[mcg] B12 in 7 different (germinated) pulses

http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/reprint/56/3/403.pdf

According to this study, B12 has been found in all the 7 pulses studied, and both in the germinated and ungerminated plants.

The values for ungerminated pulses are (mcg/100g, with a +/- 0.01-0.02 mcg error margin):

Phaseolus mungo (Black gram): 0.42
Phaseolus radiatus (Mung bean): 0.61
Lens esculenta/Lentils: 0.43
Pisum sativum/Peas: 0.36
Lathyrus sativus/Grass pea, blue sweet pea: 0.37
Cajunus indicus: 0.53
Cicer arietinum, Chick pea: 0.35

The values for the same pulses after germination for two days: (mcg/100g, with a +/- 0.01-0.03 mcg error margin):

Phaseolus mungo: 0.85
Phaseolus radiatus: 0.81
Lens esculenta: 0.47
Pisum sativum: 1.27
Lathyrus sativus: 0.75
Cajunus indicus: 0.68
Cicer arietinum: 1.90

The values for the same pulses after germination for four days: (mcg/100g, with a +/- 0.01-0.03 mcg error margin):

Phaseolus mungo: 1.20
Phaseolus radiatus: 1.53
Lens esculenta: 2.37
Pisum sativum: 2.36
Lathyrus sativus: 0.86
Cajunus indicus: 0.57
Cicer arietinum: 1.22

The conclusion of the study was:

Quote:

The results show that pulses contain vitamin B12. In the
ungerminated condition the vitamin B12 content was highest
in Phaseolus radiatus and lowest in Cicer arietinum, Pisum
sativum and Lathyrus sativus. Lens esculenta and Cajunus
indiens showed intermediate values. During the process of
germination vitamin B12values increased in all the pulses and
the increase was maximum in most of the pulses on the 4th day
of germination. Pisum sativum, Lens esculenta and Phaseolus
radiatus were found to be good sources of vitamin B12 when
they were germinated. Consumption of germinated pulses
should, therefore, be advocated from the nutritional point of
view. Cases of pernicious anemia are not very common in
India although Indians are mostly vegetarian in their food
habits. Pulses form an important constituent of the daily
dietary of Indians and it is no wonder that they receive suffi
cient vitamin B12 from the pulses they consume.

In science, things are always more complicated than they seem - and even if this study was based upon an average of 10 determinations of the vitamin B12 contents of these pulses, the test does not include information about the human-active/non-active ratio of the found B12. There's some interesting info here.

I'll start a couple of new B12 threads soon - one of them will be about the 'life expectancy' of a human-active B12 molecule. It may look like B12 that hasn't been eaten (by an animal or human), whether it's fermented, germinated or just 'getting old', won't live forever. After a not very long period of time (and after having been exposed to freezing, heating, light and so on) it will probably 'die'/be converted to an inactive B12 molecule, which still looks like a active B12 molecule, at least for a while. Some of the tests used as 'proof' that B12 in eg. tempeh isn't reliable are performed on material that has been frozen, heated several times and so forth, and information about the age of a product is rarely included in these tests. In many ways, it's strange that they find any B12 at all in these products, because the freezing, pasteurization, autoclaving etc. may remove a lot of the active B12, and it's also known that 'age' in itself kills active B12.