B12 (Parental Discretion Required)

*(THIS POST WAS GIVEN TO ME AS AN EMAIL FROM A FRIEND)*

B12 deficiency can take years to develop, but it can cause permanent brain damage.


"Now, the anti-raw/anti-vegan nutritionists (and even some raw/vegan ones)
will tell us that the problem is that plants contain B12 analogs. But meat also
contain analogs, multivitamin tablets and B12-fortified food contains analogs.


B12 in a plant (or supplement) is destroyed by sunlight, but it seems that a plant
that is grown in soil that contains the correct bacteria/microorganisms/cobalt
will get new supplies of B12 as long as it is alive.

Since we are exposed to so many ways to reduce B12 levels, the only way to be
safe, in my opinion, is to test yourself (and not only for B12, MMA and homocsyteine
is also needed). To believe that eating enough B12 is all that's needed is an
illusion, because there are millions of meat eaters out there who eat way more
B12 than we need, and still develop B12 deficiency en masse. Why?

Because, most likely, they

...drink chlorinated water (chlorine is reducing B12 not only in water, but
might also continue to destroy microorganisms in out digestive system. B12 is
made by microorganisms).

...they might drink tea/coffee, alcohol or smoke.

...they might spend time driving a car. Nitrous oxide from cars may cause B12
deficiency

...maybe they use microwave ovens, which kill B12.

...they cook food, which reduce B12 levels.

...they probably use a lot of sugar.

...they have been exposed to mercury from eating fish, or have mercury fillings
in their teeth, or may even use a deodorant containing mercury. Mercury is far
from B12-friendly.

They might also have a history of using various medicines, like sleeping pills
or oral contraceptives (the list of chemicals that disturb B12 is long).

They might lack calcium which is needed for B12 absorption.

The plants they eat (and the plants that the animals they eat eat) are grown
in a soil that contains only half the nutrients it did half a century ago. B12
has a negative reaction to acid/alkali, and even if the plants they/we eat weren't
exposed to chlorinated water, acid rain is still a problem.

It might show up one day that consuming a lot of B12 from animals might cause
deficiencies later in life. Looking at the ideal levels of B12 absorption (when
it's best absorbed), these levels look like exactly the amount of B12 we could
get from plants that were not destroyed by pesticides and artificial fertilizers
and so on.

The problem with assuming that organic/raw food contains enough B12, is that
it is in many cases only an assumption. Even organic / raw food may be exposed
to chlorinated water and acid rain, and the people who consume organic/raw food
might have some similarities with the meat eaters that eat way too much B12
and still become B12 deficient. If they are not, they may have been exposed
to B12 troublemakers in the past, like mercury, tapeworm from fish or parasites,
which unfortunately doesn't disappear the day someone vegan/raw."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Any and everyone should have their B12 checked no matter what diet --
lifestyle they follow.

Urine MMA B12 is more accurate than a B12 blood serum check.

Testing B12 status

A blood B12 level measurement is a very unreliable test for vegans, particularly
for vegans using any form of algae. Algae and some other plant foods contain
B12-analogues false B12 that can imitate true B12 in blood tests while actually
interfering with B12 metabolism. Blood counts are also unreliable as high folate
intakes suppress the anaemia symptoms of B12 deficiency that can be detected
by blood counts. Blood homocysteine testing is more reliable, with levels less
than 10 mol/litre being desirable. The most specific test for B12 status is
methylmalonic acid (MMA) testing. If this is in the normal range in blood (less
than 370 nmol/L)or urine (less than 4 g /mg creatinine) then your body has enough
B12. Many doctors still rely on blood B12 levels and blood counts. These are
not adequate, especially in vegans. Is there a vegan alternative to B12-fortified
foods and supplements?

If for any reason you choose not to use fortified foods or supplements you
should recognise that you are carrying out a dangerous experiment - one that
many have tried before with consistently low levels of success. If you are an
adult who is neither breast-feeding an infant, pregnant nor seeking to become
pregnant, and wish to test a potential B12 source that has not already been
shown to be inadequate, then this can be a reasonable course of action with
appropriate precautions. For your own protection, you should arrange to have
your B12 status checked annually. If homocysteine or MMA is even modestly elevated
then you are endangering your health if you persist.

If you are breast feeding an infant, pregnant or seeking to become pregnant
or are an adult contemplating carrying out such an experiment on a child, then
don't take the risk. It is simply unjustifiable.

Claimed sources of B12 that have been shown through direct studies of vegans
to be inadequate include human gut bacteria, spirulina, dried nori, barley grass
and most other seaweeds. Several studies of raw food vegans have shown that
raw food offers no special protection.

Reports that B12 has been measured in a food are not enough to qualify that
food as a reliable B12 source. It is difficult to distinguish true B12 from
analogues that can disrupt B12 metabolism. Even if true B12 is present in a
food, it may be rendered ineffective if analogues are present in comparable
amounts to the true B12. There is only one reliable test for a B12 source -
does it consistently prevent and correct deficiency? Anyone proposing a particular
food as a B12 source should be challenged to present such evidence. "

By Vegfamily...

"My homocysteine and B12 blood/serum lab levels were fantastic but my
urine MMA test was high......

