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"Daily Source of Vitamin B12"
Though it may be cheaper and easier to just take something once a week, some people would rather get
into the habit of doing something daily, so they don't forget. So how much vitamin B12 would you have to
take if you wanted to do it once a day rather than once a week?
Well, using the formula we just learned, 1.5 plus 0.01 times the quantity (x-1.5) equals 4 to 7, solve for x. (I'll wait...)
Once a day, 250 micrograms or more, is all we need. You can put it next to your toothbrush to remind yourself.
The reason we can't absorb more than about 1.5 at a time directly through our receptors is that they get
filled up. But it only takes about 4 to 6 hours to unload their cargo into the body and then they're back in business.
So if we got B12 three times a day--breakfast, lunch, and dinner--we could absorb 1.5 each time and end up
with 4.5 at the end of the day, which is all we need. And those kind of doses we can get from fortified foods.
The..."Daily Value"...on Nutrition Facts labels for B12 is 6 micrograms. So as long as each serving
contains 25% of our daily value, then we can eat a serving of B12-fortied foods at every meal, and we
wouldn't have to take supplements at all! So, for example, there's a vitamin B12-fortified nutritional yeast.
Two teaspoons counts as a serving, so you could sprinkle that on your meals. But that would cost a few
dollars a weeks, as opposed to just a few pennies a week for B12 supplements.
Whichever path you choose, these are not just recommendations for people eating plant-based
diets. They're for ANYONE who wants to get a CHOLESTEROL-FREE source of vitamin B12.