Vitamin B12
What is Vitamin B12?
Vitamin B12 is an essential nutrient for a child’s neurological development. It is involved in making healthy red blood cells as well as DNA (the script of our body) and the protective coating of our nerves.
In adults, vitamin B12 deficiency will often appear as fatigue, brain fog, poor concentration and sometimes pale skin.
Vitamin B12 deficiency in children, however, particularly children under 2 years of age can result in irreversible harm. Children’s development sometimes stops or regresses.
Where do we get Vitamin B12 from?
Vitamin B12 is made by bacteria and fungi with accumulation happening as a results of microbial activity in animals. As such, animal products are the only real source of vitamin B12.
This is problematic for children raised in vegan households where no eggs or dairy foods are consumed and these children require monitoring, and likely supplementation from even before they start solids (for baby’s of vegan mothers).
Nutrient Reference Values (NRVs) Vitamin B12 (ug)
The best dietary sources of Vitamin B12 are:
meat, poultry, fish and their products
milk (cow, sheep, goat) and dairy products
eggs
Some other sources of Vitamin B12 include:
B12 fortified breakfast cereals
B12 fortified plant based milks (soy, oat)
Marmite (not Vegemite)
B12 fortified plant based meats
N.B. There are discussions about some seaweed and algae containing Vitamin B12 but the Vitamin B12 found in these foods have not been shown to be an active form, and thus ingestion of these types does not count toward Vitamin B12 intake.