Recommendations for Vegans and Near-Vegans

Step 1

If you have not had a regular source of B12 for some time, buy a bottle of 1,000 µg (or greater) B12 tablets. The following (and many others) are vegan:

Pangea VeganLife B12 Chewable Supplement 1,000 mcg tablets
VegLife sublingual 1,000 mcg lozenges. Sold in stores (website has a store locator).
Freeda Vitamins 500 mcg lozenges
Nature's Bounty sublingual 2500 mcg
Solgar sublingual 1,000 mcg nuggets

Place 2,000 µg under your tongue until the tablet(s) has dissolved, once a day, for 2 weeks. You can break the remaining tablets in half or quarters for Step #2. It's okay to take more than recommended. Then follow the advice under Step #2.

Step 2

If you have had a regular source of B12, skip Step 1. One of the following daily recommendations should maximize your B12 status:

1.5 - 2.5 µg, twice a day, from fortified foods or supplements¹
10 - 100 µg, once a day, from a supplement^1,2

Notes

In foods, B12 is measured in micrograms (aka "µg" or "mcg"). 1,000 µg = 1 mg.
The DRI for vitamin B12 is 2.4 micrograms for adults.
Fortified foods: Amounts listed on a nutrition label are based on 6 µg/day. For example, 25% of the Daily Value = .25 * 6 µg = 1.5 µg.
Do not rely on any seaweed (e.g., algae, nori, spirulina), brewer's yeast, tempeh, or "living" vitamin supplement that uses plants as a source of B12.
Do not rely solely on one type of fortified food such as Red Star Nutritional Yeast.
Vegan infants: The Institute of Medicine recommends that infants of vegan mothers be supplemented with B12 from birth because their stores at birth and their mother's milk supply may be low.³
Exceptions: People with digestive or malabsorption diseases (such as pernicious anemia), chronic kidney failure, B12 metabolism defects, or cyanide metabolism defects should consult a bona fide health professional.
Cigarette smokers should consider a non-cyanocobalamin source of B12. Click here for more information.

Click here for an explanation of how these recommendations were formulated.

Footnotes for Recommendations for Vegans and Near-Vegans

1. Lower limit based on minimum recommendations in What Every Vegan Should Know about Vitamin B12.
2. In a single dose, B12 absorption drops to 1-1.5% for the amounts above 5 µg.
3. Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine. Dietary Reference Intakes for Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Vitamin B12, Pantothenic Acid, Biotin, and Choline. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 2000.