Vegetarian/vegan Vitamins

[elpea]

If vitamins B12 and D aren't produced by plants, how are these vitamins made available in soya milk, marg and other fortified products? Are they synthetic, or would they ultimately have come from a non-veg source?

[theprof]

Fortified soya milk, soya margarine and foods containing soya protein (TVP) are fortified with synthetically created vitamins. This will include vitamins D2, B12 and B2.

The vitamins are fairly easily synthesised at a relatively low-cost. The richest natural source of B12 is liver and it would be impractical to rely upon liver as the only source of the vitamin as the processing costs would be horrifying. Synthetic vitamins are therefore usually the first choice when it comes to fortifying vegetarian products.

It's interesting that although the body requires a vitamin called folate for the production of DNA, the synthetic form of the vitamin is known as folic acid due to slightly different chemical structure. Ironically, folic acid is better absorbed by the body than the natural folate.