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From: seifert@ihuxl.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.veg
Subject: Re: Fruitarians
Message-ID: <860@ihuxl.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 25-Jan-84 08:50:59 EST
Article-I.D.: ihuxl.860
Posted: Wed Jan 25 08:50:59 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 27-Jan-84 09:30:38 EST
References: <4369@hp-pcd.UUCP> <4536@rochester.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 32

RE: vitamin B-12 from fruits and vegetables

"Any food which is strictly of plant origin, not fermented,
and free of all bacteria and insects will be found to contain
no vitamin B12

...organically grown foods will often contain traces of bacteria
from the soil or even tiny bits of insects  ...  These alone
may be enough to provide the extremely small doses of vitamin
B12 that are necessary.

When foods are grown with the use of pesticides, however, insects
and bacteria are likely to have been thoroughly exterminated,
and the processing of food to render it suitable for long
storage or shelf-life will be even more likely to remove any
traces of vitamin B12.

...bacteria in the intestines may also produce certain amounts of
vitamin B12  ... [but this is not] a dependable source of
vitamin B12.

Therefore, there are cases of vitamin B12 deficiency among
[strict] vegetarians of the West. "

from _D_i_e_t & _N_u_t_r_i_t_i_o_n, _a _h_o_l_i_s_t_i_c _a_p_p_r_o_a_c_h, by Rudolph Ballentine, M.D.

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