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General Comments
The traditional basis of all natural healing is to REMOVE THE CAUSE. Sounds easy, but first of all you have to find it. For instance, mercury poisoning from amalgam could give similar symptoms to low B12, as could a severe detoxing on fruit/raw foods, with toxins released into blood from habits of living, etc. One can try and treat these all in the same manner or make further efforts to identify the cause. There are various opinions as to the preferred approach, but in the Healing/Complementary Health/Medicine fraternity, it is usual to try and put a name to the condition, which provides a means for locating cause(s).

With the concentration, especially in the developed countries, for supermarket shopping with attendant attention to 'cleanliness' of our fruit and vegetables, there is now a much greater chance that the B12 soil borne bacteria will not be present in our food purchases. Mostly, purchased organic foods are also well washed now in Australia. Farm door produce is more likely to include soil.

B12 Assessment
The following comments relate to people who have the power of assimilation still available, where the 'intrinsic factor' is not an issue with the incumbent need for B12 injections.

The available methods of B12 level identification may vary dependant on which country you are in, but a serum blood level test will be possible. Urine sample testing for high MMA (methylmelomine acid) levels and also an HC-(Homocysteine) test are possible in some places. (See Reference 1 for information and links.) The published serum B12 level for Australian subjects is 200pg/mL, values below this are thought to reflect borderline 'B12 deficiency' assessments. Vegan community levels are generally lower than for others, and levels of around 120pg/mL are considered acceptable for vegans with around 100 having been stated as a 'No Symptom level' by some long term vegans. (References 2 and 3 have sample data from vegan/vegetarian subjects, mostly in UK and USA.)

Stress and Marginal B12 Status
Numerical values and medical assessments are one thing, our continued good health has a greater meaning. From what I have read, there is so far no published data on the effects of too much B12!

Thus, being at the lowest margins is not necessarily the best place to be. B-group vitamins are known to be utilised in increased quantities during times of stress. My own opinion based on observation and circumstance is that the greater the 'buffer' we can provide between a strong usual constitution and the ravages of a low B12 deficiency the happier we will be. Particularly, I believe that high stress situations are an additional cause of potential imbalance when B12 levels are marginal.

Another vegan friend hereabouts considered 175 too low and is going to take supplements. Most other vegans I have talked to are not high raw food eaters and a majority take supplements.

Reliable Sources of B12.
There are a few options, however, being 100% raw food and vegan limits the known methods somewhat.

There are many statements and general comments regarding sources of B12. For instance B12 can be found in the air, water and soil. This is true but inadequate information for someone who has identified a deficiency and is looking to correct it. The choice for a raw food vegan emphasis rather than just a vegan only emphasis, makes a difference to what one will wish to eat. The comments regarding recommended daily intake, absorption, assimilation, recycling in the human body and analogue blocking etc provide interesting reading. Our personal relationship to these factors however can only be measured through our own experience. A literature review leads to 3 main sources and possibly more.

A.  Undisputed
   1. Vitamin B12 Supplements in tablet form
   2. Vitamin B12 injections
   3. Yeast Red Star T6635
These three items above are self explanatory. Most people will have access to a health professional, health food shop or chemist where these Reliable Sources can be purchased. There is plenty of information on the Web as well as from fellows having a vegan dietary. Manufacturers include the pharmaceutical, vitamin/mineral and herbal manufacturing industries. The yeasts I have only read about, and may not necessarily be classified as a 'food'. See Reference 5 for typical data.

B.  Successful for some People
   1. Blue-Green Algae
There is conflicting information regarding the effectiveness of blue-green algae. I have discussed the use of an 'Hawaiin" brand with a person in UK whose B12 has increased over a period of time due to the use of that particular product. The symptoms of low B12 have also abated.
   2. Food - Purchased and Home Prepared
From experience and discussions with friends, the following advice is offered.
Try 300ml of green juice and something fermented; sauerkraut, seed sauces, hommous etc. (Not TOO fermented!) If you need it you will feel like eating it. If you don't need it you won't feel like eating it. Just try it a few times. This advice maybe suffers from the lack of means of determining the correct amount of fermentation, for example if it has not been demonstrated or if inadequately described. ( As here for instance.)
Parsley, compfrey, sunflower and beetroot juiced or eaten is a good idea.
Seaweed, but again only if it satisfies you.
Mushrooms. These could be considered as a fruit of the plant, if one wants to stretch their fruitarian charter widely! Their proximity to soil and micro organisms provides a good chance for some B12.
   3. Food - Growing our Own
Growing our own food in soils tested for B12 is a sure way. Greens, sprouts and fruiting vegetables for the Fruitarians. Recycling our own waste and then soil testing would be a useful research project for anyone. A serious scientific testing program is needed to relate soil condition and foods grown thereon.

