B-12 and Red Star Vegetarian Nutritional Yeast

[Guest guest]

On the subject of vegans and Vitamin B-12, I'm always surprised to see the

omission of Red Star Vegetarian Support Nutritional Yeast as a viable

resource. It's loaded with Vitamin B-12 and tastes great. It's especially

great for vegan kids as it makes a great sauce for " cheesy " macaroni and

when mixed with soy/rice milks, cinnamon, etc. it makes a great batter for

vegan French toast. I always see people mentioning fortified foods or

supplements, but rarely this specific Nutritional yeast. I couldn't imagine

life without it, my daughter LIVES for it, and we use it in many different

delicious recipes!

[Guest guest]

Simone,

 

Simone,

 

I can explain this a bit (from my perspective)...

 

> On the subject of vegans and Vitamin B-12, I'm always surprised to see the

> omission of Red Star Vegetarian Support Nutritional Yeast as a viable

> resource. It's loaded with Vitamin B-12 and tastes great. It's especially

> great for vegan kids as it makes a great sauce for " cheesy " macaroni and

> when mixed with soy/rice milks, cinnamon, etc. it makes a great batter for

> vegan French toast. I always see people mentioning fortified foods or

> supplements,

 

Red Star Vegetarian Support Nutritional Yeast is a fortified food, so it is

included when people say 'fortified foods.' However, as fortified foods go,

I am not comfortable telling vegans to rely solely on it. This is because:

 

1. It usually comes from bins in health food stores. I have owned a vegan

food store and I can see that it would be very easy to order the wrong

'nutritional yeast' out of some of the catalogs if you aren't very careful

about what you're doing. I can also see employees accidentally putting the

wrong yeast into the Vegetarian Support bin.

 

2. B12 is light sensitive. Nutritional yeast, of all foods, is likely to be

exposed to the light -- both in the bins and when stored at home. (B12 is

also heat sensitive, particularly in its fortified forms.)

 

3. I know of one person who was relying on 'nutritional yeast' for B12 who

developed B12 deficiency symptoms that cleared up immediately (within a day)

upon taking a B12 supplement.

 

If you are going to rely on Red Star Veg Support Formula for B12, then

making absolutely sure you are *getting* Red Star Veg Support Formula,

keeping it in the refrigerator or freezer, out of the light, and not cooking

it is the best way to do this. This leads me to:

 

4. Because there are so many complications, of which most people aren't

aware, I focus on the other fortified foods and supplements that are

straightforward.

 

I should add that nutritional yeast has a lot of good aspects to it other

than the B12 and I eat it myself. I am merely saying vegans shouldn't rely

on it for their sole source of B12 unless they are very careful.

 

Jack

 

> but rarely this specific Nutritional yeast. I couldn't imagine

> life without it, my daughter LIVES for it, and we use it in many different

> delicious recipes!

>

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[Guest guest]

> I should add that nutritional yeast has a lot of good aspects to it other

> than the B12 and I eat it myself. I am merely saying vegans shouldn't rely

> on it for their sole source of B12 unless they are very careful.

 

Jack, thank you so much for your information. Considering how this yeast is

grown, I did not know that it was considered a " fortified " food.

 

I agree with Jack, one should follow the care and cooking recommendations

when using Red Star Vegetarian Nutritional Yeast, and one shouldn't rely on

any ONE thing to meet their nutritional needs (we should eat a healthy

" variety " of plant foods - for example, our family also consumes fortified

soy and rice milks), I just wanted to spread the word about a great source

of B-12, especially for those out there raising vegan kids - (especially

with all the negative publicity as of late).