B12 in fresh dates

[medus]

In Lithuania (and in some other European countries) one can buy fresh dates "Salem". On the package it is written that they are "rich in minerals and vitamins A, C, B1, B2, B3, B6, B12". It could be hard to know if this B12 source is reliable becouse "Salem" don't have any webpage or contacts. IHMO if they don't wash fresh dates, some B12 bacteries may still be on them. Anyhow, I haven't found any other information on the internet saying that fresh dates may have B12.

http://a.fluxus.lt/salem.jpg

http://a.fluxus.lt/salem-b12.jpg

[twinkle]

Dates seem to have vitamin B5 in them, which is not mentioned on that packaging (100g dates seem to get you about 10% rda of that) but I can't find any mention of them having B12.

[cedarblue]

in this chart of the nutritional value of dates, it says there is no b12 in dates at all??


http://www.elook.org/nutrition/fruits/2912-1.html

[Korn]

This is a somewhat complex situation, for a number of reasons...

1) There has been a 'established' truth - os should I say assumption - that B12 only exist in animal products. This is not the case.
2) Another established 'fact' has been that if there are B12 analogues in a product, all the real, active, bioavailable B12 in the same product is rendered dead and useless. This is not correct. More research is needed to find out what's true and not about the relationship between active B12 and B12 analogues.
3) Most people expose themselves - continuously, and several times a day - to all kinds of things that either destroy B12 before or after it has been consumed, or cause B12 that has been consumed not to be absorbed.

The result is that there's both a lot of confusion re. how much B12 each of us actually need, and that every time someone finds B12 in a plant they go 'this is pretty much the only existing plant that contains B12' - I've seen that one a number of times. There are probably also a number of examples of plants containing a small amount of B12 that are listed as not containing B12 at all.

Even if probably less that 1% of all plant species ever have been tested for B12, we still have a list of between 50 and 100 plants that do contain B12, and I'm sure we'll see a lot more in the future. Dates may or may not contain B12 - it could simply be a spelling error - but in cases of conflicting information, I guess the only way to find out more is to contact the manufacturer and ask them how much B12 the product in question contains. If they can't provide an answer, it's very unlikely that they've ever seen or performed a test.

If you contact them, Medus, and get a reply - please let us know what you find out!