What inspired me to write this blogpost was actually while reading through the comments of an article about Hemp Milk. A girl named Izzi asked the following question:
“Can someone please explain to me how you get B12 from Hemp milk? You can only obtain this vitamin naturally from animal meat, dairy or spiriva? There is surely not anywhere near a sufficient amount of B12 in hemp if any as plants do not have this vitamin. Can this be clarified please.”
I can easily understand Izzi’s concern regarding the amounts of B12 one would get drinking Hemp milk. And it’s a great question she’s raising, really. Let me try to clairify things a bit.
It’s a misconception that B12 is a vitamin which is only found in animal corpses (meat) and other animal by-products (diary).. B12 really is a bacteria. A microbe which thrives in the dirt. The dirt which vegetables and fruits grow in.. which again the animals consume.
Meat and diary is not the direct source of B12, and the small amounts of B12 found in these “foods” really comes from the soil..
Meat eaters generally gets a little more B12 than us vegans and vegetarians do, but vegans absorbes much larger amounts of the B12, since the acid production in our stomach raises to very high levels, when we digest meat – which destroys the B12 bacteria.
Really the best thing you can do is to buy bio-dynamic organic vegetables (and Hemp is a weed, thus often found organic) and don’t panic if you yet a little dirt now and then. Our forefathers did, and they never suffered from B12 deficiency.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens argues that vitamin B12 deficiency is typically caused by lack of absorption in the intestinal tract rather than a lack of this vitamin in the diet. So, improve your digestion and improve your assimilation of vitamin B12.
When our digestion systems is working in an optimal way, our bodies are able to produce small amounts of B12 ourselves, if we get the right nutrients for our body to work with.
Supplementing B12 shouldn’t be necessary, if you eat right.. and vitamin supplements really should only be used as a temporary solution, while you’re making the transition to the new healthy food habbits and a healthier life style.
If You Don’t Know How To Eat Right Just Yet…
And most people don’t!
Then taking a vitamin supplement is probably a good idea for the time being, regardless you’re a vegetarian, vegan or meat eater. It could be a B12 vitamin pill or you could simply replace some of your diary products, like ex. the unhealthy cows milk with the super healthy fortified organic Hemp milk.
Reason why I want you to cut your diary intake if possible is, as I wrote about in the Hemp protein vs Whey protein blog post, that the more diary you consume, the more sulfur containing amino acids floods your bloodstream. Also note that a large portion of the diary you eat isn’t digested but is gathering inside of your body..
Yes diary products are packed with calcium and B12, but you also need more, the higher your intake is… It’s like that, because diary is not the direct, original source of these nutrients. The direct sources was the grass the cow ate and so on..
If you integrate superfoods, like Hemp, from the plant kingdom in your diet, you won’t have a problem getting all the nutrients you need. I’ll write some articles around dieting the right way, when I get the time, but if you can’t wait, then check out this Eating For Energy Review or if you’re a meat eater, then The Diet Solution Program is for you. I haven’t actually tried this last one just yet, Rocking Body Raw Food but it looks pretty good to me, that you’re given access to an entire website… and Joy Houston looks really cute too 
WAIT looks can be deceiving, and they often are, so wait with this last one. I will do a review on all 3 products soon.
Just Remember This
To avoid symptoms of B12 deficiency, you need to get either 1 micro gram 3 times a day, or 10 micro grams 1 times a day. B12 is best absorbed in small amounts at a time. These are the absolute lowest recommended limits, and you can’t get too much B12 no matter what you do. So I advice you to buy fortified foods whenever possible, until you learn how to eat natural and healthy!