Surprising to have a day with no mail.  Things were really hopping there, for
awhile.

I am wondering what your vegan readers do to meet their Vitamin B-12
requirements.  I recently completed my master's thesis on the topic of
Vitamin B-12 in vegan diets.  I'm wondering, especially, how folks feel about
the accepetability of food fortification--soy milk, brewer's yeast, breakfast
cereal, etc.

Vegans, more than any other type of vegetarian, need to plan for meeting this
nutrient need.  Several of the main researchers on Vitmain B-12 issues  noted
the importance of testing one's vitamin B-12 status periodically (every 1-2
years, if not indications of deficiency) and also testing iron status
periodically.

Testing for vitamin B-12 status can be done by either a serum vitamin B-12
(although not the earliest indicator) or less invasively, by a urine test for
methylmalonic acid.  (Some folks also test serum-methylmalonic acid, but it
was not as commonly cited in the literature, so I didn't study it
thoroughly).  The urine test will be most accurate with a 24-hour urine
collection (which needs to be refrigerated during the day, and can be sort of
a hassle, but compare to venipuncture as the alternative.)  Some labs will do
a urine test on a random-pee-in-a-cup-sample.  I used this test in my study,
and with n=16, it did not correlate well with serum B-12 results.

Monitoring iron status is important, because iron deficiency can affect the
gastric mucosa, decreasing absorption of vitamin B-12, which is already
limited in vegetarian diets.

Vegans, please let me know your opinion of food fortification.

Enjoy good health,

B. Wingren
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