All responsible vegans have their B12levels monitored. And still the
problem is very rare. You think you have cutting edge research, we've
known about that for years.

Light Cutter wrote:

> Vitamin B-12 (Cobalamin) is not bioavailable in plant form. The best way
> to get B-12 is from Meat.
>
> A study I found while doing some research:
>
> http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/72/3/762
>
> Background: Lack of cobalamin may lead to neurologic disorders, which
> have been reported in strict vegetarians.
>
> Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate whether
> cognitive functioning is affected in adolescents (aged 10–16 y) with
> marginal cobalamin status as a result of being fed a macrobiotic diet up
> to an average age of 6 y.
>
> Design: Data on dietary intake, psychological test performance, and
> biochemical variables of cobalamin status were collected from 48
> adolescents who consumed macrobiotic (vegan type) diets up to the age of
> 6 y, subsequently followed by lactovegetarian or omnivorous diets, and
> from 24 subjects (aged 10–18 y) who were fed omnivorous diets from birth
> onward. Thirty-one subjects from the previously macrobiotic group were
> cobalamin deficient according to their plasma methylmalonic acid
> concentrations. Seventeen previously macrobiotic subjects and all
> control subjects had normal cobalamin status.
>
> Results: The control subjects performed better on most psychological
> tests than did macrobiotic subjects with low or normal cobalamin status.
> A significant relation between test score and cobalamin deficiency (P =
> 0.01) was observed for a test measuring fluid intelligence (correlation
> coefficient: –0.28; 95% CI: –0.48, -0.08). This effect became more
> pronounced (P = 0.003) within the subgroup of macrobiotic subjects
> (correlation coefficient: –0.38; 95% CI: –0.62, - 0.14).
>
> Conclusion: Our data suggest that cobalamin deficiency, in the absence
> of hematologic signs, may lead to impaired cognitive performance in
> adolescents.
>
> __________________________________________________ _______________________________
>
> More problems with B-12 deficency:
>
>
> VITAMIN B-12 DEFICIENCY SHOULD BE CONCERN FOR VEGETARIAN MOTHERS
>
> During 2001, cobalamin (vitamin B12) deficiency resulted in neurologic
> impairment in two children in Georgia. The children were breastfed by
> mothers who followed vegetarian diets. A recent report from the U.S.
> Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) summarizes the two
> cases and provides guidance for health-care providers on identifying and
> preventing cobalamin deficiency among breastfed infants of vegetarian
> mothers.
>
>
>
> Oh, I know an easy way to Avoid B-12 deficency...EAT MORE MEAT!
>
>
>
> -CARP-
>
> http://www.geocities.com/ncenginear/carp.html
>
>
>