As with vegetarians, vegans can avoid this by consuming a dietary supplement or eating B 12 fortified food such as cereal, plant-based milks, and nutritional yeast as a regular part of their diet
Rather, at this time there are multiple problems with the way that natural supplements are tested, manufactured, and marketed
See here: Vitamin B12 and Child Development While adults can tolerate an insufficient supply of B12 for quite some time without developing severe symptoms, this is not the case when it comes to children due to their lack of B12 stores in the body
Source of Vitamin B12, Image Credit: marina_ua / Shutterstock Causes Vitamin B12 deficiency may arise due to: Nutritional deficiency especially in elderly individuals on restricted diets, and alcoholics Malabsorption syndromes such as pernicious anemia Gastrointestinal disorders leading to malabsorption such as atrophic gastritis or H2-receptor blocker use for prolonged periods Others such as Whipples disease or Crohns disease, intestinal surgery or strictures with resulting bacterial overgrowth that competitively take up vitamin B12 in the ileum Clinical features Hematologic Classically, vitamin B12 deficiency has been associated with megaloblastic macrocytic anemia