Gianni
Moderator
- Location
- Los Angeles, California
Hello
I bet just about everyone of you was or is deficient in Vitamin B-12. While it is commonly paired that Crohn's and Vitamin B12 deficiencies go hand in hand, I'm not quite sure.
Being Vegan, I am constantly told by, doctors, family members, friends, concerned citizens, vigilantes, etc etc that going vegan isn't healthy and natural because you cannot get b12 from a vegan diet.
I SAY... wait a minute...
A common (all too common) misconception is that b12 is just naturally made inside of animals and eating animal based foods is the only natural way to get this vitamin.
... ... well if it just naturally appears in animals, then humans would never ever have a b12 deficiency problem. We are animals right?... right..? ....right......?!
The truth is b12 is created by bacteria. This bacteria back in the day (1,000-200,000+ years ago) was in everything!!! It was in the water primal humans drank, the ground they walked on, the soil they ate from, the animals they hunted. IT was everywhere!! So naturally the human genome got accustomed to such a high volume of this vitamin and developed great benefits from it.
But then comes the Industrial Revolution... then the model T... Then Starbucks starts popping up on every street corner. Anyways, we get advanced and we change our systems of agriculture drastically. We started sterilizing soil, and giving it very artificial fertilizers. Well many of the natural organisms that used to thrive in natural soils died out.
A cool experiment is to watch an earth worm in natural organic soil move around and then put artificial fertilizer around it and literally watch the earth worm go 0-60 in 5 minutes (pretty fast) to get the hell out of the artificial stuff.
So anyways as you can imagine like any normal niche ecosystem, once you have certain organisms leave or die out from the new soil the balance is broken and other natural organisms also die out.
That is what is happening now and b12 is becoming extinct in modern cultures. Vegans aren't more prone to b12 deficiencies just like people with crohn's aren't more prone to b12 deficiencies ....Everyone is deficient in b12... everyone.
The pigs, and the cows, and the chickens are all eating grain and grass from commercial agriculture (the dead soil). So not much b12 is going to be found in animal products either. (not to even mention the vast amount of antibiotics these animals are kept on their whole lives that would surely kill the bacteria responsible for b12)
Vegans are only thought to be deficient because the first thing a doctor does when he or she learns you are a vegan is order a b12 blood test! And of course if you are sick with a chronic condition, you are regularly getting blood tests and your deficiencies will come to light.
I actually bet that Vegans are less deficient in b12 than the average joe because so many companies are concerned about the b12 problem that soy milks and nut milks are often fortified in b12 ... oh irony!
So pat yourselves on the back crohnies! Because you are aware of your b12 deficiency and you are taking necessary steps to get those numbers up
Having said all this, I do think that b12 is extremely important and should be supplemented, I just wanted to share what i thought about b12 and b12 deficiencies. Don't read this and run out in your backyard and throw a fistful of soil in your mouth.
Knowledge is power
Gianni
P.s. Please note that i do realize some crohnies are more susceptible to vitamin deficiencies because of acute inflammation. I was more referring to Crohn's as a whole and comparing to the average population
I bet just about everyone of you was or is deficient in Vitamin B-12. While it is commonly paired that Crohn's and Vitamin B12 deficiencies go hand in hand, I'm not quite sure.
Being Vegan, I am constantly told by, doctors, family members, friends, concerned citizens, vigilantes, etc etc that going vegan isn't healthy and natural because you cannot get b12 from a vegan diet.
I SAY... wait a minute...
A common (all too common) misconception is that b12 is just naturally made inside of animals and eating animal based foods is the only natural way to get this vitamin.
... ... well if it just naturally appears in animals, then humans would never ever have a b12 deficiency problem. We are animals right?... right..? ....right......?!
The truth is b12 is created by bacteria. This bacteria back in the day (1,000-200,000+ years ago) was in everything!!! It was in the water primal humans drank, the ground they walked on, the soil they ate from, the animals they hunted. IT was everywhere!! So naturally the human genome got accustomed to such a high volume of this vitamin and developed great benefits from it.
But then comes the Industrial Revolution... then the model T... Then Starbucks starts popping up on every street corner. Anyways, we get advanced and we change our systems of agriculture drastically. We started sterilizing soil, and giving it very artificial fertilizers. Well many of the natural organisms that used to thrive in natural soils died out.
A cool experiment is to watch an earth worm in natural organic soil move around and then put artificial fertilizer around it and literally watch the earth worm go 0-60 in 5 minutes (pretty fast) to get the hell out of the artificial stuff.
So anyways as you can imagine like any normal niche ecosystem, once you have certain organisms leave or die out from the new soil the balance is broken and other natural organisms also die out.
That is what is happening now and b12 is becoming extinct in modern cultures. Vegans aren't more prone to b12 deficiencies just like people with crohn's aren't more prone to b12 deficiencies ....Everyone is deficient in b12... everyone.
The pigs, and the cows, and the chickens are all eating grain and grass from commercial agriculture (the dead soil). So not much b12 is going to be found in animal products either. (not to even mention the vast amount of antibiotics these animals are kept on their whole lives that would surely kill the bacteria responsible for b12)
Vegans are only thought to be deficient because the first thing a doctor does when he or she learns you are a vegan is order a b12 blood test! And of course if you are sick with a chronic condition, you are regularly getting blood tests and your deficiencies will come to light.
I actually bet that Vegans are less deficient in b12 than the average joe because so many companies are concerned about the b12 problem that soy milks and nut milks are often fortified in b12 ... oh irony!
So pat yourselves on the back crohnies! Because you are aware of your b12 deficiency and you are taking necessary steps to get those numbers up
Having said all this, I do think that b12 is extremely important and should be supplemented, I just wanted to share what i thought about b12 and b12 deficiencies. Don't read this and run out in your backyard and throw a fistful of soil in your mouth.
Knowledge is power
Gianni
P.s. Please note that i do realize some crohnies are more susceptible to vitamin deficiencies because of acute inflammation. I was more referring to Crohn's as a whole and comparing to the average population
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