Hey, what are people's thoughts on vitamin B-12?

I had a blood test recently. I had actually been thinking that I had been vegan for about 1 year, but I got a blood test the day I first went vegan (my GP said it would make a good control to future blood tests), and that was at least two years ago... my, how time flies when you're having fun! <grin>

My doctor said my B-12 was OK, my calcium was good, and... despite the warnings about how all would go to hell in a handbasket & I would "become anaemic", my iron is now significantly higher than before I went vegan! ... and before I went vegan I was eating tuna & taking iron tablets, now I just eat as much fresh fruit, nuts, seeds and salads as I want, no tablets, and my iron is now higher!

   Anyways, the only thing worrying me is my B-12. My doctor said to just keep getting it tested, so it doesn't get too low. Why can't our bodies make it for themselves, didn't they in ancient times like other animal species? And where do the gorillas get theirs? I'm told they don't eat any meat.

Siobhan

i have been eating 100% raw for over 3 years now,never had any tests for Vit B12,i am cruising all is well...do a search here on vitamin B12,there is a whole massive topic with varying opinions for you to read through..

Something else to consider... Most wild primates make around 5% of their entire diet wild flowers, according to Jane Goodall. Flowers contain pollen. Wild pollen doesn't *consistently* contain b12, so legally pollen sellers can't say "It's a good source of b12". Anyway, most of the b12 would be damaged by the standard pollen high temperature drying process. Pollen does *sometimes* contain significant amounts of b12 though (especially when wild), and so if a primate was consistently eating large amounts (like 5% of their diet) of varied, raw, *wild* flowers, then theoretically a certain amount of those would contain enough b12 for the body to store and make use of.

No research money has been put towards testing this theory yet that I'm aware of. Who gains from us eating wild flowers? (Well, other than us! )

Something to think about though...

I just ate some pak choy and choy sum flowers with the leaves for dinner as a salad with orange on top and some festival lettuce!    

The bowl was a huge stainless steel mixing bowl full, 1 whole lettuce, with 3 oranges (2 in wedges, 1 juiced).

I love asian-greens-flowers.  They are nice and sweet!

Thank you Piers for that exceptional information about some flowers contining B12.
This is always such a hotly debated issue with much confusion it seems.  The points you make about animals eating flowers fits in perfectly with the research gatherd on chimpanzees by Victoria Boutenko for her book "Green For LIfe".

Early on in my search for all things about a raw food lifestyle, when I began my transition about 1 year ago, I came across an excellent article titled:  THE VITAMIN B12 ISSUE, by Dr Gina Shaw, D.S., M.A., AIYS (Dip. Irid.)

It is found near the bottom of a VERY long page of this raw web-site:  http://www.homestead.com/raweugene/rawarticles.html

I found it quite reasuring and exceptional informative, and maybe some here will also find it helpful.
By the way I am not sure if it is alright to post the addresses for other sites? I looked through posting information under help and could not find anything that said not too, but if I am in error I appologize for that.

It seems if you have plenty of greens it helps.

I read somewhere if you have plently of greens we produce this b12 in the intestines.

I tested myself and my b12 is normal after 4 years eating raw

I 'heard' that b12 deficiency can creep up on you over a time period - I guess regular blood testing is the way to constantly check.

What are the symptoms of deficiency anyway?

Dulse is a source of vitamin B-12 and to my best knowledge raw-vegan.