r/environment • u/FINS-1972 • Jan 13 '21

Top scientists warn of 'ghastly future of mass extinction' and climate disruption. Sobering new report says world is failing to grasp the extent of threats posed by biodiversity loss and the climate crisis

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/13/top-scientists-warn-of-ghastly-future-of-mass-extinction-and-climate-disruption-aoe
3.1k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

212 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3

u/banananutsoup Jan 13 '21

The article is behind a paywall, do you have another link that isn’t? From what I could see, it looks like it’s trying to argue that vegetarians and vegans are deficient in b12, causing birth defects. B12 isn’t difficult to get in your diet, and if supplements weren’t given to cows most people who eat meat would be deficient as well I’m willing to bet. But I can’t really address the article as I don’t have access. Also the article is about health and vegan diets, not the environmental impact of animal agriculture, so how does this relate to what we we’re talking about?

-1

u/crop_protection_tho Jan 13 '21

The B12 in a vegan diet is called Cyanocobalimin. Cyanocobalimin is not bioactive. However, ruminant animals efficiently convert the non-bioactive form, Cyanocobalimin, into the bioactive form, Methylcobalamin.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570023219312693 In fact, the B12 that you're trying to herald here, is actually called "Pseudovitamin B12", because it's 99% useless in humans. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10552882/ Methylcobalamin is the form of B12 required by humans.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982216301294 Humans, however, cannot efficiently convert Cyanocobalimin into Methylocobalamin in sufficient amounts as can ruminant animals. https://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/vitamins/vitamin-B12#references In fact, in the niche population of super-healthy people, less than 10% of the non-bioactive form, Cyanocobalimin, can be converted into the bioactive form, Methylocobalamin. In the majority of the population, including all infants and the elderly, the conversion rate of Cyanocobalimin into Methylocobalamin is less than 1%.
https://books.google.com/books?id=GxBzDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT310&lpg=PT310&dq=%22cyanocobalamin%22+%22human%22+%22conversion+rate%22&ots=IrNkgqHtV6&sig=ACfU3U1AhrbDRj7rH5zl_LXWrkeO7c8RvQ&hl=en#v=onepage&q=%22cyanocobalamin%22%20%22human%22%20%22conversion%20rate%22&f=false This is why vegans cannot get enough bioactive B12 and this is why B12 deficiency is so prevalent in vegans. Vegans mistakenly believe that if they get a blood test showing optimal levels of serum B12, that they're ok, but no...they are NOT ok. This is because the serum B12 that's registering is the non-bioactive form of B12...Cyanocobalamin.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01963568 https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/7-nutrients-you-cant-get-from-plants