Hey everyone,

I have a theory that the reason meat eaters and raw vegans alike have B12 deficiency is that few (perhaps) drink well water anymore...it's either tap or super distilled, triple purified, completely filtered water...I'm exaggerating a little, but you get my point. I'm not sure that my theory is grounded in science, but aren't B12 a type of bacteria found in soil, and so well water would contain it too? I know people are concerned about contaminated well water from pollution, etc..., but fresh sources do exist. Somehow I think distilled/purified water is not the ideal it's made out to be. It would make the most sense (since this is how creatures and people have been getting water for thousands of years), that a fresh source of well or spring water containing minerals and beneficial bacteria would be ideal.

What do you all think?

Just for starters, it would depend on where you live.

If the groundwater where you live is contaminated with e-coli, you might have a lot of B12 in your well-water, but you wouldn't want to drink it. You could boil your well-water, but boiling significantly reduces B12 content (google B12, boiling).

There are water wells near where I live, but the water has to be filtered and also exposed to ultra-violet light, because there's so much e-coli in the ground water. Installing a UV light system is the only way to ensure that the e-coli levels are low enough for drinking. And of course the UV system kills the B12.

Also, you might consider that cobalt is a necessary component of B12. Not all soils contain enough cobalt to provide a sufficient source of B12, even if you were to eat the soil itself everyday, nevermind relying on the well-water.

There may be some wells somewhere in undeveloped areas with clean groundwater that leach enough B12 from surrounding cobalt-rich soils to provide a sufficient source of B12 in drinking water. That's just a totally uninformed guess though.

interesting theory musicbebe , i cant find the copy of the water test I bought on my friends sandpoint where i get my water so i dont know what the cobalt levels are ... i do know the bacteria count was quite low (lower then the chlorinated city water around here lol) and the lab that did it said the water was some of the best they had tested in awhile

i do know it tastes good

Is there an accurate and direct way to test for B12 in water?

Interesting. I drink water that comes from a bore, it is naturally filtered and tastes really fresh and clean.