[B.sub.12] alert

Vegetarian Times, Feb, 2004

Vegans aren't the only vegetarians who need to make sure they get enough vitamin [B.sub.12], the July 2003 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reports. Fully 92 percent of all vegans that researchers studied suffered from [B.sub.12] deficiency, compared with 5 percent of omnivores. Two-thirds of vegetarians who consume dairy products and eggs also lack this nutrient, a deficiency of which is linked to heart disease and stroke.

"As the number of vegetarians is increasing worldwide, we have special concerns about some health aspects of this diet," Wolfgang Herrmann, MD, of Germany's Saarland University Hospital, told WebMD. "We have a particular concern over vitamin [B.sub.12] status being regularly monitored in vegetarians--most importantly, in pregnant women, nursing mothers, children of vegetarian mothers, [people] on macrobiotic diets elderly vegetarians, and people who already have atherosclerosis." Because the only non-meat food source for [B.sub.12] is fortified cereals, health care practitioners recommend that all vegetarians take [B.sub.12] supplements.