Vitamin B12, also called cobalamin, is one of the most common nutrition topics nowadays, especially among young North Americans shifting toward vegetarian or vegan diets.

Vitamin B12, critical to brain and nervous system health, to the conversation of food into energy, to DNA synthesis and red blood cell formation, as well as other key functions, is severely lacking in a natural vegan diet (without supplementation) because vitamin B12 can only be found naturally, by and large, in animal foods. This is also true for vegetarian diets, to varying degrees depending on the amount of animal food intake (milk, eggs, etc...or crickets).

Where does B12 come from?

B12 is made by bacteria - specifically bacteria that do not require oxygen to live, called anaerobic bacteria. Animals ingest these bacteria which remain present in the their gastrointestinal tracts.

What foods contain B12 naturally?

Animal source foods, including milk, eggs, and meats (to varying degrees) contain Vitamin B12. Insects, such as crickets, however, contain B12 on a whole other level. Specifically, the organic crickets used by CRICKSTART contain approximately 12x more Vitamin B12 than beef & salmon, 20x more than eggs, 50x more than pork & milk, and 100x more than chicken. If B12 overdose was a thing,which it's not, crickets would be a serious freaken problem!!

How do people get B12 in vegan cultures?

Interestingly enough, Paul Pitchford, in his book called Healing with Whole Foods says that historically vegan cultures have gotten their vitamin B12 partially by ingesting small insects in their plant-based foods. There is also a theory that these Eastern cultures were far more exposed to bacteria in their diets, allowing for the production of B12.

With the amount of pesticides and industrial cleaning methods applied to foods nowadays in the West, it is highly unlikely to have either this insect or bacteria content in our food.

CONCLUSION: Try to integrate some organic CRICKETS into your diet!!! :)