The 7 Best Vitamin B12 Supplements Reviewed
If you are struggling with fatigue, low energy, or lack of focus, you may need extra vitamin B12. People on a vegan or vegetarian diet may have lower levels of this important vitamin in their system or those who aren’t eating a healthy diet. Have no fear. With the right supplement, you can boost your vitamin B12 intake and start getting your life back.
Why do you need vitamin B12? Because it helps to form red blood cells! Moreover, this important vitamin can help support bone health, protect your eyes, improve mood, reduce depression, prevent the loss of brain neurons, improve your heart, and even help maintain healthy hair, skin, and nails. That’s a whole lot of good from a single vitamin!
The good news is upping your intake only requires a single supplement, and it comes in multiple forms to make your life easier. We also want to make your life easier, which is why we found the best vitamin B12 supplements available without you having to spend hours researching. We also avoided any active or inactive ingredients that can cause problems such as mannitol, sorbitol, xylitol, cyanocobalamin, fructose, or food dyes.
We did all the work, and you get all the benefits! Take a look at the seven best supplements, then stay on after to read about the benefits, side effects, and get some answers to your questions.
The Best Vitamin B12 Supplements
Here are our choices for some of the best vitamin B12 supplements on the market today and why we love them:
1. Organic Spirulina Supplement by Micro Ingredients
Nature made the perfect multivitamin and then stuck it the sea. What makes it so wonderful? Its a massive source of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids as well as copper, iron, manganese, magnesium, and potassium. It’s also high in riboflavin, thiamin, niacin, and pantothenic acid. What you really want to know is it’s also high in vitamin B12 with 7 mcg or 290 percent of your daily value. The algae also has smaller amounts of many other vitamins and minerals as well, making it a powerhouse of health.
The tablets in this sealable bag are also organic, non-GMO, and vegan friendly. Get your fiber, amino acids, fatty acids, minerals, phytonutrients, and even your antioxidant without taking a ton of separate supplements. A single bag offers 720 tablets and lasts for four months. You do need to take six tablets daily to get all the nutrients, but this allows you to customize your dosage, making it an even better value.
Furthermore, the supplement is made right here in the USA and is tested for purity and safety. It’s just spirulina, so you don’t have to worry about sugar, soy, dairy, yeast, or gluten. You can gain all the benefits of 3,000 mg of spirulina to boost your energy, detox from heavy metals, fight cancer, lower blood pressure, reduce cholesterol, protect your brain, and even alleviate sinus issues!
2. MegaFood Certified Organic B12 Energy Ginger Gummies
The two active ingredients include 24 mcg (microgram) of vitamin B12, which is one of the smallest doses available and still more than you need. Ginger is the second active ingredient, and it’s organic! The short list of inactive ingredients includes all organic tapioca syrup, cane sugar, pectin, citric acid, sodium citrate, beetroot powder, sunflower oil, and carnauba wax.
What you don’t get is GMOs, herbicides, pesticides, gluten, dairy, or soy. It’s real food made with a real purpose. For example, ginger can fight nausea, fungal infections, stomach ulcers, cancer growth, blood sugar, joint pain, cholesterol, and a whole host of other issues. Together these two active ingredients go together like peanut butter and jelly to make your life better.
Simply take two gummies a day either with or without food and start enjoying all of the benefits from a holistic brand ready to invigorate your life with organic ingredients. It also comes in cranberry by the same brand if you don’t love ginger and need a sweet fruit to get the job done.
3. Organic Vitamin B12 (Methyl) Liquid Sublingual Spray by MaryRuth’s
With this supplement, you get a single active ingredient – vitamin B12 – with 3,000 mcg or 50,000 percent of your daily value. However, as the brand suggests, you use four sprays daily, you can choose your dosage and opt for one spray at 12,500 mcg instead. You can choose your own dose, making this an amazing value!
The inactive ingredients include all organic, vegan, and non-GMO ingredients such as vegetable glycerin, natural berry flavor, citric acid, and potassium sorbate. Although this has a healthy dose of purified water too. No need to worry about wheat, yeast, soy, sugar, or nightshades either! Finally, the product is made by a small business trying to bring big health benefits to your home.
4. Superior Source No Shot Vitamin B12
The micro-lingual vitamin melts or dissolves instantly with no pills or shots. Just place a tablet under your tongue for max absorption and benefit for your body with the most active version of B12 available. Next, you get 1,000 mcg of methylcobalamin or 16,670 percent of your daily value from a single tablet. The only inactive ingredients include lactose from milk and acacia gum. However, you should not choose this option if you are allergic to dairy products.
Furthermore, a single bottle contains a two month supply of instant dissolving tablets. No fillers or other inactive ingredients bog the pills down. Instead, you get a quality supplement from a family-owned facility with high purity standards. Also, the pills have no taste except for a slight sweetness making them edible for those who don’t like mint, berry, or ginger.
5. Pure Encapsulations – Methylcobalamin
Boost your cognitive, memory, and emotional health too with pure ingredients in easy to swallow capsules. A single bottle contains 180 capsules or a six month supply making the price much easier to digest just like the vitamin itself! All this from a well-known quality brand determined to assist you in finding your healthiest self.
With this supplement, you get 1,000 mcg (micrograms) of vitamin B12, which translates to 41,667 percent of the vitamin B12 you need per day. There are only two inactive ingredients, including hypoallergenic plant fiber and the vegetarian capsules made of cellulose. Mind you, the supplement has a natural red color, which can make the pills a variety of colors from off-white to light pink. Finally, the pills are completely free of allergens, gluten, and GMOs.
