Potential Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency Risks on a Vegan Diet

"Potential Vitamin and Mineral
Deficiency Risks on a Vegan Diet" The "Vegan Diet as a Neglected
Cause of Psychosis" A tragic story of a 47-year-old woman
with a 5-year history of psychosis, treated with antipsychotics,
years of hallucinations. Finally her mother revealed
that the patient was following a strict vegan diet for 7 years
and was not supplementing with vitamin B12. They started giving her B12
supplements and eventually her psychiatric symptoms went away.
But she spent 5 years of her life in a psychotic haze
because she wasn't getting a regular reliable source
of vitamin B12. B12 supplements, or sufficient
intake of B12-fortified foods, is mandatory for vegans — and
effective, but only if you do it. Like in the largest study of vegans
in history, the Adventist-2 study, the prevalence of low vitamin
B-12 status was the same between vegans, vegetarians,
and meat-eaters.

Why? Presumably because they were eating fortified
foods and supplements. The researchers concluded the
encouragement of vitamin B-12 supplementation cannot
be overemphasized. Vitamins B12 and D are the only
two vitamins not made by plants. B12 is made by microbes, and
vitamin D is made by animals — such as ourselves when we walk
outside; it's the sunshine vitamin. Some other nutrients are
only found concentrated in certain plants though. You can become deficient
if you don't eat them. For example, this case
of a 10-year-old girl with night blindness.
She couldn't see well at night. Vitamin A deficiency was
the doctor's first thought, but the kid was vegetarian
and so getting whopping doses of beta carotene in all
the vegetables she ate, which your body turns
into vitamin A. Almost as an afterthought as
they were leaving the office, the doctor just asked the mother, "I assume she is getting
plenty of vegetables, right?" But no, she does not like vegetables
and only eats like, I don't know, Ritz
crackers or something.

So with something like vitamin A,
it's easy getting enough eating greens or any of the orange
fruits and vegetables like mangos, sweet potatoes, carrots,
or cantaloupe, but you actually have to
eat fruits and vegetables. A vegan living off a diet
of fast food is at a greater risk for vitamin A deficiency than
a meat eater living on fast food because at least the cow ate
some greens and passed it along.

Iodine is a similar situation. Cow's milk is a primary source of
dietary iodine in the United States, not because cows somehow synthesize
iodine or any other element. Iodine in milk comes from the leaching
of iodine-containing disinfectants used to clean contaminated udders
and milking equipment into the milk, or from supplements fed to cattle. Regardless, those not drinking
milk or eating seaweed — which is even a better source — may be at increased risk
for iodine deficiency. A study of vegans in the UK
suggested as many as 90% aren't getting enough
in their diet, though this is likely
an overestimate since their food frequency
questionnaire didn't include seaweed or iodized salt, two of
the ways some may be getting it. Are there reports of it
actually causing problems? Yes, indeed: "Veganism as a cause of
iodine deficient hypothyroidism" A 23-month-old boy, breastfed
until 16 months of age, then weaned on a strictly plant-based
diet without iodized salt. Mom was fine, presumably because
of the iodine in her prenatal vitamins that she continued to take, which
spilled over into her breastmilk. The American Thyroid Association
is very clear about recommending that pregnant and breastfeeding
women take a prenatal with 150 micrograms
of iodine a day.

Most kids in the U.S. transition
from breast milk to cow's milk, but those who don't need to get
their iodine from somewhere. Thankfully after an iodine-containing
multivitamin, his deficiency cleared. That's one way, taking
supplements like the cows do, but sea vegetables are the
healthiest source of iodine. A half teaspoon of mild
seaweeds like arame or dulse should get you all the iodine
you need for the day. You can just have a shaker of
dulse flakes at the kitchen table, or two nori sheets of seaweed. That's my favorite method because
you can just eat them like a snack — in fact probably the healthiest
snack since you're snacking on dark green leafy vegetables.

There was also a recent report
of severe iron-deficiency anemia attributed to a plant-based
diet and menorrhagia, which means excess blood
loss during menstruation. A 21-year-old woman presented with
reduced vision in one of her eyes because a vein clotted off,
which can happen when you get really anemic. Thankfully her vision resolved
after taking iron supplements. Now according to the
American Dietetic Association, the incidence of iron-deficiency
anemia among vegetarians is no worse than
that of nonvegetarians, so it may just have been her
excess monthly blood loss. But a more recent review
questioned the official position that iron deficiency anemia appears
no more prevalent among vegetarian women than
among nonvegetarian women. The updated review claimed
to find four studies where this wasn't the case, where vegetarians had
significantly higher rates. Yet, here's the four studies — and as always, I'll put links
to them in the sources cited section beneath this video
on NutritionFacts.org so you can read them yourself, like I do for every study
I cite in my videos — and not a single one
backed up that statement.

But just because vegetarians
don't have worse anemia rates than nonvegetarians, that's not
saying much since up to 1 in 20 menstruating women suffer
from iron-deficiency anemia across the board. Having lower iron stores
is actually advantageous — as I've done videos about — yet another reason to consume
more plants and less meat. But if your blood count
is dropping, if your hemoglobin is getting too low, then you
can enhance iron absorption by eating vitamin C rich foods with your meals, so fresh fruit,
bell peppers, broccoli, etc. And since especially tea,
but also coffee, can inhibit iron absorption, you
shouldn't drink them with meals..

Video Transcript – As found on YouTube

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