A university student who was concerned about the environment killed herself while suffering “delusional beliefs” caused by a B12 deficiency “as a direct result” of her vegan diet, a coroner has found.
Georgina Owen, 21, had followed a vegan diet from 2016 “stemming from her environmental concerns”, an inquest heard.
In August 2019, the family of the “very bright and able” geography student at Swansea University noted that she had not been taking her vitamin B12 supplements for at least six months, the coroner was told.
Owen said she had “forgotten” to take them, but said she had bought an “organic” B12 oral spray supplement from Canada, the dosage of which would be one microgram once per day. Adults need about 1.5 micrograms of vitamin B12 per day, according to the NHS, which can be found in meat, fish, milk and eggs.
It is not found naturally in foods such as fruits, vegetables and grains, and the NHS recommends vegans take a supplement. Vitamin B12 deficiency can lead to a range of symptoms including headaches, feeling weak or tired, and problems with memory, understanding and judgment.
It can also cause symptoms that affect the brain and nervous system including psychological problems, which can range from mild depression or anxiety, to confusion and dementia. Symptoms develop gradually but can worsen if the condition goes untreated.
Elizabeth Gray, the coroner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, said: “Miss Owen’s family report that Miss Owen had demonstrated unusual erratic behaviour in the period leading up to her death, and they provided diaries written by Miss Owen which they suggest demonstrates her erratic behaviour and a deterioration in her mental health in the immediate period before her death.
“Miss Owen’s family reported that in the recent period before her death she had been dwelling on the state of the world and her place in it; Miss Owen was meditating frequently, and that she had reported to her family a recent meditation event where she had experienced an out of body experience which she had found to be very distressing.”
The family arranged for her to seek psychological support for what they and Owen, of Saffron Walden, Essex, recognised at the time as anxiety, the coroner added. She had been due to return to university in Swansea on September 19, 2019, having been driven there by her mother, and she had made plans to go surfing over the weekend, the inquest at Huntingdon coroner’s court found.
But later that same day Owen was found unresponsive at her home address. Medics managed to resuscitate her with CPR and she was transported to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, but she died two days later from brain damage.
Gray said: “Miss Owen had followed a vegan diet from 2016 stemming from her environmental concerns. Investigations were carried out to determine whether Owen may have had a vitamin B12 deficiency as a result of her vegan diet and whether, if that was the case, a vitamin B12 deficiency could have caused her to have psychiatric manifestations in the period before her death.”
Owen’s blood tests, analysed by three experts, were found to be “consistent with vitamin B12 deficiency and that this likely resulted from Miss Owen’s vegan diet of around three years’ duration”, the coroner added.
Owen had left a final note which was found with her which provided evidence of a possible mental illness, the coroner said.
An expert report “concludes that Miss Owen’s vague signs of cognitive impairment, anxiety, difficulty with simple decision making and fatigue as described by her family in the period before her death suggest a gradually developing psychiatric disorder culminating in the delusional beliefs expressed in Miss Owen’s final letter”, the coroner said.
Gray concluded that: “Miss Owen died from a self inflicted ligature to her neck whilst on the balance of probabilities suffering delusional beliefs brought about by a vitamin B12 deficiency developed as a direct result of her vegan diet.”
Swansea University described Owen as: “A student who was vibrant, full of enthusiasm, passionate and well-liked by her peers and lecturers. Miss Owen was described as a very bright and able student who was eager to learn and popular within the university community.”
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