" - I know several vegans who have had a B12 deficiency"

According to these numbers, and looking at the numbers from the last three years, circa 0.7% of the UK population are vegans. With a population of 60 million people, that's 420,000 vegans. (In this context it isn't really relevant if these people are vegans or if they only eat vegan food.)

According to one of the largest and newest studies on B12 levels in the average population, "Nearly two-fifths of the U.S. population may be flirting with marginal vitamin B12 status if the population of Framingham, Mass., is any indication":

Quote:

---

A careful look at 3,000 men and women in the ongoing Framingham Offspring Study found 39 percent with plasma B12 levels in the “low normal” range--below 258 picomoles per liter.

While this is well above the currently accepted deficiency level of 148 pmol/L, some people exhibit neurological symptoms in the higher range, said study leader Katherine Tucker. She is a nutritional epidemiologist at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston.

Nearly 9 percent of the study population fell below the current deficiency level. And more than 16 percent fell below 185 pmol/L. “Many people may be deficient at this level,” said Tucker. “There is a question as to what the clinical cutoff for deficiency should be.

---

There isn't one, static, valid number that can be used as a reference for a B12 deficiency, but there are a number of studies that seem to agree that circa 10% of the population should be defined as B12 deficient.

We also know that these tests measure B12 serum levels only, not tissue levels or MMA/homocysteine levels, which often are used as a marker for 'true' B12 levels. If they would, the numbers apparently would be twice as high - in other words, circa 20% of the population would be B12 deficient (and a much higher number would be 'flirting with marginal vitamin B12 status'.

With an estimated 420,000 vegans in UK, this would mean that 84,000 of these vegans would be B12 deficient if we would use the numbers from studies on the whole population should be used as a reference. The number should even be higher, because while meat eaters often are deficient in a number of nutrients vegan aren't deficient in, B12 is THE nutrient vegans need to special attention to: we are more likely to be B12 deficient than other people.

If I use these numbers on the US and Australian population (300 mill. + 20 mill.)), there should be 2.66 million vegans in these countries alone, 266,000 with a measurable B12 deficiency based in B12 serum levels alone, and twice as many (532,000) with an actual B12 deficiency... IF we would have had the same B12 deficiency rate as non-vegans.


Why does this matter? It matters for at least three reasons:

1) If you have had contact with the vegan community and come across several vegans with a current or past B12 deficiency, this alone doesn't say anything about B12 levels in vegans: vegans are definitely NOT supposed to have better B12 levels than non-vegans, and there should be more than half a million B12 deficient vegans in US/UK/Australia even if we would have the same B12 deficiency rate as others (who eat meat = muscle tissue + blood = "B12 storage and transport medium").

2) It matters because we should remind ourselves to take the B12 deficiency issue seriously. Both as a vegan and non-vegan you could develop B12 deficiency for a number of reasons.

3) It matters because B12 is one of the very few nutrients where vegans have less favorable results than non-vegans. We have more healthy levels of a number of other nutrients than non-vegans.

It also matters because you'll probably stumble upon a vegan or a (vegan) doctor or nutritionist who will tell you that he has seen several/many cases of B12 deficiency among vegans - while maybe forgetting that this is to be expected with more half a million B12 deficient vegans in UK/US/Australia alone.

People with signs of B12 deficiency are also much more likely to contact a doctor or nutritionalist to have their B12 levels checked, so of course doctors and nutritionalists will see more of these people than people with healthy B12 levels.


IMO the most appropriate response to anyone who have had some contact with the vegan community over time or doctors/nutritionists who say that "I know several vegans who have had a B12 deficiency" is "Of course you have".






(I have mentioned this topic in a couple of other threads already, but these numbers are updated a little - I also think this topic is so important that it deserves it's own thread!)

Thanks Korn for this info. I really do appreciate it. From reading this and looking at my results I definitely need to work at increasing my iron intake even though I thought I was doing OK. More leafy greens etc.. :-)

Thanks for the info... that's interesting:)

As a new vegan, I am trying to learn all I can about nutrition for my husband and I (I have just started cooking him vegan meals and he loves it!)

"you Know Vegans????:):):)"