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Going vegan having negative long term nutrition consequences?

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  • senecarr
    senecarr Posts: 5,377 Member
    lithezebra wrote: »
    TheCrawlingChaos wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    senecarr wrote: »
    Vitamin K2 is the storage form found in animals. Luckily, you are an animal. You should be capable of converting K1 to K2 as needed.

    My last understanding is that to date, there is no actual RDA for Vitamin K - it appears that most healthy humans have enough produced by bacteria in their gut.

    This...

    Also OP, there are plenty of vegan sources of dietary fat to aid in absorption of fat soluble vitamins. I would think the biggest issue would be B-12 and omega 3 if one weren't supplementing.

    You are absolutely correct.

    B12 supplementation (or consumption of fortified foods) is essential for vegans.

    The science on omega-3 and how efficiently our bodies can convert other fats into omega-3 is still kind of unclear (and studies of omega-3 levels in vegans are still kind of confusing, at least to me). I personally have chosen to supplement with a vegan DHA based on recommendations from veganhealth.org (a science-based site run by a vegan RD).

    You can definitely get omega 3 from a lot of vegan sources, such as nuts, seeds, and beans, but if I'm not mistaken they are usually high in omega 6 as well , which messed with omega 3 in some way. I make sure to get foods with omega 3 in my diet, but I also take a supplement to fill that gap that may be there because of the omega 6.

    The problem with omega-3 from plant sources is that it is in the form of omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), not EPA and DHA, the forms thought to be most beneficial for human health. We don't convert ALA to EPA and DHA very well. Cows, fish, krill and various animals can do it because of their gut microbiota, which is why certain animal source foods are considered to be the best sources for omega-3 fats.

    Depends on the plant. My understanding was that fish oil DHA comes from algae, not gut bacteria activity. Farmed fish fed flax don't tend to have high EPA and DHA levels is my recollection. That is why there is an attempt to grow a cousin of flax that is genetically modified to produce those omega-3's to feed it to farmed fish.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    This (and similar things I've read) suggests that algae is an adequate source of omega-3s: http://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-algae
  • lithezebra
    lithezebra Posts: 3,670 Member
    As long as you're getting that from reliable sources, not from companies that sell algae derived EPA and DHA. I didn't find much information on it on Google Scholar, but didn't search extensively. I'm all for GM flax that either makes farmed fish more nutritious, or provides EPA and DHA directly.
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