, and arthritis. All these conditions
caused by a B12-sufficient diet are found in the people you live and work with daily. How many
vegans have you met with B12 deficiency anemia or nervous system damage? I bet not one!
Furthermore, you have never even heard of such a problem unless you have read the
attention-seeking headlines of newspapers or medical journals."
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"It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver."
Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
