Introduction
The supplement industry in the United States is largely unregulated and rife with misleading marketing claims trying to sell supplements which are not necessary. However, for vegans there are no reliable plant-based sources of vitamin B12, therefore it is necessary to supplement your diet with either B12 fortified foods (like some soy milks) or a B12 supplement. Vitamin B12 deficiency symptoms often won't show up for a long time, although it is currently unknown exactly how long this takes. Even vegetarians may be at risk for B12 deficiency depending on the amount of dairy and eggs they consume.
For an in-depth review of information about B12 I highly suggest this article on veganhealth.org.
How Much B12 Do You Need?
The form of B12 which is most studied and easily available in a vegan form is cyanocobalamin. For healthy adults, veganhealth.org recommends between 5-100 μg of cyanocobalamin daily based on information from the US Institude of Medicine (IOM) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Below is a table from their article which shows the recommended amounts depending on how often you take it. Higher quantities are needed if you take the supplement less frequently due to how B12 is absorbed in the gut over short vs extended periods of time.
Certifications
Since the FDA does not regulate supplements, it is necessary to rely on other groups to do this certification. There are currently two independent groups which certify supplements to make sure they are free of contaminants and contain exactly what they say on the label. The first is the NSF, and the second is US Pharmacopeia, or USP. In short, if a supplement has either of these certifications, you can be reasonably confident that it contains exactly what it says on the package without other contaminants.
In addition to these "gold standard" certifications, there are some groups which do third party testing just for contaminants. One of these is the Clean Label Project, a non profit which tests supplements for bisphenols, glyphosate, heavy metals, pesticides, and phthalates. This is a much less stringent test than the NSF and USP certifications above, but is nevertheless a positive indicator of supplement quality.
Vegan B12 Supplements
The following table shows some of the available vegan B12 supplements along with whether they are USP or NSF certified, how much B12 they have per dose, and their price.
| Name | Brand | Form | Vegan? | USP/NSF Product Testing? | Third Party Contaminant Testing | B12 (μg) | $/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Women's Multivitamin 18+ | Ritual | Capsule | Yes | Yes | Yes | 8 | $1.00 |
| Vegan D3 and B12 | Herbaland | Gummy | Yes | Yes | Yes | 850 | $0.27 |
| B Complex | Thorne | Capsule | Yes | Yes | Yes | 600 | $0.42 |
| Liquid Morning | Mary Ruth's | Liquid | Yes | No | Yes | 12 | $1.34 |
| Men's Multivitamin Gummies | Mary Ruth's | Gummy | Yes | No | Yes | 6.8 | $0.83 |
| Vegan Multivitamin | Deva | Tablet | Yes | No | No | 100 | $0.13 |
| One Daily Men's Multi | Solgar | Tablet | Yes | No | No | 12 | $0.37 |
| Adult Multivitamin Gummy | 365 by Whole Foods Market | Gummy | Yes | No | No | 3 | $0.50 |
| Men's/Women's Multivitamin Gummy | 365 by Whole Foods Market | Gummy | Yes | No | No | 7.2 | $0.50 |
| One Daily Multivitamin | MegaFood | Tablet | Yes | No | No | 15 | $0.63 |
| Whole Body Multi | MegaFood | Gummy | Yes | No | No | 12 | $0.87 |
One thing to be aware of is that although generally it is safe to take higher doses of B12, and in fact veganhealth.org recommends staying closer to the upper limits in their table, sometimes larger doses of B12 can cause acne.
You should purchase any supplements directly from the manufacturer or from a trusted physical store to avoid purchasing counterfeit products.