by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
Vegans get vitamin B12, an essential vitamin, from foods fortified with vitamin B12 and/or from supplements containing vitamin B12. You can read more about vitamin B12 on VRG’s website. Many non-vegans also rely on fortified foods as a source of vitamin B12 since the vitamin B12 in fortified foods is easier for some people to absorb than vitamin B12 in meat.
One food group that is commonly included on lists of foods fortified with vitamin B12 is plant milks. While many plant milks do have vitamin B12 added, not all popular brands do. In 2018 we reported on plant milks that did not provide vitamin B12. Six years later we asked again, “Which plant milks do not provide vitamin B12?” Here’s what we found.
Based on website information and product labels collected in Fall 2024, the following original and unsweetened milks are not fortified with vitamin B12:
- Almond Breeze Unsweetened, Original, and Extra Creamy almond milk; Original Almondmilk and Oatmilk Blend; Unsweetened Original Almondmilk Coconutmilk Blend; Shelf Stable Original Almondmilk Coconutmilk Blend
- Bettergoods Unsweetened Original and Original almond milk
- Califia Farms Unsweetened and Go Coconuts coconut milk; Original, Extra Creamy, Zero Sugar, and Original Protein oatmilk; Unsweetened (aseptic and refrigerated), Extra Creamy, and Organic Unsweetened almond milk; Toasted Coconut Almondmilk
- Chobani Original, Extra Creamy, and Zero Sugar Unsweetened oatmilk
- Dream Original Classic ricemilk
- Edensoy Original and Unsweetened soymilk
- Elmhurst 1925 Milked Oats and Unsweetened Milked Oats oatmilk; Unsweetened Milked Almonds almond milk; Unsweetened Milked Walnuts walnut milk; Unsweetened Milked Hazelnuts hazelnut milk; Milked Coconut and Cashews blend; Unsweetened and Sweetened Milked Cashews cashew milk
- Forager Project oatmilk; cashew milk
- Good & Gather Unsweetened coconut milk
- Hazelicious Unsweetened and Lightly Sweetened hazelnut milk
- Malk Original (aseptic and refrigerated) oat milk; Unsweetened almond milk; cashew milk
- Mariani Original and Unsweetened walnut milk
- Moola Original and Simple oatmilk; Simple and Unsweetened almond milk
- Nature’s Promise Original soymilk; Original and Original Unsweetened almond milk
- New Barn Organics Unsweetened almond milk
- O Organics Original Unsweetened almond milk
- Oatly Chilled Super Basic oatmilk
- Open Nature Original and Original Unsweetened almond milk
- Pacific Foods Unsweetened soymilk; Original and Unsweetened coconut milk; Original and Unsweetened almond milk; Original and Unsweetened hemp milk; Original cashew milk
- Pearl Original and Unsweetened soymilk
- Real Coco Unsweetened coconut milk
- Silk Original, Unsweet, Organic Original, Organic Unsweet, and Unsweet Extra Creamy almond milk; Unsweet Almond Coconut Blend; Unsweet cashew milk
- Simple Truth Original and Unsweetened soymilk; Shelf-stable Unsweetened Plain almond milk
- Simply Nature Original soymilk
- Tache Unsweetened Original pistachio milk
- Three Trees Original almond milk; pistachio milk; Oatmilk with Seeds
- Thrive Market almond milk
- Trader Joe’s Unsweetened soymilk, shelf-stable oatmilk; Unsweetened Almond, Cashew & Macadamia Nut blend
- Vita Coco Original coconut milk
- Vitasoy Original and Less Sugar soymilk drink
- Wegmans Original, Original Unsweetened, and Organic Original Unsweetened almond milk
- West Life Unsweetened Plain and Plain soymilk
- Willa’s Organic Unsweetened Original oatmilk
- Yeo’s soymilk drink
If your favorite unsweetened or original flavor milk is on the list, don’t despair! You could try another similar product that does provide vitamin B12, find other foods fortified with vitamin B12, or take a supplement supplying vitamin B12.
This is not an exhaustive list so be sure to check the label of your favorite product to determine whether it supplies vitamin B12.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of VRG interns Aashay Mody, Ren Patel, and Neha Vivek and VRG volunteer Mae Y. Soon who collected information for this article.
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.