Eating smart is your key to a successful healthy vegetarian diet. It can be tricky when you get down to a vegan diet but have you ever wondered if you are meeting your daily requirements for vitamin B12?
Can you guess how much vitamin B12 there is in the bowl of vegetables above?
Anyone
following a vegan diet will benefit from a B12 supplement or drinks enriched in
this B vitamin. This is because plant
foods contain minimal amounts or practically no vitamin B12. Animal foods and fortified products are the
predominant sources for this vitamin.
Inadequate
intake or malabsorption of food cobalamin whereby vitamin B12 cannot be dissociated
from its carrier proteins can lead to increased risk of pernicious anaemia. However, deficiency is only likely in strict
vegans or in older adults with reduced absorption.
Do you know your requirements?
The UK
Department of Health recommends 1.2-1.5μg/day of dietary vitamin B12 for
adults. This is the RNI or dietary
reference nutrient intake that is deemed safe for at least 97% of the general
population.
But what is B12?
Vitamin
B12 contributes to the optimal function of the human nervous system through
their role as cofactors in numerous catalytic reactions in the human body. The best sources of these foods are meat,
fish and dairy products.
For vegans
out there, your beacon of hope is fortified foods such as breakfast
cereals. So to answer your question
above – there is practically no vitamin B12 in that bowl of sweet potato and
capsicum.
YOUR ACTION PLAN
Vegetarians
who eat fish
A sandwich
filled with tuna, sardines or herring will contain at least 3.7 – 18μg
depending on portion sizes. If your
requirements as a female are 1.2 μg/day, then you can see that meeting your
vitamin B12 dietary requirements are effortless.
Fish fingers contain a smaller amount of vitamin B12, but chances
are that if you eat fish, then you probably also include dairy on your vegetarian diet.
Vegetarians
who eat dairy
A glass of
milk contains approximately 1.9μg of vitamin B12. A 30g portion of cheese consists of at least
0.7μg. This illustrates that after a few tweaks to your diet, it is incredibly
easy to meet your requirements for this vitamin.
If you are
following a strict vegan diet or also need to follow a milk free diet as part
of your vegetarian diet, then no problem.
Simply choose fortified rice or soy milks and you will find that a 200ml
glass will contain around 0.8μg. Soy
yoghurts are also another useful way of increasing intake.
Here is an
example of how you can tweak your diet to increase vitamin B12 intake.
Typical
diet
Breakfast
Toast with
margarine and jam
Black tea
to drink
Lunch
Salad
sandwich or salad with nuts
Fruit
Supper
Roasted
vegetables with potato and herbs
Vitamin
B12 friendly meal plan
Breakfast
Special K or
instant oats and vitamin B12 fortified soy milk (250ml)
Cup of tea
with fortified milk free milk
Lunch
As above
but consider including a soy yoghurt that is B12 fortified or a soy milkshake
(200ml)
Supper
As above
but consider making a pesto sauce by adding fortified rice milk or yoghurt
How do you try to meet your vitamin B12 requirements? Do comment below, I love hearing from you!
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