Hi Leah,

Mind if I butt in here because..when I hear of a B12 deficiency..
just about every red light in my mind flashes at once.

> The only reason I'm not sure about raw-foodism as a maintenance diet is
> because soon after I started this way of life (3-4months) my level of
> B12 dropped drastically and I am now taking pills to replenish it.  I'm
> going for a blood test next week to make sure the level has gone up.
>
Your doc is a phoney as far as dieting is concerned. He ought to
know that B12 blood levels mean nothing. Humans carry a store of B12
in their liver which lasts anything from 3 - 5 years! In other words,
if you have only been on raw for three months there is no way that
the raw fooding could have caused a deficiency. It could be of course
that your stomach is not producing (or not producing enough) so-
called intrinsic factor. This could be either a hereditary defect
(in which case you would have certainly noticed it before you ever
started on raw) or a consequence of your prior bad diet. Known
complaints resulting from a deficiency in B12 are megaloblastic
anaemia (you produce less or abnormal blood cells), the
reduced production of stomach acids and a loss of tissue in
the stomach lining. Don't be fooled. There are enough natural
bacteria in your mouth (as long as you don't use antiseptic
toothpastes and mouthwashes) to keep you supplied with enough
B12 (providing your intrinsic factor is OK of course). B12
is a continual argument used by the cooked foodists against
the raw foodists (including governemnt agencies who should
but don't want to know better), but there are no reports from
anywhere of any raw foodist suffering from any of those
symptoms of a B12 deficiency mentioned above AFTER changing to
raw.

Best regards,

Alan