Have you taken your B-12 lately? September 16, 2008

I’m not very good about taking supplements regularly. I prefer to get my nutrients from food. However, I go through spurts where I am religious about taking supplements… multi-vitamin, B-12, B-complex, iron, vitamin D, calcium — you name it, I’ve taken it. This could go on for weeks, this routine pill popping. Then one day I forget and it could be months until I pick up the habit again. I even had a dream recently about taking vitamins. In the dream, my boyfriend told me I was very inconsistent with taking my multi-vitamin. True. (I wonder what that dream really meant! Any dream interpreters out there?)

Today I read this story, Eating Veggies Shrinks the Brain. (Who funded this study anyway? The meat industry? Just kidding.) I thought vegetables were a good thing. Of course, they are a very good thing. However, it turns out a lack of B-12, which is not readily available in most vegetables, may possibly shrink the brain and affect memory, so be sure to pop a B-12 every now and then. You don’t have to take it daily. Once a week should do the trick.

Since going vegan, I’ve had my B-12 and iron tested a couple of times. The results the first time were normal yet in the lower normal range. Over the next year I took supplements on and off to increase the levels in my body. The next time I had my blood tested, I had more B-12 and iron in my system then before. So as I said, taking supplements regularly is not my strong suit, but it looks like it doesn’t have to be for supplements to be effective. If you aren’t getting B-12 in your diet through food such as an enriched soy milk, then don’t forget to supplement to keep your brain healthy. I’m not about to cave to these fears that you must eat meat to be healthy and neither should you. It’s just not true, but that’s another topic all together.