THE VITAMIN B12 LOLLIPOP

One company's new twist on vitamin B12.

The general consensus surrounding vitamin B12 is twofold: its importance to the average diet is high, and it can be difficult to absorb. B12 deficiency is no joke, with links to anemia, dementia, and other symptoms like tiredness, fatigue, and depression. Studies have shown high rates of B12 deficiency in various populations, including elders and vegetarians.

Consumers generally look to meat, dairy, and eggs for natural B12 sources, as well as multivitamins or B12 injections. But concern around how efficient some of these common B12 sources are has led to the launch of a unique alternative: Revitapop, touted as the market's only vitamin B12 lollipop.

June 18, 2003 -- Researchers have long known that a strict vegetarian diet -- one that excludes all animal products -- can lead to vitamin B-12 deficiency, and possibly heart disease. Now, new research suggests that even those who follow a more lenient vegetarian diet are also at risk. 

In the July issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, German researchers tracked 174 apparently healthy people living in Germany and the Netherlands. 

They found that 92% of the vegans they studied -- those who ate the strictest vegetarian diet, which shuns all animal products, including milk and eggs -- had vitamin B12 deficiency. But two in three people who followed a vegetarian diet that included milk and eggs as their only animal foods also were deficient. Only 5% of those who consumed meats had vitamin B12 deficiency.