Scientists Discover Genius Way to Get Vitamin B12 Naturally Into Vegan Diet

By Heather Callaghan, Editor

University of Kent Scientists Discovered Novel Method of Getting Vitamin B12 Into Plant-Based Diets Without Using Biotech!

Are vitamin B12 supplements really the best way to get this crucial “B” into a plant-focused diet? That’s the wrong question for someone who has opted out of meat eating for personal reasons. No one should force anyone to eat anything. The real question should be: How did we overlook this insanely simple way to get B12 from plants?? And do it “naturally”…well, you’ll see what I mean.

University of Kent is reporting one of the most interesting – yet little known – discoveries of the whole year.

Simply put, their team realized that plants uptake their vitamins and minerals from the ground – and can uptake vitamin B12, too! That means, we really can get more from our diet by making sure the plants have the nutrients. Then we can eat them and enjoy a phenomenally bioavailable and nutrient-dense meal.

Yes, plants can uptake vitamin B12 and provide it to us…

Garden cress is an edible and fast-growing leafy green, common in the UK. The United States has a variety of cress as well.

University of Kent reports:

…a team, led by Professor Martin Warren at the University’s School of Biosciences, has proved that common garden cress can indeed take up cobalamin.

The amount of B12 absorbed by garden cress is dependent on the amount present in the growth medium, and the Kent team was able to confirm B12 uptake by showing that the nutrient ends up in the leaf.

The observation that certain plants are able to absorb B12 is important as such nutrient-enriched plants could help overcome dietary limitations in countries such as India, which have a high proportion of vegetarians and may be significant as a way to address the global challenge of providing a nutrient-complete vegetarian diet, a valuable development as the world becomes increasingly meat-free due to population expansion.

The pupils grew garden cress containing increasing concentrations of vitamin B12. After seven days growth, the leaves from the seedlings were removed, washed and analyzed.

The seedlings were found to absorb cobalamin from the growth medium and to store it in their leaves. To confirm this initial observation, the scientists at Kent then made a type of vitamin B12 that emits fluorescent light when activated by a laser. This fluorescent B12 was fed to the plants and it was found to accumulate within a specialised part of the leaf cell called a vacuole, providing definitive evidence that some plants can absorb and transport cobalamin.

Vitamin B12 is unique among the vitamins because it is made only by certain bacteria and therefore has to undergo a journey to make its way into more complex multi-cellular organisms. The research described in the paper highlights how this journey can be followed using the fluorescent B12 molecules, which can also be used to help understand why some people are more prone to B12-deficiency.

Interestingly, this same model helped them discover ways of fighting parasites with natural cleanse recipes.

The research is now published in the journal Cell Chemical Biology.

This research shows something the researchers hadn’t bargained on…that plants uptake what is in their environment.

We already know that plants can uptake environmental toxicants, antipsychotics from repurposed wastewater and microplastics, too. This is all the more reason to stop growing conventional produce with human sewage, wastewater and frack fluids. To me, this is the biggest reason to choose organic. It may be expensive, but it’s not elitist to forego human waste and pharma drugs.

What do you think? Would you try plants that had taken up vitamin B12? Let us know your thoughts below!

This article (Scientists Discover Genius Way to Get Vitamin B12 Naturally Into Vegan Diet) was created by and appeared first at Natural Blaze. It can be reshared with attribution but MUST include link to homepage, bio, intact links and this message. Image: Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Heather Callaghan is an independent researcher, writer, speaker and food freedom activist. She is the Editor and co-founder of NaturalBlaze as well as a certified Self-Referencing IITM Practitioner.

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