Re-alimentation
The rational as I see it, is to do our best with the food sources we can make available to us and be aware of B12 symptoms. I personally have had success re-alimenting and increasing my B12 with a combination of all of the above food, with the addition though of tempeh, eaten raw, but actually a cooked soy bean product. However my stress situation at the time was resolving itself and so this positive effect on digestion should have seen a concurrent improvement. At this time I also had some soy yoghurt to ensure stomach flora was adequate. (Acidopholous bacteria is also available separately.) Thus it cannot be truly stated to have been a change totally due to a raw food path. I initially had a strong desire for all of the foods listed above, but particularly mushrooms, parsley, spinach and yoghurt. I did not have access to Dulse at the time. On a second occasion of low B12 symptoms, just prior to having the B12 injection, I discovered the Dulse, and found it immediately satisfying.

First of all though I believe it is a worthwhile idea to find out the cause of the dilemma.

Questions thus arise about just how natural the 'Natural raw food diet' is. Perhaps not as natural as much of the literature and many of it's proponents lead one to believe. Tom Billings articles (Reference 4.) has some very practical comments which fly in the face of other more upbeat raw food vegan images that are often presented. When we get there, the choices can appear somewhat limited. Perhaps more so for the Fruitarian than the raw food eater who is likely to get closer to the soil with food choices.

Vegan Views
Another viewpoint is to examine our own vegan philosophy. The vegan arguments for animal welfare often spring from the wide spread misuse and lack of compassion and identity of animal rights. There is certainly though, and I haven't done so, an argument that eating road accident animals for instance is not in conflict with a compassionate view. Where this leads one's own spirituality and philosophy is into previously little documented debate though. These are personal decisions. If you know someone who has a kindly disposition to a goat or even a cow on a farm, and she is lactating naturally and not part of some more sinister network of animal abuse, it could be that harm is not being done to the animal. Those traditional ways which have been so distorted recently, actually have a great deal of empathy and logic to them in considering our relationship of helping each other as animals/humans together. Especially if one is low on B12! Perhaps a swap of some sort for the animal's welfare may be a worthy exchange.

Subjective Comments
I think I would rather take supplements than harm other animals, however I have not taken any yet. B12 Injections once previously - yes- as stated in the previous B12 artcile (listed here). Unfortunately I did not test how high my B12 went after injections. I just wanted to feel comfortable as a person and not be some science test case, but of course with hindsight I can see this information would have been useful. Currently I am back to about 136pg/mL. I have been using the Dulse from Grand Manaan Island, (Reference 6), for about 2 years now. This has test results for B12 which I imagine must vary somewhat but is reliable to some degree, in my opinion. It has however become more expensive recently and now I am sourcing locally here in Australia a float leaf which as yet has not been assayed for B12.

In a way, we are pioneers of subjective data. A whole host of scientific tests on various foods and the location and soil nutrient they are grown in are essential areas of investigation for the raw food community. Of course cobalt is needed for Cobalamin, and soil tests must reflect this element.

I have read that clay soils are likely to contain cobalt, but have not seen the evidence. Cobalt does not appear on food element charts that I have seen and thus even if the body makes and can absorb B12, if raw material is not available from a known source, it becomes hit and miss, therefore unreliable.

As for Fruitarian Veganism, I don't have any answers regarding additional methods or particular food choices which would assist in this regard. Perhaps farting in bed to assist with airborne B12, maybe urine therapy to assist with water borne bacteria and lots of ground falls for soil based fruit eating.

References:
   1. Norman Clinical Lab web site at www.b12.com
   2. The Dietitian's Guide to Vegetarian Diets by Messina and Messina An Aspen Publication
   3. Vegan Nutrition by Gill Langley Published by The Vegan Society
   4. Overcoming or Avoiding problems on a Raw or Living Foods Diet - Tom Billings www.livingandrawfoods.com - A number of other 'Articles' also.
   5 Vitamin B12 in the Vegan Diet - by Reed Mangels - Vegetarian Resource Group at www.vrg.org
   6 .Roland's Sea Vegetables Grand Manaan Island - email seaveggies@yahoo.com