6. Vital Nutrients – Vitamin B12 / Methyl Folate
With 1,000 mcg of vitamin B12 and 1360 mcg of Folate, you get a comprehensive supplement ready to get your body making energy and supporting other functions as well. The only inactive ingredients include cellulose, vegetable cellulose capsules, rice powder, and ascorbyl palmitate. All of which are safe and healthy ways to help deliver the B vitamins.
All the ingredients are 100 percent tested in an FDA approved facility. You don’t have to worry about binders, coatings, gluten, dairy, soy, egg, or sugar. Take one vegetarian capsule per day. Lastly, a single bottle includes 100 capsules for just over a three month supply making the price exceptional, especially since the company ensures the highest quality of their products.
7. Garden of Life B12 Vitamin
With this complex, you don’t just get vitamin B12 but also a whole host of organic foods to help improve your health and gain all the benefits without sitting down to a full meal or having to cook. Not that this spray replaces food, it’s about getting the nutrients. One spray once a day is all an adult needs. However, you need to keep it refrigerated and use it in 90 days.
Each spray provides 500 mcg of vitamin B12, which is over 20,000 times your needed value. Also, it includes an organic food blend full of too many vegetables and fruits to list! As for inactive ingredients, you get water, glycerin, apple juice, raspberry flavor, mandarin peel flavor, lemon juice, citrus extract, stevia, and rice. All of these are organic too!
Furthermore, the supplement isn’t just organic but also free of GMO and gluten. It’s also kosher and vegan. A single bottle lasts for over four months, making it a great option for couples who both want to get more B12 as you can only keep it in the fridge for a month. Start making more red blood cells now and improve your health.
Buying Guide for Vitamin B12 Supplements
Vitamin B12 has a massive impact on your health, but there are a few things you should know before making a purchase to help you make the best choice available. Get some answers to your pertinent questions too.
Ingredients
Your body does not naturally make vitamin B12, which means you need to get it from food or supplemental sources. What’s crazy is you need this vitamin to form red blood cells, that help to create hemoglobin and carry oxygen from the lungs to the rest of your body.
That being said, there are two forms of receiving this important vitamin, including a synthetic and natural form of the nutrient. The two sources are almost identical. However, the synthetic form contains a cyanide molecule and should be avoided. When picking a supplement, always pick the natural form methylcobalamin instead of cyanocobalamin.
For this list, we avoided ingredients that can cause discomfort like mannitol – a sweet sugar alcohol that can cause gastrointestinal discomfort – and many other ingredients that do not contribute to your well-being.
Benefits
Vitamin B12 offers so many benefits it might blow your mind! First, the vitamin helps to maintain your energy levels and boosts your metabolism by converting carbohydrates into useable glucose in the body. This is why a deficiency can cause fatigue. In turn, the extra energy will help your body work better and even help with weight loss!
Next, the vitamin can help prevent memory loss by reducing neurodegenerative disease. It can help to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia! Moreover, it can boost your mood by helping your nervous system to work properly. You can say goodbye to depression, mood disorders, and anxiety, as vitamin B12 is crucial for neurological function.
Also, this vitamin helps with your heart health by reducing homocysteine levels. You also get benefits for your hair, skin, and nails, thanks to cell reproduction. It can help to reduce redness, dryness, inflammation, acne, psoriasis, and even eczema.
Vitamin B12 helps to aid in digestion by increasing enzyme production. This vitamin helps to metabolize and breakdown the food you eat and helps to foster healthy bacteria, which can help to prevent digestive disorders. Lastly, it can also prevent cancer.
Dosage
You can take vitamin B12 in multiple methods, including tablets, drops, oral spray, gel, or even as an injection. While vitamin B12 is extremely necessary, you do not need massive doses of the substance. Adults and teens over the age of 4 only need 2.4 micrograms. Pregnant and nursing moms need 2.8 micrograms.
Questions About Vitamin B12 Supplements
What foods contain vitamin B12?
Quite a few foods naturally contain vitamin B12, but most of them are foods vegans, and vegetarians won’t eat. Individuals who don’t eat a healthy diet or even a common western diet may also be lacking in this vitamin too. You can find the vitamin in meats like animal livers or kidneys, clams, sardines, beef, tuna, trout, and salmon.
Other food sources of vitamin B12 include eggs, milk and dairy products, and non-dairy milk like soy. You can also buy some fortified sources of B12 like fortified yeast like cereals and breads. Sea algae can even provide massive doses of the vitamin. If these foods already make it on your list daily, you may be all set! If not, consider adding this essential vitamin to your supplemental list.
Can taking too much vitamin B12 cause problems?
Because vitamin B12 is a water-soluble vitamin, even high doses are considered safe. It has low levels of toxicity because your body will excrete whatever excess it doesn’t use through urine. However, there are a few negative side effects associated with excessive intake such as acne, rosacea,
What are the symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency?
Lacking vitamin B12 can have a massive impact on your health and mind. Not only can a deficiency cause extreme fatigue and a lack of energy, but it can also decrease appetite, cause faintness, headaches, ringing in ears, out of breath feeling, confusion, paranoia, and even yellow skin. You may even experience a lack of focus, dental problems, and even joint pain.
Moreover, you may notice difficulty walking (as in balance problems), cognitive difficulties, and muscle weakness. Some people even experience depression, dementia, and poor memory. As you can tell, you need vitamin B12.
For more information about vitamin B12 deficiency, watch this video:
Conclusion
For those who still cannot decide which supplement to pick, we suggest the MegaFood Certified Organic B12 Energy Ginger Gummies because they are easy to take and come with a wonderful amount of B12 without going overboard. All this and you get a yummy ginger taste with all the benefits of ginger too. Get the energy you need and start enjoying life again.