Vitamin B12 Foods and Painful Injections

Vitamin B12 is a water soluble nutrient, originated in a soil bacteria, as opposed to the most popular nutritional belief, that vitamin B12 is found in animal products, and animal products only. The truth is that all animal foods high in vitamin B12 have received their content of B12 out of this very same bacteria in first place. How precisely? Quite simple. These animals, which are usually herbivores like cows or sheep, got their share of daily required B12 out of eating grass and other leafs and vegetables.

You’re probably asking why vegetarians are at a higher risk of developing a deficiency then, and the truth is that you need to consume your plant based food without washing it with water, as this vitamin is ‘exterior’, and washes easily with any liquid. It is very hard for implementation in our modern world, where every fruit or vegetable is heavily chemically enhanced, to grow it faster, avoid insects, and have a longer shelf life. In that case, you have to wash it before consumption, and if you are a vegetarian or a vegan, you will have to rely on B12 supplements, such as sub lingual tablets, intra nasal gel or sprays, or the notoriously painful vitamin B12 injections.

Any supplement will do just fine, as long as it contains one of the active forms of B12. Taking B12 injections would be recommended only for people who experience difficulties with their intrinsic factor, the part in our body responsible for decomposing vitamin B12 into our blood stream. When it is not functioning properly, our body simply can not absorb any B12 oral source and pass it forward to our blood stream, and to the cells. Injections would be the only choice then, and they are a complete life saver for people with these difficulties.