Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Where Do Meat Eaters Get Their B12?

People are still warning us vegans, "You might have difficulty getting all your nutrients - like B12."  They ask us where we get our B12, and our responses vary from "I don't really worry about it," to "I get it from eating dirty vegetables."  Both of those answers are more rare, because the usual answer is more measured; after all, we are careful to get our nutrition.  So most of us list off our special great quality nutritional yeast, fortified soy milks, fortified cereals, supplements, etc. as our sources of B12, and then the meat eaters say, "Oh, that's not natural; you aren't getting your B12 from regular foods."

I have to wonder, do the meat eaters know where they get their B12? 

Sure, they get it from meat, but how did it get in the meat? 

If the animals are allowed to graze, the animals will get their B12 from the dirt, just like the vegans who do not wash their vegetables.  If the animals are factory farmed, they get their B12 from supplements added to their food. 

What?!!!  The meat eaters are eating supplemented B12 by way of an animal's flesh.  Second-hand B12!  That sounds rather putrid.  Further, they have no idea whether they are getting a small amount of B12, none at all (what if the animals did not consume or absorb the B12), or way too much B12?  Chances are, they do not get very much, as vegans often have more B12 in their systems than meat eaters.  That is probably because we do not go through an animal to get our nutrients.

I just found this information enlightening and rather amusing and thought I would share.

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