Information about Vitamin B12 and your diet – do you need to take supplements?
Vitamin B12 is involved in:
- making red blood cells and keeping the nervous system healthy
- releasing energy from food
Good sources of vitamin B12
- meat
- salmon
- cod
- milk
- cheese
- eggs
- some fortified breakfast cereals
How much vitamin B12 do I need?
Adults (aged 19 to 64) need about 1.5 microgram a day of vitamin B12.
If you eat meat, fish or dairy foods, you should be able to get enough vitamin B12 from your diet.
But as vitamin B12 is not found naturally in foods such as fruit, vegetables and grains, vegans may not get enough of it.
Supplements of Vitamin B12 are available to buy over the counter at Pharmacists, health food shops and some Supermarkets as Cyanocobalamin 50microgram tablets.
You may need to take 1-3 tablets per day depending how much B12 you are also getting from your diet.