Vitamin B12 is made naturally by bacteria in the soil. Traditionally, people and animals would have obtained this vitamin by eating food from the ground. However, food production systems are now so sanitised and scrubbed clean that we do need to take a supplement.
Animals are no different to us and are not magical creators of vitamin B12. Meat, eggs and dairy foods contain it because farmed animals are given supplements too – their natural diet having been depleted in much the same way as our own. The argument to eat meat and dairy for B12 is therefore invalid — so why not get your B12 straight from the source?
B vitamins help our bodies release energy from the food we eat. Vitamin B12 also helps maintain healthy nerve cells and produces DNA — our genetic material. It works closely with folic acid to make red blood cells, which help iron to work better in our bodies. It also helps our immune systems to function normally and can even affect our mood.