Page 30 - Spring2008

Since and causing its excretion in the urine, this form percent of lacto-ovo vegetarians and 64 percent of
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deficiency might have very poor bioavailability in many vegans are defi cient in B . Since defi ciency can
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people. Cyanide can also be detoxified in the take decades to fully develop, the proportions of
can take liver by the enzyme rhodanese or by the amino vegans and vegetarians who develop defi ciency
decades to acid cysteine, so people with a low activity of over time if they stick with the diet is probably
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fully develop, this enzyme or a low intake of animal protein to close to 100 percent.
Some vegetarians and vegans maintain
supply the cysteine might be especially unable to
the derive any benefit from cyanocobalamin. Thus, that these diets must be raw in order to be truly

proportions even vegetarians who supplement with standard healthy. But raw foodists are no better off. The
of vegans and B supplements could be at risk for defi ciency. only large-scale study of raw foodists to date
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Those needing B supplements should take examined the B status of over 200 men and
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vegetarians methylcobalamin, dibencozide or hydroxy- women. Although 58 percent of the subjects
who develop cobalamin, forms that are more easily utilized consumed some meat and fish and only 21
deficiency by the body; additionally, some people with cer- percent were lacto-ovo-vegetarian and only 21
tain genetic defects or heavy metal toxicity may percent were vegan, a full 97 percent of all foods
over time require methylcobalamin sepcifi cally. consumed were plant products. Those eating a
if they stick The role of vitamin B in DNA synthesis mixed diet were thus eating very little animal
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with the diet and red blood cell production is primarily to food. Nevertheless, vegetarians were 3.1 times as
recycle folate. A high intake of folate, however, likely and vegans were 5.4 times as likely to have
is probably can compensate for insufficient folate recycling. defi cient blood levels of B . Twelve percent of

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close to 100 Unfortunately, this means that a high-folate diet the subjects, all of whom were vegans, had stage
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percent. can forestall the development of anemia, which is IV B defi ciency. Even though the average
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easily detectable with a simple blood test, while length of time the subjects had followed the raw
potentially irreversible nervous system degenera- food diet was only 3.6 years, over half the vegans
tion progresses without warning. Vegetarians who were developing pernicious anemia; if many of
consume large amounts of folate-rich green leafy them were eating folate-rich diets, the proportion
vegetables could therefore be at risk for a form of vegans developing irreversible nervous system
of vitamin B defi ciency that is not considered degeneration might have been even higher than
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severe until it is too late. 24 the proportion the study suggested were suffer-
A recent study using a biochemical blood ing from severe defi ciency. Clearly, animal foods
test for B defi ciency—a test that is not vulner- must be used if even in small amounts to prevent
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able to the confounding effect of a high-folate the worst form of B defi ciency from destroying
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diet—found that 16 percent of the elderly, 43 a person’s mental and physical health.

FIGURE 4. VITAMIN B CONTENTS OF SELECTED FOODS
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Vitamin B is necessary for the conversion of pyridoxine found in plant foods to pyridoxal, the active form of B , which
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is found preformed in animal foods. Data from the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Release 17.
FOOD Riboflavin (mg/100g) FOOD Riboflavin (mg/100g)
Baker’s Yeast 5.47 Pork Ribs 0.38
Beef Liver 3.42 Veal 0.35
Chicken Liver 1.99 Boiled Mushrooms 0.30
Pork Liver Sausage 1.53 Boiled Beet Greens 0.29
Turkey Giblets 1.50 Boiled Soy Beans 0.28
Chicken Giblets 1.05 Boiled Spinach 0.24
Fried Shrimp 0.55 Skim Milk Yogurt 0.23
Enriched White Flour 0.51 Ricotta Cheese 0.20
Eggs 0.48 Milk 0.18
Roasted Duck 0.47 Salmon 0.17
Clams 0.43 Tomato Paste 0.15
30 Wise Traditions SPRING 2008