B12 actually can come from soil... to say that animal products contain B12 is incorrect. It is actually bacteria that produces B12.

"Many people say that the only foods which contain vitamin B12 are animal-derived foods.  This also is untrue.  No foods naturally contain vitamin B12 - neither animal or plant foods.  Vitamin B12 is a microbe - a bacteria - it is produced by microorganisms. Vitamin B12 is the only vitamin that contains a trace element - cobalt - which gives this vitamin its chemical name - cobalamin - which is at the centre of its molecular structure.  Humans and all vertebrates require cobalt, although it is assimilated only in the form of vitamin B12." -THE VITAMIN B12 ISSUE by Dr Gina Shaw, D.Sc, M.A., Dip NH, AIYS (Dip. Irid.).

Our body produces and reabsorbs B12, and in a healthy body, there is evidence that this is enough. If you are deficient in B12, perhaps look at the root cause before immediately jumping for your supplements. No animal or human has successfully been kept healthy or even alive on supplements alone, ( 'Nutrition and Athletic Performance', Dr D. Graham, 1999) doesn't this say something about the quality of this type of nutrition?

And also, meat eaters are just as likely to have a B12 deficiency as vegetarians and vegans.

Please remember to take everything you read with a grain of salt. You might be surprised what their financial incentives are.

Urtica

I don't know about B12 from soil, but your key for your health is raw veggies and real foods, it sounds like. Many vegans are eating just as many processed foods as meat eaters. If you are a vegan and eating lots of unfermented soy, tofu burgers, fake cheese  etc as opposed to whole foods in their original form, you will be unhealthy!

Here's an excerpt from an article at Natural News about good vs cheap B-12. I started taking the rec'd type along with Folic Acid (B-9) and have noticed good changes.

Good vs cheap B-12

"Here is the form you don't want to see. It is called cyanocobalamin. The way to remember this is that it begins with cyano, which is like cyanide. Cyanide is a poison, right?

This cyanocobalamin is a cyanide molecule joined with cobalamin. This becomes a form of B-12 that is used by all the cheap vitamin companies out there. This is the cheap form. You don't want this in your body – not in my opinion.

Look for it, if you see cyanocobalamin as the B-12 then you know that is not really a high-grade nutritional supplement. It is probably a cheap supplement. They probably have cheap forms of all the other ingredients too.

The two forms you want to look for are methylcobalamin and hydroxocobalamin.

Now these two forms – methyl and hydroxo – are far more expensive because they are more advanced forms of this vitamin B-12. They are more readily available to your body. Your body can use them without having to donate energy to the chemical reaction that is necessary to free them from their current chemical bonds.

I don't want to get too technical but the bottom line is that these forms of cobalamin or vitamin B-12 actually donate energy to your cells instead of stealing energy from your cells.

You want the B-12 that is called pre-methylated or methylated. That is where you get the methylcobalamin or the hydroxocobalamin. Those are the things to look for. Again, you can go to any store – a health food store, a grocery store – any place that you might buy vitamins.

You can pick up that bottle, look for the vitamin B-12 on the label, and find out what form of B-12 it really is. If it is cyano, you don't want it. Leave it on the shelf. If it is hydroxo or methyl then you do want it. That means it is a very high quality nutritional supplement.

I started using the B12 spray from this site and could tell a difference within 4 days.  I had so many aches and pains and no energy.  I went to bed tired...got up tired.  It's amazing the difference it made in how I felt.

There is significant evidence that an unsupplemented vegetarian or vegan diet will not meet B12 requirements. This is not propaganda, it is unbiased, scientific research. Check out Dr Gabriel Cousens website www.treeoflife.nu - he is a vegan raw foodist so you can be sure he's not biased in favour of animal based diets. You are right though, Urtica, that a large proportion of meat eaters also suffer from B12 defiency.

Apparently our bodies do manufacture B12 in the intestines but I've also read research that it's produced too far down in the intestines for it to be reabsorbed in sufficient quantities to prevent deficiency from occurring over time.

I really reccommend that everyone read Dr. Cousens' research on B12, even if you think you're fine. Please check www.treeoflife.nu

I am not affiliated with Dr. Cousens or his websites at all, and have no financial involvement with his work.