People need sufficient amount of B12 to function properly. Good thing – your body can store it and you don’t need to consume it everyday.
It’s safe to consume higher dosage of vitamin B12 – it’s water-soluble anyways and what your body cannot store for ‘later’ is going to be flush out. Your body can store the excessive amounts of B12 (thank you evolution!) for the time it needs it, and a healthy adult can usually live for years without consuming any B12 foods before vitamin B12 deficiency is starting to show.
Recovering from B12 deficiency can take the time and typical symptoms are usually severe tiredness, pale skin, dizziness, lack of energy. Severe B12 deficiency can cause mental issues, including depression, panic, cognitive issues, and memory loss.
How Much of Vitamin B12 do you Need per Day?
| Age | Recommended intake (RDI) |
|---|---|
| 7–12 months* | 0.5 µg |
| 1–3 years | 0.9 µg |
| 4–8 years | 1.2 µg |
| 9-13 years | 1.8 µg |
| Adults | 2.4 µg |
| Pregnant women | 2.6 µg |
| Breastfeeding women | 2.8 µg |
B12 is found in animal products, mostly meat and especially in liver and kidneys, clams, fish and dairy products. There are no plants containing B12 (except some algae), but the amounts are not sufficient to rely on them for the daily intake. If you don’t consume meat and dairy, your B12 can be sourced from fortified cereals (most of them are fortified anyways), and fortified vegetable milk.
To get sufficient amount of recommended vitamin B12 intake, a nail chop of a liver is enough! The same amount is found in 4 eggs, 2.7 glasses of fresh milk, beef steak, ¾ spoon of caviar, 1 oyster or 3 sardines, good news for parmesan lovers – you gonna need a lot of it (100 g / 3.5 oz) for topping! If you are relying on a vegan diet, you need to consume 5 spoons of nutritional yeast (recommended intake is 1 spoon due to high niacin values) or at least 2.4 kg of chlorella algae or 2.4 kg of tempeh a day!
Here are some food that are source of B12 and how many you need to reach sufficient dose of your daily intake of B12. Careful, it is not recommended to consume more than 1 spoon of nutritional yeast a day, and 2.4 kg of algae are kind of imposible to consume a day too! The same goes to eggs to (1-2 day).
| Food | Vitamin B12 per 100 g / 3.5 oz | Per serving | How much to consume 100% of B12 RDI | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| µg | % of RDI | Serving Size | µg | % of RDI | in grams | in ounces | in serving | |
| Lamb liver | 76.5 | 3188% | portion (180 g) | 137.7 | 5738% | 3 | 0.1 | nail chop |
| Lamb | 2.6 | 108% | portion (180 g) | 4.68 | 195% | 92 | 3.3 | half portion (⅓ cup) |
| Beef Steak | 1.3 | 54% | steak | 2.7 | 113% | 185 | 6.5 | steak |
| Pork | 0.5 | 21% | steak | 1.1 | 46% | 480 | 16.9 | 2.5 steaks |
| Turkey | 1.4 | 58% | steak | 2.8 | 117% | 171 | 6.0 | 0.85 steak |
| Chicken breast | 0.3 | 13% | breast (140g) | 0.42 | 18% | 800 | 28.2 | 5.7 breast |
| Tuna (canned) | 3 | 125% | can | 4.9 | 204% | 80 | 2.8 | ¾ small can |
| Trout | 6.3 | 263% | Fillet (143g) | 9 | 375% | 38 | 1.3 | ¼ fillet |
| Sardines | 8.9 | 371% | 2 small fish | 2.1 | 88% | 27 | 1.0 | 3 small sardines |
| Salmon | 2.8 | 117% | Half fillet | 5 | 208% | 86 | 3.0 | ¼ fillet |
| Oyster | 19.5 | 813% | 6 pcs | 16.30 | 679% | 12 | 0.4 | 1 oyster |
| Caviar | 20 | 833% | 1 spoon | 3.2 | 133% | 12 | 0.4 | ¾ spoons |
| Eggs | 1.3 | 54% | 1 egg | 0.6 | 25% | 185 | 6.5 | 4 eggs |
| Milk (cow) | 0.36 | 15% | glass | 0.86 | 36% | 667 | 23.5 | 2.7 glasses |
| Milk (sheep) | 0.7 | 29% | glass | 1.68 | 70% | 343 | 12.1 | 1.4 glasses |
| Milk (goat) | 0.2 | 8% | glass | 0.48 | 20% | 1200 | 42.3 | 5 glasses |
| Mozarella | 2.3 | 96% | 4 slices | 2.76 | 115% | 104 | 3.7 | 3.5 slices |
| Feta Cheese | 2.5 | 104% | wedge (30 g) | 0.3125 | 13% | 96 | 3.4 | ¾ cup |
| Brie | 4 | 167% | wedge (30 g) | 0.5 | 21% | 60 | 2.1 | 2 wedges |
| Cheddar Cheese | 1.1 | 46% | wedge (30 g) | 0.1375 | 6% | 218 | 7.7 | 1 pack (250 g) |
| Parmesan | 2.3 | 96% | topping | 0.345 | 14% | 104 | 3.7 | a looooot of topping (100 g) |
| Gouda Cheese | 3 | 125% | wedge (30 g) | 0.9 | 38% | 80 | 2.8 | ~3 wedges |
| Cottage Cheese | 0.6 | 25% | half cup | 0.48 | 20% | 400 | 14.1 | 2.5 cups |
| Cottage Cheese (creamed) | 0.4 | 17% | half cup | 0.32 | 13% | 600 | 21.2 | 3.75 cups |
| Tofu | 0 | 0% | half pack | 0% | – | – | ||
| Tempeh | 0.1 | 4% | half pack | 0.12 | 5% | 2400 | 84.7 | 2.4 kg!! |
| Seitan | 0 | 0% | half pack | 0% | – | – | ||
| Yogurt | 1.8 | 75% | cup (200g) | 3.6 | 150% | 133 | 4.7 | ⅔ cup |
| Nutritional yeast | 7.8 | 325% | spoon | 0.468 | 20% | 31 | 1.1 | 5 spoons |
| Seaweed (wakame) | 0 | 0% | 0% | – | – | |||
| Seaweed (spirulina) | 0 | 0% | 0% | – | – | |||
| Chlorella algae | 0.1 | 4% | spoon | 0.006 | 0% | 2400 | 84.7 | 2.4 kg! 400 spoons |
| Shitake mushroom | 0 | 0% | 0% | – | – | |||
| Chia seeds | 0 | 0% | 0% | – | – | |||
| Fortified Cereals | 24 | 1000% | half cup | 6.24 | 260% | 10 | 0.4 | ¼ cup |