b12

T. Colin Campbell Hates Babies
04/03/2011 - 19:27

 In a recent post I discussed how the death of a vegan baby wasn't caused by veganism, but by a denialist myth that humans are naturally herbivores, so vegans don't need to supplement. I tallied up some of the documented cases of unsupplemented veganism harming or killing children. Now Rhys at Let Them Eat Meat has a great post on whether or not this case is really about veganism. 

I wasn't aware until reading Rhys' post that our friend T. Colin Campbell, pseudoscience grandmaster, was a peddler of deadly vegan creationism:

I’ve asked myself why, if the health benefits of a plant-based diet are as comprehensive as contemporary research suggests - meaning that Nature did the packaging for us during our evolution and that a plant-based diet is our natural diet - then why did she leave out this one very important piece of the puzzle? Having paid attention to the research literature and having questioned clinicians who treat vegan patients, I’ve reached the following somewhat unorthodox conclusions and observations:
1. Contrary to the most recent U.S. Dietary Guidelines, B12 can be found in plants.
2. Organically grown plants contain higher levels of B12 than plants grown non-organically with chemical fertilizers.
3. Plant roots are able to absorb certain vitamins produced by soil microorganisms, thus suggesting that plants grown in healthy soil, full of microflora and microfauna, are more nutritious.
4. Vegans - and anyone else - should be able to obtain B12 by consuming organically grown produce.

There is some evidence that produce contaminated with feces contains b12, but NONE that shows that plant sources themselves contain bioavailable b12 (some forms of fungi and mushrooms contain b12 we can't absorb). If y'all want to start a business called Steve's Poo-Covered Natural B12 Potatoes, go ahead, but don't pretend that b12 deficiency isn't a real and serious thing for vegan children. 

But vegans Looooove Colin. Imagine how many vegans might read that and chose not to supplement. Guess who suffers? 

 

But Colin, why do you want us to be B12 deficient because of your stupid ideas?

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Iron myths (b12 too!)
08/24/2010 - 13:01

When Pubmed and Google Scholar are available to everyone with a computer, it kind of surprises me when journalists write things that are easily proved wrong on a simple search. A good example is this article from the Atlantic food section "The Foods That Hurt Your Iron Levels," which perpetuates the myth that omnivores and veg*ans are equally at risk for iron deficiency.

Yes, some omnivores get iron deficiency and b12 deficiency. Who are these omnivores? Often they are people eating nutritionally inadequate diets of processed foods, but mostly they are elderly people. When an omnivore has such a deficiency, a responsible doctor should test for conditions that prevent people from utilizing vitamins and minerals such as increased gut permeability and celiac disease. For one of my friends, a low b12 level led to her diagnosis with celiac. The idea that healthy omnivores eating a good diet get iron deficiency is probably false.

The Atlantic article points out that some foods can also leach iron like tannins in tea or coffee. Of course then things go very wrong as the author pegs the blame on dairy and forgets to mention that grains are probably a more likely source of leaching. She doesn't cite any studies for the dairy factoid, but a quick Google turns up several studies showing dairy does not leach iron. Contrast that with phytates in grains, which as AnimalPharm points out, are well accepted as iron leachers. But if you are against people eating dairy and for a "healthy" whole grain vegan diet, then that's just inconvenient isn't it?

As far as excess iron in meat causing heart disease, most of the the studies lump in processed meats with steak and are population based, contrasting with the studies cited above that involve direct observation.

Having to take iron pills sucks. When I was a vegetarian in college I was diagnosed with anemia and given pills. I found that bacteria love free iron and I had some of the worst IBS symptoms I've ever had.

Then here is the kicker: "few realize that red meat, although it builds muscle, is not actually any better a source of iron than greens." Sorry but you only have to eat a little steak to get a lot of iron (and even less liver). By iron per calorie they might compared, but who is eating 500 calories of mustard greens? You'd have to spend a lot of time eating them and I think your stomach might be a bit upset. Besides that, the iron in vegetables is less bioavailable. The author acts like that's a good thing because iron=heart disease and you can get "too much" iron from meat. Hmmm...for women I think too much iron is the least of our problems. 

BTW did you know that the spinach=good source of iron is an urban myth? It was spread by Popeye, but it's not true.

I haven't had iron issues since going paleo and I don't have too much iron either. It's possible for some people to have too much iron on the paleo diet due to genetic variation, but the paleo diet can be done quite easily with less dietary iron.

So journalists out there...get some better sources than Dr. Linda Page's Healthy Healing. It's all at your fingertips.

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