Vitamin B12 is produced by soil bacteria and is found in animal food and soil-contaminated food (2). Vegetarian and vegan diets are increasingly popular in Western countries, particularly among young women (3). Although these diets are considered nutritionally adequate and healthy when appropriately planned, specific nutritional knowledge is needed to achieve an optimal vegetarian diet with regard to vitamin B12 intake and status. However, this is not always the case, even among well-educated people, and a higher prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency in the Nordic population might be expected (4).
If you do not know what you are doing, and you pursue plant-based eating for a period of time, you will likely develop health problems.
I learned, yesterday, from a cousin that is an M.D., that there is a family history of B-12 deficiency on the family ancestral line. Having gone down the accidental vegetarian path into serious illness caused by B-12 deficiency, this is an important bit of information for me. I wonder how many people innocently decide to cut meat out of their diet, unaware of their family history of B-12 deficiency?
