How much B-12?

[mum2sarah]

My daughter's 17 months old, and I have started to become concerned about her getting enough B-12. Since I became pregnant again, my milk supply has decreased somewhat, and I am not certain that my breastmilk is a reliable source for this vitamin anymore. In other words, I'm pretty confident that I get enough B-12, but I am not so confident that she's getting enough breastmilk for her to get enough B-12. Also, she is in love with WestSoy's smoothie drinks, and that's pretty much all I can get her to drink 95% of the time. Problem is, the smoothies are not fortified with B-12 like some of the other soy milks are.

So at the grocery store the other day, I found these chewable B-12 vitamins that said they were vegan, and I bought them to supplement for her. I gave her one the other day and she liked it, but I'm not sure how often to give them to her. I had assumed they were meant for children since they are chewable, but when I read the label closer, I was shocked to see that each tablet contained 500mcg of B-12. This seemed like an awful lot to me. Is there a danger of her getting too much B-12, or should I give them to her occassionally, just not every day?

[Erin Pavlina]

Often vitamins have way more than the recommended RDA cuz the manufacturers know that only some of it is absorbable. That could be the case here. What is the dosage on the label and does it say anything about age range?

For B12 around here, we rely on the occasional vitamin but also Rice Dream Enriched rice milk.

[VOW]

All of the B vitamins are water-soluble, so if you take more than your body can use, the rest of it is excreted in the urine.

Different people have different needs and different absorbability of B-12, which is the reason why there is such a large dose in the tablet.

Tablet splitters are very inexpensive, and nice to have on hand. Check to see what the RDA is for B-12, and try splitting the tablets, and perhaps offer your daughter 1/2 tablet every other day.

Also, another fine source of B-12 is nutritional yeast. This powder can be added to almost any food. You could try blending in a teaspoon or so into your daughter's favorite smoothie, and feel confident she was getting the supplementation she needs.



~VOW

[sophie]

I'm currently feeling a little nervous about B12 also. I had a blood test when pregnant that showed my levels were fine, but my sister, who takes the same supplements as me, has just had a blood test and is VERY low in B12. Obviously we have different rates of absorbtion. But I really hope my kids are absorbing it, I don't know if there's any way to know it other than a blood test (which I don't want to put them through).

[mum2sarah]

The pill spliting idea would be nice, except these pills are very, very tiny, and I can't imagine actually being able to split them in half. I don't know exactly what the RDA is for B-12, but I have a B complex pill that I sometimes take and it contains only 10mcg of B-12, which it says is 167% of your daily value. This is why 500mcg seemed like extreme overkill to me. The bottle doesn't say anything about ages. It just says one pill daily. It's made by a company called "Twinlab, Inc."

Anyway, the nutritional yeast sounds like a good idea. I just purchased some recently but have only used it so far in a homemeade un-cheese recipe I found in one of my vegan cookbooks. I didn't realize it was so versatile.

[sophie]

The brand of B12 we use says on the label not to split the pills, as it must be in its whole form when it reaches the gut in order to absorb properly. So maybe check the labels before you do this with B12.

[Christa]

US RDAs for B-12 are as follows:

Neonates to 6 months.: 0.4 mcg
Infants 6 months to 1 year: 0.5 mcg
Children 1 to 3 years: 0.9 mcg
Children 4 to 8 years: 1.2 mcg
Children 9 to 13 years: 1.8 mcg
Adolescents 14 to 18 years: 2.4 mcg
19 years and older: 2.4 mcg
Pregnant females: 2.6 mcg
Breastfeeding females: 2.8 mcg

There are no major problems with taking excessive B-12 that I am aware of, but I probably wouldn't want to give my kid that much, either.

You may be better off giving her a multi vitamin that contains B-12. Or try the nutritional yeast. We rely on that pretty heavily ourselves.

[capersmama]

Try sprinkling some nutritional yeast on some lightly oiled popcorn..WHAT A TREAT!!!! My family loves nutritional yeast popcorn.
Not long ago I was at a homeschooling function and I had my usual LARGE bag of nutritional yeast popcorn. My childrne offered a couple of the other kids some..and before long..the moms were munching down on it like there was no tomorrow..rofl too funny! Needless to say.. there was a run on nutritional yeast the next day at my local "veggie store"..lol
THEY WERE SURPRISED TO FIND THAT SOMETHING SOOO GOOD FOR YOU WAS SOOO GOOD :-)

[mum2sarah]

Nutritional yeast on popcorn--that's an excellent idea! Sarah absolutely loves popcorn.

[Sheree]

Let's hear it for the nutritional yeast popcorn!! Love it!! So do my daughter and husband.

How about adding some in with hummus...if you like hummus. I haven't tried it yet, but my daughter loves hummus.

I made some veggie nuggets and threw some in. Don't have a recipe yet, as I made it up as I went. I just started throwing stuff in the food processor...zucchini, spinach, fresh basil, nuts, flaxseed meal, nutritional yeast, egg replacer, flour, salt, pepper...until I thought it looked it'd stick together when I fried them up. I dropped nugget-size spoonfuls into a skillet prepared w/olive oil. Both my daughter and husband loved them. My daughter dipped hers in ketchup. Husband ate his in a sandwich. They tasted quite a bit like fried zucchini, even with everything else I put in them.

[annie7]

We just tried plain popcorn with Nutritional yeast sprinkled on it this weekend. HOLY COW !!! Wish we'd have known about that earlier. It was SUPER! No wonder all of that homeschool group was chowing down on that poor kid's snack! Ohhh, Mama!

[vegangirl]

I use Natures Sunshine liquid B-12 and just add it to my son's food. The recommend dosage is 30 drops, but since he is only 19 months, I only add 5 drops per day.

[sarahrose]

That does seem like alot, since the RDA is 6mcg and there is danger if taken in exess. I would call the manufacturer, or better yet, ask your doc. My daughter takes a multi vitamin that has 6mcg ( animal friends chewables, which are vegan)