I have been plugging my foods into Nutritiondata.com, and I seem to always be lacking B12, D and Zinc. Anyone know of good sources for these vitamins so that I can get them in my diet? I know that sunlight can give me vitamin D, but how much is recommended? There's not too much sun where I live right now!

Thanks a bunch.

arugula - I think that you supplement with Zinc and B12 - which supplements do you use?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2007 08:15PM by Yogamama.

Good topic Yogamama!

I think the only B12 & Vit. D sources for vegans are synthetic.

I wish there was a natural organic source obtainable in all places on the planet, so I would not have to take synthetic my supplements. If anyone knows of any, I'd love to know.

Pumpkin seeds are high in zinc, but I would soak them and make nut milk out of them.

According to "Rawsome" These foods have small amounts of Vitamin D:

Basil
Alfalfa leaves
Bee Pollen
Fenugreek Seeds
Leafy greens (especially watercress)
Horsetail
Mullien
Nettles
Papayas
Parsley
Sunflower seeds and greens
Sweet potatoes
Wheatgrass

Zinc Foods:
Almonds,
Aduki beans
Brazil nuts
Cashews
Cayenne
Coconut
Corn
Dandelion greens
Garlic
Kelp
Leafy greens (especially spinach)
Macedamia nuts
Mushrooms
Onions
Parsley
Pecans
Pine nuts
Poppy seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Sesame seeds
Sunflower seeds
Walnuts
Whole grains

Make sure to soak all nuts and seeds overnight before consuming.

Kiwi's are an excellent source of zinc..... 0.3 mg according to this website:

[www.healthalternatives2000.com]



My website: The Coconut Chronicles

Mushrooms contain vitamin D, particularly tremella mushrooms.

Soaked hemp seeds also contain vitamin D, but I would assume this would not be true in the USA if your hemp seeds have been irradiated.

Rob

--
Rob Hull - Funky Raw
My blog: [www.rawrob.com]

I take a 1000 IU ergocalciferol (vitamin D2) daily from Country Life. Best uptake would be if you ground it up in a coffee grinder and took it with some fat because dry forms of fat solubles tend not to be readily absorbed.

I take 1/4 of a 1000 mcg B12 methylcobalamin once a week from NOW foods. 250 mcg per week is not ideal--when the dose is that high, only about 1/10 of it will be used. 6 mcg per day would be better, but I haven't found a methylcobalamin supplement in such a small quantity. I have tried cutting the tablets into 1/8 but they are too tiny and just crumble. But I do have a scale to 0.01g accuracy so it is feasible to get a good grip on a much smaller amount, just too much effort for me, I am lazy sometimes.

A recent study on Danish women found optimal B12 and homocysteine levels at 6 mcg per day. There may be no benefit to exceeding that level.

free full paper
[www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

I am no longer antsy about getting enough zinc based on a recent study linking higher zinc intakes with higher prostate cancer risks (somewhat dependent on food source, of course animal sourced foods were riskier, I posted this a few days ago, this has meaning to me because there is a lot in common between prostate and breast cancer). But any old zinc will do, I do not think you need to supplement with more than 5 mg per day as you probably already get between 3-5 mg from your foods and if you still want it, get a tablet that you can cut into smaller pieces.

I don't think mushrooms are currently a good source of D, you'd have to eat 1.2 kg of them to meet your D requirement. But that may change in the near future, as scientists have determined that exposing them to UV rays makes them produce more vitamin D. So when somebody makes this process even more efficient and markets it, we will probably have a non-animal, non-supplement food option that does not require consuming massive quantities.

[cat.inist.fr]

I used to take a multi from NOW foods called ADAM. It had 100 mcg methylcobalamin and 400 IU D2. It was in a capsule that you could easily use only a fraction of and reclose. If you used that for your B12 you could make one capsule last one week and that would be better from the B12 standpoint than what I am doing now. I stopped using it because I got tired of all that extra stuff in it that I get plenty of from my diet for which I had no need of any additional quantity (vitamin A, copper, vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, etc.).

I think the B12 supplements are perfectly natural, and cleaner than other methods of maintaining B12 status. They are made from bacterial synthesis. The ruminants (and their products) that we eat get their B12 from bacteria also, when they eat grasses with bits of soil clinging to the blades. When we take supplement we get it more directly, direct from the bacteria instead of using the cow body as an indirect source.

Lots of great information here...thanks everyone for your replies. Very helpful stuff!