Do vegans really need multivitamins?

alligatortears

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I've heard that vegans need supplements for things like b12, but I also heard that multivitamins don't actually work and you can get all you need from a balanced diet? Which is true? As a student I don't want to be wasting money on vitamins if I don't need to...
 
I've heard that vegans need supplements for things like b12, but I also heard that multivitamins don't actually work and you can get all you need from a balanced diet? Which is true? As a student I don't want to be wasting money on vitamins if I don't need to...
The "multivitamins don't work" study only looked at certain vitamins, and B12 was not one of them. I don't think it considered vitamin D either.

Vegans definitely do need a reliable source and sufficient amounts of B12. The best source of this is supplements. I think it might also be possible to get enough B12 from fortified foods, but it requires some planning. (I wouldn't personally recommend relying entirely on fortified foods for B12.)

We also need a source of vitamin D. We can get a lot through exposure to the sun, but only in the summer months when the sun is high in the sky.

Since you're in England, I would really recommend Veg1 which is a "small" multivitamin that contains only the vitamins and minerals that vegans tend to not get enough of in our diet. It's available from the Vegan Society's web shop:
VEG1 Blackcurrant 90's | The Vegan Society
(You might find it elsewhere as well, if you google.)

It's a good idea to consume e.g. fortified plant milks as well, just to be on the safe side.
 
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Which reminded me to phone the quacks for the results of my blood test.

Last time I was fine for Iron but entering the 'no panic' low zone on B12.

This time I'm at the high end for iron and my B12 has risen into the normal range.

No supplements taken in between the tests.

All I'd done was increased my consumption of fruit and dark green leafy vegetables.
 
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I would say its becoming advisable that both omnis and veg*ns supplement with calcium and vitamin D (especially women, gotta watch those bones) as Vitamin D deficiencies are becoming common in both groups now that its being tested for more regularly.
 
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If you go all natural and pick your fruit wild and don't wash off the B12 rich poo before eating it, you're probably good to go. I would otherwise suggest vitamins and, though inefficient for a number of reasons, they are far from useless.

Many vitamins, for example, interfere with the absorbtion of other vitamins. This is a problem with the all inclusive multi vitamin. Many are also fat soluble, and are absorbed less efficiently on a low fat diet. You're still getting something either way though.

Some are indeed much better natural. Vitamin C, for example, is not technically present in fruit. It is synthesized by your body from the nutrients you get from the fruit, and in the quantity your body needs. Vitamin C supplements will work just fine, but since your body isn't in control of the quantity, getting too much can lead to diarrhea, but is otherwise harmless.
 
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And another thing ..

This "do vegans need supplements" is probably a wording we need to stop to using.

Omni-brain will hear it as "even vegans know that we must eat animals products to get our proper nutrition" or something very similar.
That's probably true, unfortunately. Personally, I don't mind using supplements if I have to, but I only supplement with things I know I need- B-12 definitely, and sometimes D. I sometimes take a low-dose (~200-300 mg) calcium supplement after dinner if I haven't had leafy greens for a day or two (it also acts as a mild sedative / sleeping aid).

It's funny how those same people often don't pay attention to the pitfalls of the omni diet. I personally know many more people with cardiovascular disease than with B-12-deficiency-induced problems.
 
When people bring up the "not eating meat is unnatural" arguments, as noted above, I just say washing the **** off your food after you pluck it from the ground is not natural, but adapting to modern realities sometimes calls for deviation from the norm.
 
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There are a few people where I work who are b12 deficient and they eat meat. Two of them got weekly shots.
 
I take Methyl B-12 because I can't absorb B12 from food, and Vitamin D because I'm deficient. I don't take anything else and my labs always come back fine.
 
I believe Ginny Messina and Jack Norris recommend the cyano cobalamine type for anyone who doesn't have an absorption issue, though, which is most people. The reason is that the methyl type is not very shelf stable, so there is a risk the pills won't work. That said, older people have a higher likelihood of developing absorption issues. Eh, it's probably best to research the issue yourselves!
 
