Vitamin B12: The most bad-ass nutrient of them all

If you’re a vegetarian and sparingly eat eggs (if at all) then you would have often encountered the question: Where do you get your protein from? After all, dietary norms across the world agree that the average person needs about 0.8 gm of protein per 1 kg of body weight. If we take the usual weight to be 70 kgs then that amounts to at least 56 gm of protein per day.

56 gm of protein per day is a lot.

As a vegetarian who doesn’t eat eggs, your principal sources of protein are milk, curd, paneer and cheese. Even if you were to have 2 glasses of milk, a bowl of curd, 50 gm of paneer and a slice of cheese then you would just about be meeting your daily requirements. But then, paneer and cheese are also fatty and not great for the waistline.

A lot of millennials in India who work out or wish to lose weight have started consuming eggs every day to get enough protein. Eggs along with being a great source of B12 also have iron (great for the blood and energy levels) and choline (amazing for the brain).

Going back to the daily protein requirements, we need to understand that protein is not the preferred energy source for the body. That would be carbohydrates. However, if you eat too much carbohydrates then you will get fat.

Proteins are essentially a group of amino acids which the body needs for repair of cells and muscle growth. It is utilized as an energy source only when carbohydrates have been exhausted.

20 amino acids make up the proteins found in the body of which roughly half are synthesized in the body through natural purposes. The rest need to come from vegetarian or non-vegetarian sources of food.

Let’s come to B12 now and see why it is so important.

We would all remember roughly that in school we read about myelin sheaths which cover the nerves in our nervous system. B12 strengthens those myelin sheaths and ensures adequate flow of information through the nervous system which obviously encompasses the entire body.

If your B12 is low then your capacity to exert yourself and be productive reduces. Now, the interesting questions arises: what is a low B12 count? The answer: It seems to depend on the country you are in when it shouldn’t be the case after all we are all humans.

Allow me to elaborate on this point. The range for B12 in India is from 200 to 600 while in Japan it goes from 500 all the way to 1000.

One may wonder as to what is the big deal?

Deficiency of B12 goes hand in hand with low vitamin D and iron levels. This reduces productivity and can also lead to hallucinations.

I was vegan, gluten-free for a year and half while running regularly in the sun. Not surprisingly, my B12 was around 200 and my vitamin D was low too.

It is impossible to write about this subject without bringing in ethics and perceptions of what food means for us. The vegetarians will argue that food should be segregated from violence as much as possible hence even dairy products should be consumed in small portions.

What we fail to consider is that our gut is made of bacteria which is millions of years old. This bacteria needs B12 as a crucial ingredient to do its job of sending signals to the brain.

The gut is now widely acknowledged as the ‘second brain’. It has been common in our cultures to say that there is a gut instinct or this is a gut call. The gut is where our intuition resides.

To cut a long story short, check your vitamin B12 levels. If it is anything below 400 then either take supplements or start eating eggs/meat. In meat, mutton is an excellent source of B12 and it is also a lean meat.

It is tragic to know that in this information age, nearly half of India is towards the lower end of the spectrum of B12 which is about 200-250. Think of what we could do as a young nation if we were healthy and nutrient capable of taking on the world.

The food is in our hands. It is time to take charge of vitamin B12 before our bodies collapse.