Submitted by A.B. Youngman on Fri, 21/07/2023 - 13:40
Vegan diets are clearly best for planetary health, potentially leading to 75% less climate-heating emissions, water pollution and land use than meat-rich ones according to recent analysis of the diets of 55,000 people in the UK, but are they as good for human health?
The answer is that a conventional vegan diet lacks some vital nutrients, notably vitamin B12, which can lead to serious health problems. Research led by Professor Alison Smith and Dr Payam Mershahi at the University of Cambridge’s Algal Innovation Centre has shown that vitamins for vegans made from algae could soon prove to be an effective solution to this problem.
Quoted in the Observer newspaper, Professor Smith said,
“We have identified that there are different forms of B12 and pinpointed which algae accumulate the varieties that work in humans. That means we can help industry start making effective algal supplements that should allow us to start tackle the serious problem that we are now facing over B12 deficiency.”
Professor Smith gave a fascinating presentation about B12 supplementation using algae at the Global Food Security Symposium on 6th July 2023. Please find the slides that illustrated her talk here.