How Much Vitamin B12 Do Vegan Children Need?
photo from Freepik
by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
A reader wrote us and asked, “Do you have B12 guidelines for children? What should children be taking daily? On VRG’s Vegan MyPlate I see 25mcg. Is that the same guidance for children as well?”
Here’s how we responded:
The amount of vitamin B12 a child needs depends on the child’s age. The 25 micrograms of vitamin B12 on our My Vegan Plate is for an adult.
The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for vitamin B12 for 1-3 year olds is 0.9 micrograms; for 4-8 year olds it is 1.2 micrograms; and for 9-13 year olds it is 1.8 micrograms. These recommendations were developed with the assumption that children are eating foods containing vitamin B12 throughout the day. If this is the case, about 40-50% of the vitamin B12 is absorbed. Vegan children often use a vitamin supplement as a reliable source of vitamin B12 and may only take the supplement once a day. In that case, a lower percentage of vitamin B12 would be absorbed. An amount higher than the RDA would be needed to compensate for the lower absorption. You can read more about this on VRG’s website.
Vegan Health website provides an excellent resource, developed by Jack Norris, RD, a vegan registered dietitian, of different regimens for vitamin B12 for people, including children of different ages. The website also provides a thorough explanation of how these regimens were developed. The table on the Vegan Health website includes the suggested amount of vitamin B12 that should be used if a child is taking a supplement once, twice, or 3 times a day. For example, the table suggests that a 5 year old taking vitamin B12 once a day should take between 1.4 and 10 micrograms of vitamin B12 daily.
To read more about vitamin B12 for vegans see:
Does the Form of Vitamin B12 Matter?
Don’t Forget About Vitamin B12
The contents of this website and our other publications, including Vegan Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.
