If you take B12 supplements, what do you take?

[Korn]

...how? And what do you take?

[veganblue]

Hmmm.... I use B12 injections self-administered as I tend to forget to take tablets on a regular basis and my diet usually supplies everything else - when I remember to eat. I have never used a B12 tablet specifically.

[bulletproof]

you inject b12? o_O

[bulletproof]

i have a 500 something b12 tablet a day, though it probably isn't necessary when i am eating healthily

[PinkFluffyCloud]

I take a 'Seven Seas' Multi-Vit/Mineral supplement which includes 2.5ug of B12, most days.
I also have 2 cups of fortified Soya milk every day.
(I used to take a B12 on it's own each day, and dutifully sucked it under my tongue - it made me feel sick and I couldn't face it after a few weeks.) :p

[feline01]

My daily multi has 75mcg of B12 and then every other day or so, I chew a 1,000mcg tablet. It depends on what I've been eating. Yesterday, I had popcorn sprinkled with nutritional yeast so I skipped the supplement.

[Roxy]

I take a B Complex "50" each day. It contains B12.

[Korn]

Ooops.... a correction:

the option that said 'I take both, and I take the B12 under-the-tongue or swallow it'
was meant to be 'I take both, and I take the B12 under-the-tongue or chew it'.

If you voted for this one, and swallow your B12, let me know, so I can correct the results....

[Leigh]

I don't take any supplements whatsoever....is that really bad?? I do drink soy milk fortified with B12, calcium and omega 3.

[veganblue]

HOw long have you been vegan Leigh? It is commonly stated that the body's reserve of B12 lasts about five to six years so deficiency does not really show up until after that time - and then, only if you are not getting enough from your diet. There is discussion that while asymptomatic you could still be suffering ill-effects of insufficient B12 after 5 years. As B12 is essential for nervous tissue function and there are few reports (if any) of overdoses, it seemingly won't hurt to take supplementation of some kind or another along with dietary sources. Just a suggestion.

[Leigh]

I've only been vegan since May this year. I guess it's just something I have a 'thing' about. Obviously it's better to be safe than sorry, but I'm always hearing about people who take supplements all the time as if that's going to make them healthy, regardless of what they eat. Maybe I'll look into it..... So, are there better ways to take a supplement to get the most out of it than others? If I'm going to spend the money I'd like to be getting every last scrap of it that I can ;) But I don't do injections!!!! :eek:

[veganblue]

I use injections because I am absent minded about pill taking. It is not necessary. I also drink fortified soy milk, eat tempeh, miso and mushrooms but only have the shot when I feel the low B12 symptoms. Not terribly pleasant; kind of like feeling slow, or immersed in a viscous liquid. Mostly I maintain it but my diet is not *always* brilliant so I expect the odd deficincy. I regularly forget to eat sufficiently or sufficient variety.

[drummer]

Had a test for blood levels of B12. It was supposed to be at least >210. My result was >334. I take a B-complex supplement a few times a week containing 50ug of B12.

[Artichoke47]

I use fortified rice and oat milk and nutritional yeast.

[1vegan]

I use Solgar b12 1000 mcg "nuggets"

I swallow them, but you can also let them disolve under the tongue. But with that dosis there is no difference in what is absorbed (imo)

I take them "now and then" , that means a few times per week, if I don't forget it.

[Kiva Dancer]

I take a B12/folic acid supplement each day.

[Trendygirl]

I take 2,000mg once a week and let it disolve under my tongue

[foxytina_69]

i take a multivitamin with 50 mcg of b12.

[Mystic]

I take a chewable (cherry flavour) - I think it is 100mcg? I take it every day

[Libby]

I buy the solgar 100mcg tablets and cut them in half. 50mcg is more than adequate (I chew them), and the jar lasts twice as long!

10 mcg is the minimum supplement recomended by the vegan society, which is what I'd like to take, as taking large doses is completely unnecessary, but I haven't found any B12 supplements less than 100mcg.

[Korn]

From http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag98/sep98_newlem2.html


New studies show that supplemental vitamin B12 absorbs better through the stomach than was previously thought. These reports, published in mainstream medical journals, show that orally administered vitamin B12 supplements are effectively absorbed by more than 99 percent of humans (B12 is difficult to absorb from the digestive tract only when it is tightly bound to food).

[CloverKitty]

I don't take B12. I drink soy and rice milk with B12 added.

[Korn]

It has been discussed whether B12 in fortified foods have the effect it should have, because fortified food often contains an amount of inactive B12 analogues, which have been reported to block the intake of 'real' B12.

Donald Watson, born in 1910, has been a vegetarian since 1924, and a vegan since 1942, and is still alive and in good shape. He has never taken any medicine or taken separate supplements apart from those added to plant milks and other proprietary vegan food, and he even had a weak childhood (to weak to be vaccinated).

So it seems that the B12 he got from fortified food didn't do any harm, in spite of the reported B12 analogues (http://www.veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=317) they contain.

http://www.worldveganday.org/upload/albums/closet01/aao.jpg

[just_a_grrrl]

I take a multi with b12 in it, but I have a question. how do they get the b12 in there? if b12 is only found in animal products then wouldnt my pill not be vegan?

[snaffler]

I am taking Multi-Vits Vegan ones from Quest Vitamins and B12 from the same people these are swollow with a main meal as they timed release.