Those who avoid animal foods are often not sufficiently supplied with vitamin B12. Can taking vitamin tablets prevent a deficiency?
Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) is important for blood formation, nerve function and cell division. A deficiency can have serious health consequences and should therefore be avoided at all costs, reports das Consumer magazine “Öko-Test” in the current issue.
The vitamin is not produced by the body itself and must therefore be ingested with food – for example in the form of meat, fish or milk. This is a problem for strictly vegetarian or vegan people.
Many therefore also take vitamin B12 as a dietary supplement to prevent a deficiency. But are the usual vitamin preparations from the drugstore or pharmacy sufficient for this? The investigation of “Öko-Test” shows it.
“Öko-Test”: These vitamin B12 preparations are “deficient”
According to “Öko-Test”, most of the 29 vitamin B12 capsules tested were overdosed. Although the excess is excreted via the urine, the testers believe that the dose in the tablets can be minimized and thus the product price reduced.
The use of numerous additives in some tablets – such as titanium dioxide and the preservative propylparaben – also had a rather negative effect on the products in the test.
The products “DocMorris vitamin B12 mini tablets” – available from Rewe and in the DocMorris online shop – and “Vitamaze vitamin B12 drops” performed the worst. The vitamin B12 content of the DocMorris vitamins deviates from the declared amount by around 50 percent. Accordingly, consumers would be misled. There was another minus point for the “PVC/PVDC/chlorinated compounds in the packaging” and the insufficient declaration. Overall rating: “inadequate”.
With the “Vitamaze Vitamin B12 Drops”, the vitamin B12 content declared by the manufacturer also differs greatly from the measured value – it was up to 20 percent lower. Overall rating: “inadequate”.
“Öko-Test”: These vitamin B12 preparations are winners
“Dr. Loges Vitamin B12-Loges 1,000 μg, capsules” was awarded the grade “very good”. The “Dyckerhoff Pharma B12-Asmedic drops” also scored “very good” – although they contain the preservative propylparaben and it cannot be ruled out that the product also contains animal components, according to the testers.