I've been eating living-foods for 6 years now and in the last 2 years I could
tell something wasn't right (fatigued, dry skin, twitching muscles, soreness,
poor digestion, etc...) and I found out my B12 was off...

For the first few years I was on top of the world and now I'm in a world of
hurt!!!!

Don't wait too long as I thought B12 would never have an affect on me."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

raw girls .. swallow :)



" Without embarrassment, this is a subject that needs

to be discussed. I am past the point of being disgusted

by know-it-all vegetarian and vegan nutritionists and

dieticians who believe that one must take artificial

supplements derived from cow intestines, containing

Vitamin B-12 in order to maintain good health. The fact

that vegans have B-12 in their bloodstreams is evidence

enough that we're somehow obtaining it. Low dose, high

dose, it really doesn't matter. Fact is that we need

just a few micrograms of B-12, and a five-year supply

is stored in the average human liver. That fact alone

negates the scare tactics of those who criticize the

pure vegan diet, or dispense supplements as a part of

their self-sustaining practices.

Vegan blood contains some B-12. In that, there is no

debate. Vegan semen and vaginal secretions contain many

times more Vitamin B-12 than does human blood.

The solution? Make love. Enjoy oral sex. The ingestion

of sexual body secretions from your lover will insure

good health for you.

In addition to the usual frogs, snails, and puppy

dogs tails, what are little boys made of? What exactly

is in semen?

Ten percent of semen consists of sperm cells, up to

500 million per ejaculate. It takes only one sperm

cell to fertilize an egg. I often wonder why the other

499,999 are necessary.

What constitutes the other 90% of semen? In addition

to enormous amounts of vitamins, enzymes, and amino

acids, semen contains up to 20 times the level of

Vitamin B-12 as does human blood serum. Vaginal fluids

contain a similar makeup, rich in B-12.

Scientists knew this nearly 20 years ago, but had no

socially-tactful way to transmit this information to

the lay person. (Yeah, I know, you love my use of the

English language).

As early as March of 1984, Carmel Bernstein and a team

of investigators published evidence in the Journal of

Clinical Investigations (73;3, Vitamin B-12 in human

seminal plasma) revealing that blood has one-tenth the

amount of B-12 as does male semen.

Eight years later, the Scandanavian Journal of Clinical

Laboratory Investigations (Hansen, 1992 Nov;52(7):647-52)

determined that B-12 levels in human semen run as high as

20 times that of blood. Similar amounts of B-12 have been

found in vaginal secretions.

Many people have an aversion to oral sex because of the

taste or smell. Can that often be justified? Absolutely.

Long ago, in the days before artificial modern-day perfumes

and deodorants were used to mask human odors, people

enjoyed body smells. Don Juan would keep handkerchiefs

under his armpits and wave them in front of ladies' noses.

That action was designed to bring them to arousal from his

own natural essences and bouquet which contained pheromones,

chemicals containing natural sexual messengers that

communicate instinctual feelings shared by all mammals.

Truth revealed: Why does a male dog mount and hump a human

female leg, thrusting his pelvis as if in the act of copulation?

It's not because he smells your puppy, ladies. It's because

he smells your very own pheromones which trigger a genetically

pre-determined fixed action pattern in Fido's brain.

On to the olfactory bouquet from your own essences.

Dairy farmers know that if their cows eat onions or

garlic less than 30 minutes before milking, those powerfully

offensive smells will be included in their body secretions

which are then transmitted to their milk. A similar event

occurs with human body fluids. You are what you eat. Deer

know when meat-eating humans walk into the woods. Vegans

have a way with denizens of the forest. Vegans do not eat

other living creatures. Deer can tell by human smells.

So can dogs and other mammals possessing keener olfactory

senses than humans.

For many years, non dairy-using Japanese people called

Americans "butter-people," for the rancid smell that

would seep out of our pores. I can smell butter people.

I am amazed at the number of people calling themselves

vegan who are actually dairy users. I can smell the

aftermath of pizza 24 hours after a vegan eats one by his

or her offensive odor. The mozzarella turns rancid from

within. Its smell lingers on a user's breath. Milk the

cow and get the garlic or onion milk. Milk the human and

get Kentucky-fried chicken essence.

Humans who eat meat ingest large amounts of sulfur-based

amino acids. That is one of the qualities of meat protein.

The sulfur becomes a part of their own smell and taste. Eat

large amounts of methionine and you'll taste quite rancid.

I have met many vegans who relate anecdotal evidence

of how other vegans make better lovers because they

"taste better." Where are Masters and Johnson when you

need them? The good that comes from this column will

result in two lovers enjoying a large meal of fresh

pineapple before their next bout of foreplay. Gourmets

and epicurians of the world, unite. Your next dose of

love will contain the best vitamin pill in the world.

Was it Mary Poppins who sang, "Just a spoonful of sugar

helps the medicine go down"?

Remember, for B-12, make love, and do so with good taste. "

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.veganhealth.org/b12/raw

http://www.remineralize.org/don.php



i would be interested to know davids' take on the B12 issue >>?!

also, maybe you should have a MMA B12 urine test - it may help to shed some
light on your pins and needles?!

posted by Sacred Steve at 5/21/2006 11:57:00 AM