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The cyan ones don't do anything for me because of the absorption issue. The methyl ones brought me up from being deficient to the higher end of the range (from under 200 to over 1000).
 
Vitamin C, for example, is not technically present in fruit. It is synthesized by your body from the nutrients you get from the fruit, and in the quantity your body needs. Vitamin C supplements will work just fine, but since your body isn't in control of the quantity, getting too much can lead to diarrhea, but is otherwise harmless.
Humans are one of the few mammals that cannot synthesize vitamin C, we have to consume actual vitamin C and not its precursors. Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin so its easy for your body to eliminate excessive amounts (within reason) in your urine.

I've heard that vegans need supplements for things like b12, but I also heard that multivitamins don't actually work and you can get all you need from a balanced diet? Which is true? As a student I don't want to be wasting money on vitamins if I don't need to...
Vegans can't get all the nutrients they need from a "balanced diet"....they have to supplement with vitamin B12 at the very least. But since B12 is fairly common in elderly people B12 supplements have been well studied.....they work.

Not that many animal based products have significant amounts of vitamin D so everyone is more or less on the same boat in this case. But the most effective vitamin D supplement, namely animal derived D3, isn't vegan. Some people may not respond well to vegan vitamin D supplements.
 
It's funny how those same people often don't pay attention to the pitfalls of the omni diet. I personally know many more people with cardiovascular disease than with B-12-deficiency-induced problems.

In a "if you didn't laugh you'd have to punch someone in the face untill their legs turned into trombones" way ... Yes, it's funny.

In the "may all living beings be free from suffering and it's causes" way you seriously have to wonder if the greater compassion would actualy be to turn more legs into trombones though.
 
When people bring up the "not eating meat is unnatural" arguments, as noted above, I just say washing the **** off your food after you pluck it from the ground is not natural, but adapting to modern realities sometimes calls for deviation from the norm.

Word.

Whilst I firmly believe veganism to be the best diet (on every count) I would never argue with anyone that it is a natural diet.

I'd go as far as saying that veganism is so unnatural that it is only our living so far out of kilter with nature that has made it a diet easily accessible to all.

That makes veganism both an additional benefit of our unnatural lifestyles and a redress to nature for the damage our unnatural lifestyles cause.

That's a win-win.

The omni logic of embracing only the destructive aspects of our unnatural lifestyles and shunning the constructive/redressing benefits is playing, ultimately, for a lose-lose on an apocalyptic scale.

Strangely I never once met an omni who would not tell anyone who will listen that playing for a lose-lose, under any circumstances, is incredibly dumb.
 
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Humans are one of the few mammals that cannot synthesize vitamin C, we have to consume actual vitamin C and not its precursors. Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin so its easy for your body to eliminate excessive amounts (within reason) in your urine.

Interesting, I'm not sure where I originally got my info, because now I can't seem to find it. So now I was prompted to do a bit more research from what you said, and apparently we even have the ability to recycle vitamin C to some degree.
 
So now I was prompted to do a bit more research from what you said, and apparently we even have the ability to recycle vitamin C to some degree.
Some vitamins/minerals get recycled.....I'm not sure about vitamin C. But interesting the body is very good at recycling B12....so well that you can usually go years without consuming it assuming your levels were good to start with. I think that indicates that our ancestors didn't have a significant and consist source of the vitamin....most of it probably came from insects. On the other hand vitamin C was so common in our ancestral diet that we lost the ability to synthesis it.
 
Not that many animal based products have significant amounts of vitamin D so everyone is more or less on the same boat in this case. But the most effective vitamin D supplement, namely animal derived D3, isn't vegan. Some people may not respond well to vegan vitamin D supplements.

in the usa most mushroom farmers now dose their shrooms with uv to stimulate stable production of vitamin D. mushrooms exposed to uv or direct sunlight for 24-48 hrs are fantastic sources of D2.

vegan D3 is available now: Vegan and Vegetarian Vitamin D3 - About Vitashine D3Vitashine D3
the evidence suggesting that D2 is less effective is somewhat questionable with conflicting reports in the literature.
 
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