Vitamin B12

Recommendations:

Recommended daily allowances (RDAs) are defined as the levels of intake of essential nutrients that, on the basis of scientific knowledge, the Food and Nutrition Board judges to be adequate to meet the known nutrient needs of practically all healthy persons.

The best way to get the daily requirement of essential vitamins is to eat a balanced diet that contains a variety of foods from the food guide pyramid.

Since all of the vitamin B12 comes from animal products, people following a vegetarian diet and not consuming eggs and dairy products may require B12 supplements. There are some non-animal sources of B12 but because they are highly variable they are not reliable.