Nutrition Hotline
By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
QUESTION: I have been an off-on vegetarian for several years. The problem I am facing ... is products like soy burgers or hot dogs. They are very high in sodium and at this stage of my life, this is probably more harmful to me than eating meat. ... Please help me resolve this dilemma. [writer included product labels with 295 and 470 milligrams of sodium in a soy link]
D.F., OK
ANSWER: I certainly agree with you that many of these products are quite high in sodium. Here are a few which are lower in sodium and which you may find acceptable, depending on what level of sodium you include in your diet: LightLife Barbecue Grill, 180 mg per burger; Mud Pie Veggie Burger, 160 mg per burger; SoyBoy Leaner Wiener, 140 mg per dog; SoyBoy Not Dogs, 200 mg per dog; and LightLife Tofu Pups, 140 mg per dog.
Another solution may be to make your own veggie burgers. A number of cookbooks have recipes for burgers based on tofu, tempeh, grains, or beans. You can make a quantity of these without adding salt or soy sauce and freeze them to use as needed.
I do recommend that readers contact food manufacturers stating concerns about the sodium levels in their products. Often companies are quite responsive to consumer comments.
QUESTION: I've read that, in theory, vegans who do not supplement their diet with vitamin B-12 should be coming down with vitamin B-12 deficiency. However, this is not proving to be true except in very rare cases. Is it possible more studies need to be conducted? I have been vegan for four years and specifically do not take B-12 supplements unless I happen to occasionally have tempeh or a sea vegetable. I feel fine. Is what I'm doing wrong?
D.C., IL
ANSWER: The simple answer is that I don't have a good answer for your question. There are many things that affect whether a vegan gets a vitamin B-12 deficiency. Certainly the size of your stores of vitamin B-12 is important. Other factors like variations in your need for vitamin B-12 — possibly depending on your own genetic make-up — may play a part. Your diet affects your vitamin B-12 status in that you may inadvertantly eat some foods which contain animal products and thus some vitamin B-12 you're not aware of.
There is a lot of debate among scientists as to how rare vitamin B-12 deficiency is. Some feel that mild vitamin B-12 deficiency is not uncommon and is not diagnosed because vegans' high intake of folic acid keeps them from getting the anemia, which is typically an early symptom of vitamin B-12 deficiency. There have been very few studies of long-term vegans.
Since we don't know that much about vitamin B-12 deficiency in long-term vegans and since a deficiency can lead to neurological damage, I personally feel that vegans should use fortified foods or vitamin B-12 supplements. Tempeh and sea vegetables are not reliable sources of vitamin B-12.
