Day 83: Malnutrition (continued)

After an insightful comment from LJ, I decided to continue researching for possibilities of malnutrition while going raw vegan.

As mentioned by LJ, I'm probably not having a sufficient daily allowance of Vitamin B12 because its sources are mainly meat, chicken, seafood and dairy products.

Deficiency in Vitamin B12 can result in macrocytic anemia, elevated homocysteine, peripheral neuropathy, memory loss and other cognitive defects. It can also cause symptoms of mania and psychosis. In rare extreme cases, paralysis can result.

Not wanting develop any of those symptoms (or an extreme case of those symptoms), I decided to look up the sources of Vitamin B12 and possible supplements.

According to the National Institute of Health, the Selected Food Sources from Vitamin B12 are as follows:

Food	Micrograms (mcg) per serving	Percent DV*
Liver, beef, braised, 1 slice	48.0	800
Clams, cooked, breaded and fried, 3 ounces	34.2	570
Breakfast cereals, fortified with 100% of the DV for vitamin B12, 1 serving	6.0	100
Trout, rainbow, wild, cooked, 3 ounces	5.4	90
Salmon, sockeye, cooked, 3 ounces	4.9	80
Trout, rainbow, farmed, cooked, 3 ounces	4.2	50
Beef, top sirloin, broiled, 3 ounces	2.4	40
Cheeseburger, double patty and bun, 1 sandwich	1.9	30
Breakfast cereals, fortified with 25% of the DV for vitamin B12, 1 serving	1.5	25
Yogurt, plain, 1 cup	1.4	25
Haddock, cooked, 3 ounces	1.2	20
Tuna, white, 3 ounces	1.0	15
Milk, 1 cup	0.9	15
Cheese, Swiss, 1 ounce	0.9	15
Beef taco, 1 taco	0.8	13
Ham, cured, roasted, 3 ounces	0.6	10
Egg, large, 1 whole	0.6	10
Chicken, roasted, ½ breast	0.3	6

*DV = Daily Value. DVs were developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to help consumers determine the level of various nutrients in a standard serving of food in relation to their approximate requirement for it.

Since most these sources cannot be served raw and aren't vegan anyway, I decided to look at supplements. All B vitamins (including Vitamin B12) are available in supplements at supermarkets, health centers and natural food centers but what really came to a surprise was finding B vitamins in energy drinks!

Apparently, "5-Hour Energy contains an astounding 8333% of the recommended dietary allowance of Vitamin B12 and 2000% of the RDA for Vitamin B6. Red bull offers 360% of the RDA for Vitamin B6, 120% of B12 and 140% of Vitamin B3."

Not that it's raw but Red bull anyone?