Protein and Vitamin B-12

The B-12 issue is one that is critical to a successful and healthy vegan and raw-foods way of life.

— Gabriel Cousens, M.D.

Typically, most mainstream sources of nutritional information have stressed that vegans are prone to deficiency in both protein and vitamin B-12. In the case of protein this misinformation was based on studies done in the nineteen-twenties on the protein requirements of rats and wrongly assumed that human requirements were the same—the studies’ legacy continues!

In the 1950s more advanced studies were done that determined the actual protein requirements of humans. Almost every unrefined vegetable food was found to have not only all eight essential amino acids but also the complete group of all the amino acids. This means that each vegetable protein is complete in its own right. Protein combining is therefore also not necessary. Protein from sprouts, nuts, greens, or tofu are each complete individually and will be used by the body as needed.

Quantity of protein is another issue with its own misinformational legacy. How much is enough? One way to approach this is to ask who, among all humans, requires the most protein? The obvious answer: babies. Babies are the most rapidly growing of human beings and thus have the greatest need for protein. Since the ideal baby food is mother’s milk, its protein content provides a clue to how much is enough. One to two percent protein content is the norm for human breast milk. This is a surprise to a lot of folks. From this a more realistic idea of protein needs can be assessed. Protein excess, and the resultant toxic accumulations that can trigger metabolic problems, is common on the standard American diet. Even taking into account the differing protein needs of the various metabolic tendencies, far less protein is needed than tradition has preached, and vegetable sources definitely provide this lesser quantity in the right quality at the same time.

Vitamin B-12 is needed in very minute quantities and is stored for future use in the liver and muscles. Three to five millionths of a gram or micrograms are used daily. Vitamin B-12 in the vegan diet is controversial, and more research is needed. However, recent studies on vegan adults and children, using a more accurate standard of measurement, offer compelling indications that MOST vegans are far more at risk for serious B-12 deficiency than was previously thought.

Dr. Gabriel Cousens, M.D., one of the foremost researchers in the vegan and raw-foods movement has come to some important conclusions after reevaluating the B-12 issue. He has found that although B-12 is fairly plentiful in some vegan foods, like sea vegetables and spirulina, significant amounts of it are not useful to humans. Along with the human-active B-12 in these foods there is also a comparable amount of analog, or non-useful B-12. This analog B-12 competes for receptor sites in the body and can thus, in the long run, lead to deficiency.

Preliminary testing with the new standard for measuring B-12 levels seems to make a very urgent case for supplementation, especially for vegans and women who are pregnant. The following quote is from Dr. Cousen’s recently released book Spiritual Nutrition: “The research conclusion is that it is a reasonably safe bet that about 80% of the vegan and live-food population, over time, runs the risk of B-12 deficiency … An even higher percentage of newborns run this risk.”

It is important to note that newborns normally have only about 25 mcg. of B-12 in storage, compared to 2,000–3,000 mcg. stored in adults. Dr. Cousens recommends that during the time of breastfeeding “… perhaps all breastfeeding mothers should consider B-12 supplements for themselves and their infants.”

One of the most important emphases of nutritional therapy is to correct intestinal dysfunction (dysbiosis), be it bacterial overgrowth, leaky gut syndrome, or lack of intestinal microvilli. These conditions, even if small in degree or masked by the energetic compensatory system, can severely limit absorption of all nutrients, especially vitamin B-12, whether one is vegan or not. Pharmaceutical drugs in general and general anesthetics in particular can dramatically increase the need for B-12 supplementation.

Given the new information that studies are confirming and the myriad stresses and health conditions in modern life that deplete this specific nutrient, Dr. Cousens’ recommendations for all who are vegan, raw “foodists,” also ring loudly for all parents and children. “It is well advised to supplement with an actual B-12 human-active supplement. There are vegan B-12 supplements which allow us to be totally successful, vegan, live fooders.”