Vitamin B12; Where does it come from?

Most definitive sources of information on the subject of vitamin B12 all tell the same thing, we get vitamin B12 from meats, ie. beef, chicken, fish, etc. Organ meats, like liver, are especially high in vitamin B12.

The sixty-four thousand dollar question:
If vitamin B12 only comes from eating meat, where does the cow, a strict herbivore (animal that only eats plants), get the the vitamin B12 which is in its flesh?

The bacteria in the cows digestive system breaks down the grasses that it eats and in the process vitamin B12 is synthesized. Vitamin B12 is then available to us when we eat the animals meat; Assuming that the condition in our own digestive system is correct for absorbing the vitamin.

On the next page we will take a closer look at what is required for Vitamin B12 absorption in the human digestive system.


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