Aeolus451 said:
That's a load of fud. Any kid's school book on health and the nutritional needs of humans says that you're wrong as a flat earther. Humans can only get B12 from animal products naturally and from supplements/injections artificially if you don't eat animal products. |
B12 comes from bacteria, animals don't produce it - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_B12 "No fungi, plants, or animals (including humans) are capable of synthesizing vitamin B12: only bacteria and archaea have the enzymes needed for its synthesis."
You could do the more natural thing, and eat dirty vegetables, unwashed mushrooms and such and get A TON of B12. Instead, vegans sanitize their food and then get the B12 through fortified foods and supplements.
Nutritional yeast: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/custom/1323565/2
We're not a natural culture; we cook, wash, and process our food in other ways. Even non-vegans can be deficient in B12; only certain kinds of meat (shellfish and ruminants) have it naturally, you can eat several kg of chicken each day and still be B12 deficient (unless the chickens were given supplements). Many food products (especially commercial vegan products) are fortified with it.
In the US, the biggest meat-eating country in the world - 39% of people have low B12 https://www.ars.usda.gov/news-events/news/research-news/2000/b12-deficiency-may-be-more-widespread-than-thought/ and show symptoms of deficiency. So, vegans are not the only ones who could benefit from B12 supplements.
But: Is there something wrong with not having all-natural products? 76.2% of Americans are on medication, 50% of them take vitamin pills; Europe varies, Western and Northern countries see levels in the 60%-70% range while Eastern countries see levels in the 25-50% range). Neither are natural, and much of the medical epidemic relates to poor diet.
I'll also bring up six extensive scientific studies across different nations all found people following low meat consumption diet live longer than those who consume lots of meat, and those who consume no meat live even longer. German and American studies also found that long-term veganism yields even more positive effects than short term. https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/78/3/526S/4689992
So why is it that supplementation only gets called out as a bad thing when vegans do it? Basically, everyone in modern society consumes them via fortified foods in order to balance out their diet, by eating farmed animals who have had supplements in their feed, or other means; and if they don't, they're generally deficient. If we actually did live more naturally and gave up things such as food sanitization, then B12 deficiency wouldn't be an issue for anyone, vegan or non-vegan. We're not going to live naturally.
I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.
