Another concern about restricting or avoiding meats is that the body will become deficient in vitamin B12. This important vitamin is used in the formation of red blood cells. The recommended daily amount of dietary vitamin B12 is 3.0 micrograms (RDA) or 5.0. micrograms, depending upon the information source. A microgram isn’t very much. To get an idea of how scant a microgram is, divide a milligram into a thousand equal parts. Take three or five of the parts to meet your B12 requirement. Each of us comes equipped with about 1000 times that amount (a four-to five-year supply) stored in the liver. Vitamin A comes with microgram recommendation from 400 to 1000, depending on age and sex. Of the seventeen nutrients listed in the Recommended Daily Dietary Allowances, twelve of them are recommended in quantities of grams or milligrams, which are much greater quantities than micrograms.

Dietary vitamin B12 comes from dairy products and from those foods we euphemistically refer to as “organ meats”: liver and kidney, the parts of a living animal that take care of handling internal debris. Your liver has a lot of B12 in it too. You don’t have to eat flesh or dairy products to get either a complete food or vitamin B12. Realistically, with our current lifestyles, we are hard-pressed to completely avoid animal proteins. B12 containing butter and eggs are often hidden ingredients in prepared foods. Given the right circumstances, vitamin B12 may be produced in the body by bacteria termed intestinal flora. However, if conditions in the intestine are hostile to the producing bacteria or if your absorption capabilities are defunct because of a general decline in overall health, the supply of this vital vitamin stored in the liver may ultimately be depleted. Vitamin B12 is absorbed through the intestinal wall. Even if there is a generous quantity of dietary B12 available, if the internal environment of the intestine is not hospitable, the vitamin can’t be absorbed. Diet isn’t the only thing that can reduce both the bacteria and the serendipity of the environment in the intestine. Antibiotics can do away with both and are unconscionable bacteria-killers. They zap the good along with the troublemakers. Great numbers of Americans have taken generous quantities of antibiotics in one form or another during their lifetimes. Certainly, there is no doubt that antibiotics have saved countless lives since penicillin came into use in the 1940s. Yet wholesale bacteria eradication to handle an emergency situation can have subtle long-term effects. When beneficial bacteria, such as Lactobacillus acidophilus, have been done away with, the door is left open for uninvited intestinal or colon guests to move in. Yeast is one of the major interlopers that can show up in an environment where helpful bacteria are in short supply. Candida albicans, a colon inhabitant, is common yeast that has taken advantage of the short supply of “good” intestinal bacteria. After bacterial “bad guys” have been routed, we need to restore the “good guys” so they can get on with helping to reestablish a healthy environment.  acidophilus supplementation, on a temporary basis especially after treatment with antibiotics, can help restore favorable conditions in the colon. “Studies conducted by scientists at the University of Nebraska have shown that L. acidophilus provides several therapeutic effects. It has specific actions including the ability to make a natural antibiotic named acidophilin.” Although acidophilus has been shown to “retard the growth of Candida albicans,” just any acidophilus won’t do. In order to be effective, the acidophilus must be the type that can withstand the acid of the stomach p as it makes its way to the intestine. Keep in mind that any supplement or “treatment” designed to make you feel better is a stop-gap measure. Localized symptoms are warning signs that something is amiss and the whole body is affected. The condition of the intestine and colon is equally as important as the condition of the heart, lungs, or any other organ. Every cell in the body is in communication with every other cell. Trouble in one cell signals repercussions for the rest. Every morsel of food you eat causes a response by your body. No activity in or of the body happens in isolation. Taming symptoms can bring blessed relief however, unless the conditions that brought about the symptoms are corrected, the same or different symptoms will appear.