Overcome Vit D and B12 deficiency - vegetarians

kamalakarjana
kamalakarjana Posts: 2 Member
in Food and Nutrition
How to get rid of Vitamin D and B12 deficiencies by vegetarians(no egg, no mushrooms, no supplements)

Replies

  • AdahPotatah2024
    AdahPotatah2024 Posts: 2,237 Member
    Milk? Fish? If no fish or dairy, I think that supplements would be necessary...I'd consult a professional, though.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,211 Member
    Vitamin D is very, very hard to get from food, even supplemented food. Unless you have a compelling reason to avoid supplements, you're much better to take them, deficiencies can cause serious issues.
  • dvcprincessAK
    dvcprincessAK Posts: 1 Member
    I recommend adding nutritional yeast to dishes and using fortified plant based milk. Once a body is deficient, I think it is important to get supplements. - maybe prescription level, so I agree with the advice to see a doc. I have gone through symptoms caused by deficiencies and I had no idea it could cause so many problems.
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,809 Member
    edited November 2
    Alatariel75 wrote: »
    Vitamin D is very, very hard to get from food, even supplemented food. Unless you have a compelling reason to avoid supplements, you're much better to take them, deficiencies can cause serious issues.

    I'll endorse this one - I've been severely vitamin D deficient twice and I now take a high dose supplement once a week, on doctor's orders, which will hopefully be enough to reach a normal level.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,091 Member
    dvcprincessAK wrote: »
    I recommend adding nutritional yeast to dishes and using fortified plant based milk. Once a body is deficient, I think it is important to get supplements. - maybe prescription level, so I agree with the advice to see a doc. I have gone through symptoms caused by deficiencies and I had no idea it could cause so many problems.

    I agree with you on using supplements if needed and in general getting blood work done to identify an actual deficiency before supplementing, but just wanted to point out that nutritional yeast only has B12 if it has been added to it (supplemented/fortified) -- it's not a natural source of B12.

    OP, if you're going to eschew supplements, with your dietary restrictions the "natural" way to get vitamin D is to be spend more time in the sun (with the potential tradeoff of skin cancer) and go graze your lawn or grow your veggies and don't wash them before eating, especially lettuces and such that come in contact with the soil as they grow (which is how animals get B12, from bacteria in the soil). Personally, I'd prefer supplements to increased risk of skin cancer and exposure to all kinds of unfriendly bacteria, animal feces, etc.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,176 Member
    I've been vegetarian for 50+ years.

    I agree that you should be tested for deficiencies first, rather than assuming that you have deficiencies.

    If you eat no animal foods at all, the only way to get B-12 is to supplement. That's absolute. (Lynn is correct, if nutritional yeast has B-12, it has had B-12 added to it.)

    That's close to true for D as well. You've ruled out mushrooms, one of the few decent non-animal sources of D, and those are only a good source if grown in particular ways (it's naturally generated, not fortified/added). Other plant foods and dairy (if you eat dairy) only have vitamin D if it's been added to them. Some other foods have also been fortified with D, such as some plant milks. You've said you don't want eggs, but for ovo-veg folks, eggs have some D (in the yolks), but one egg only has about 5% of the daily requirement.

    As Lynn has pointed out, sun exposure has downsides . . . and those of us who live in Northern or often-cloudy areas may not be able to get enough sun exposure to reach adequate vitamin D levels anyway.

    As a complicating factor, there aren't many non-animal sources of the most bioavailable form of Vitamin D in supplement form, D3. It's possible that D2 may be adequate. Personally, since I do consume some animal-source foods (as an ovo-lacto veg), and because I need to supplement D3 (per doctor's order), I am willing to take a liquid supplement derived from lanolin. YMMV.

    For more information, see https://veganhealth.org/ , a generally sound, science-based source of nutritional information for vegans that is also helpful for vegetarians.

    There are good reasons to be vegetarian or vegan, but IMO we need to be real about nutritional complications that that entails. IMO your goal of getting rid of vitamin D & B12 deficiencies with "no egg, no mushrooms, no supplements" isn't realistic, with the possible exception of the "more sun" option for D.
  • ranmalih
    ranmalih Posts: 63 Member
    When you have sufficient levels, you can maintain fairly well with diet and sunshine. But if you're deficient, it's very difficult to improve levels without supplementation. As others have recommended, see your doctor first and make sure this is something you actually need, then take their advice as to what next.
  • SweatLikeDog
    SweatLikeDog Posts: 318 Member
    No supplements, no results. They make vegan supplements.

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