Hi Folks!! Here is something that just got posted on another list. Goes contrary to what I have beleived (and seen!) among vegans and meat eaters. Any thoughts? > << The New England Journal of Medicine (12/7/78, Page 1319) notes that > Vitamin B-12 is manufactured by microorganisms, making it possible to > obtain vitamin B-12 from certain seeds and nuts, and from soybean > products. > Also vitamin B-12 can be synthesized in the colon. The myth that plants >do not contain vitamin B-12 has been perpetrated and fostered by vested >interests. Some plants and fruits that contain amounts of B-12 (cobalt >containing coordination compound, produced in the normal growth of certain >microorganisms), are bananas, dates, greens, peanuts, and particularly >sprouts and raw sunflower seeds. > A deficiency of vitamin B-12, which is a forerunner of pernicious anemia, >is not necessarily due to dietary inadequacy. A report released from a >Vitamin B-12 conference stated, "Pernicious anemia appears to arise not >from shortage in the diet, but from impairment of the ability to absorb >the vitamin. >(Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 71st Scientific Meeting, London >School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Jan.5, 1952, page 295). >In conclusion, we do not need animal products to obtain vitamin B-12.The >bacteria of our intestines create vitamin B-12. The body can store from >two to eight years of this vitamin. Under one microgram (a millionth of >a gram) is needed daily. Some studies indicate less. >Almost all cases of anemia and B-12 deficiency occur in meat-eaters, not >vegetarians or frugivores. >The body has many substances that are engaged in active transport of >nutrients from one medium to another through separating membranes. The >transport mechanism for vitamin B-12 is called intrinsic factor (a >chemical secreted by the stomach.) It is a loss of this factor that >accounts for most B-12 deficiency and anemia. >Stomach disease interferes with the production of the intrinsic factor, >and kidney or liver disease may increase the interference of normal >absorption. >PS: Vitamin B-12 is made so abundantly that is hard not to get enough >from "contamination" alone! Actually, we can meet our needs ample for >this vitamin from bacterial by-products in our lower intestines just as >most other animals meet their needs. >One milligram of B-12 will last us over two years, and healthy individuals >usually carry around a five year supply. Our needs are so minute they are >measured in picograms (billionths of a gram) and micrograms (millionths >of a gram). Don't worry -- be happy! >Cordially -- H >> And Cordially From Me, Too!!! ~~ Liza May