Top 7 Great Food Sources of Vitamin B12 for Vegetarians and Vegans
by Saurabh Patel on Dec 17, 2022
- Vitamin B12 is an essential vitamin for the cells. It is important for keeping your nerve cells, blood cells healthy.
- Animal sources of food (meat,fish,egg) provide an incredible amount of vitamin b12 and little vitamin b12 will be obtained from plant sources.
- Due to less amount of vitamin b12 in plant-based food, the people who follow a vegetarian diet, vegan diet have to take care of daily requirements of vitamin b12 to avoid a deficiency ..
- Deficiency of vitamin B12 can lead to serious health consequences, such as …memory loss, pernicious anemia.
- While vegetarians and vegans need to think more about where their vitamin B12 is coming from, there are still plenty of great options.
- Let’s see Top vitamin B12 foods for vegetarians and vegans.
- Vegetarians have several options for sources of B12.
- These include fortified foods and milk products, such as cheese and curd.
- Vegans have a more limited list of options. Fortified foods, or those with added vitamin B12, are the main source for them.
- Other sources green algae like spirulina, nutritional yeast and mushrooms also have good amount of vitamin b12.
- Below, we take a closer look at the best sources of vitamin B12 for vegetarians, and some for vegans, too.
1. Milk and milk products :
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Indian Buffalo Milk contain 0.36 mcg per 100gm |
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Sheep Milk contain 0.7 mcg per 100gm |
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Goat Milk contain 0.065 mcg per 100gm |
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Human Milk contain 0.064 mcg per 100gm |
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Mozzarella Cheese contain 2.3 mcg per 100gm |
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Swiss Cheese contain 3.1 mcg per 100gm |
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Yogurt whole milk contain 0.37 mcg per 100gm |
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Buttermilk whole milk contain 0.46 mcg per 100gm |
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Buttermilk low fat contain 0.22 mcg per 100gm |
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Paneer contain up to 0.3 mcg per 100gm |
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Ghee contain up to 0.4 mcg per 100gm |
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With bioavailability of milk up to 55 to 65% |
Milk is called “ sampurna aahar “ . It means a whole meal because, it contains an enormous amount of protein, fat, all vitamins and necessary electrolytes too. If an adult human consumes 250 ml of milk daily, it will full fill your daily basic requirement of nutrition.
Milk and milk products like cheese, yogurt ( curd ), buttermilk, paneer and ghee are one of great source of vitamin b12 for vegetarians and vegan too. But remember, Milk is little heavy to digest because of its high concentration of nutrition that’s why, People who is suffering from gastric complaints like – indigestion or gastritis , they will get difficulty in digesting milk or milk products. Some peoples are lactose intolerance , and get adverse reaction after taking milk or milk products.
I will say, if you having gastric complaints & you are lactose intolerance Try to avoid it and choose other source of vitamin b12 in your diet.
2.Spirulina & sea weeds :
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Spirulina and seaweeds contain up 50 to 70 mcg per 100 gm |
Spirulina and seaweeds are lower plants , who synthesise vitamin b12 in nature and one of leading source in ayurveda for provide plant based vitamin b12 for vegetarians and vegans. dried form of spirulina or seaweed is available for use as supplement of vitamin b12 in clinical trial we found that, they frequently causes bloating, nauseating feeling if you took empty stomach and indigestion if you took after meal. so, you have to minimise daily consumption of such vitamin b12 source according to your healthiness.
3. Fortified foods and Dishes made up of Fermented batter :
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Fortified food packages contain in variable amount according to % RDA |
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Fermented food contains trace amount |
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With bioavailability upto 90% |
This is The most reliable and consistent source of vitamin B12 on a vegan diet. Food fortified with vitamin b12 can help you meet your daily intake requirement, these are a readily available source of vitamin b12 with high bioavailability for vegetarians and vegans.
Fortified breakfast cereals often contain 25% of DV per serving, so check and read the packaging for how much vitamin b12 it has. Fermentation process is a bacterial process in which macromolecules are broken down into smaller easily absorbable nutrients. Thus, it's full of essential nutrients and also too easy to digest. It will also provide a trace amount of vitamin b12.
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Nutritional yeast contain 150 mcg per 100 gm |
Nutritional yeast is a good source of vitamin b6 and vitamin b12 and nine essential amino-acids. nutritional yeast also contains the powerful antioxidants. These compounds may help protect your cells from damage caused by free radicals and heavy metals and help your body eliminate environmental toxins. You can find nutritional yeast in the market and you can make delicious dishes from it like various kinds of breads , kulchas , naan and for a testy snack, sprinkle nutritional yeast on popcorn.
5. Soya chunks:
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Soya chunks contain up to 8 mcg per 100 gm |
Fermented soybean-based food called Tempe or natto contains a considerable amount of Vitamin B12 due to fermentation process in soybeans. study is shown, it causes hormonal changes and also linked to thyroid trouble and gynecomastia ( male boobs ). So , it's good to take 2 times a week up to 100 gram. If you are using soya chunks in diet for muscle building as rich protein source, I will suggest you to do not take it more than 3 times a week.
6. Sprouts (germinated beans )
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Mung sprout contain up to 0.7 mcg per 100 gm |
Mung bean sprouts is one of best source of vitamin b12 for vegetarians Because, Pulses gets vitamin b12 from microorganisms harboured in their root nodules. Sprouts are a good source of antioxidants, various body salts, protein and vitamins. It will help you to maintain your good health.
7. Mushrooms:
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Dried shitake mushroom contain 5.6 mcg per 100 gm |
Yes it’s true that you can obtain vitamin b12 from mushroom but it's not a reliable source and furthermore it's allergenic too. You would need to consume about 50 grams of dried shitake mushroom to meet your daily requirements of vitamin b12.- Due to less amount of vitamin b12 in plant-based food, the people who follow a vegetarian diet, vegan diet have to take care of daily requirements of vitamin b12 , this need will be fulfilled if you consume given food sources in your diet.
- Or else, you have to take vitamin b12 supplements to avoid vitamin b12 deficiency.
