Vegan nutrition: a preliminary guide for health professionals

Abstract

Since the beginning of the 21st century, interest in vegan diets has been rapidly increasing in most countries. Misconceptions about vegan diets are widespread among the general population and health professionals. Vegan diets can be health-promoting and may offer certain important advantages compared to typical Western (and other mainstream) eating patterns. However, adequate dietary sources/supplements of nutrients of focus specific to vegan diets should be identified and communicated. Without supplements/fortified foods, severe vitamin B12 deficiency may occur. Other potential nutrients of focus are calcium, vitamin D, iodine, omega-3 fatty acids, iron, zinc, selenium, vitamin A, and protein. Ensuring adequate nutrient status is particularly important during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, and childhood. Health professionals are often expected to be able to provide advice on the topic of vegan nutrition, but a precise and practical vegan nutrition guide for health professionals is lacking. Consequently, it is important and urgent to provide such a set of dietary recommendations. It is the aim of this article to provide vegan nutrition guidelines, based on current evidence, which can easily be communicated to vegan patients/clients, with the goal of ensuring adequate nutrient status in vegans.

Keywords:

• Veganism
• plant-based diet
• vegetarian diet
• nutrient deficiencies
• preventive medicine
• cobalamin
• strict vegetarian

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the pioneering scientists in the field of vegan nutrition, including Frey Ellis, Thomas Sanders, Stephen Walsh, Vesanto Melina, Brenda Davis, Reed Mangels, Virginia Messina, Jack Norris, and Eric Slywitch (among others), who have provided nutrient recommendations for vegans over the decades.

Disclosure statement

The authors report that there are no competing interests to declare.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was received for writing this article.