From thestar.com
New vegetarians and vegans often cut meat out of their diet without replacing their missing nutrients, dietitians say — leading to deficiencies
Have you decided to cut meat out of your diet only to feel tired, light-headed and extra sore after work outs?
People who stick with vegetarianism, veganism or other restrictive diets can sometimes find themselves lacking in vital nutrients from essential amino acids to vitamins mainly found in meat, often as a result of poor planning or overreliance on processed foods, nutritionists tell the Star.
“The most common mistake is just not thinking about the things that need to be replaced when we eliminate animal products,” said Maude Morin, a registered dietitian with Toronto-based practice JM Nutrition.
“It’s not the mindset of, ‘I’m going to be following a healthy, balanced, plant based diet’ — the logic that I see quite a lot is ‘I’m just not going to eat meat.’ We haven’t substituted what we need, and what we were getting before we’ve undergone a transition.”
Here are the most common nutrients veggie-based diets are lacking — and how we can make up for them.
Proteins and essential amino acids
It may seem obvious, but the most common and “overarching” nutrient missing from vegetarian and vegan diets is protein, explained Trista Chan, a registered dietitian and founder of the Good Life Dietitian in Toronto.
“These are essential macronutrients that can present over time as muscle wasting, lowered immunity, maybe feeling less satiated or full after meals,” Chan said. But while proteins are often associated with animal products like chicken breast or red meat, it’s possible to get all we need from plant sources as well.
Proteins are made up of 20 “building blocks” known as amino acids, nine of which are “essential” — meaning we cannot make them within our own bodies and must get them from external sources, according to Morin. While meat, eggs and dairy contain high levels of all nine of these nutrients, plant-based protein sources are usually lacking in at least one of them.
For example, studies show legumes have low levels of methionine and cysteine, while cereals have limited lysine and tryptophan. As a result, vegetarians and especially vegans must eat a wider variety of items and “be cognizant of the variety of proteins that we’re consuming so that we can get a diversity of amino acids and make sure that we’re meeting our needs,” Morin explained.
Plant-based proteins are also harder for our bodies to absorb, meaning we need to consume more of them each day, Morin continued. For vegetarians and vegans, studies recommend eating around one gram of protein per kilogram of body weight per day.
The nutritionists say great plant-based sources of protein include: legumes like beans and lentils; nutritional yeast; wild grains like barley and spelt; nuts and seeds like almonds and pumpkin seeds; and especially soy products like tofu, one of the few plant products known to contain all nine essential amino acids, Morin explained.
Iron deficiencies
Next up is iron, a vital component in our blood needed to ferry oxygen throughout the body, according to nutrition coach Kyle Byron of Toronto’s Kyle Byron Nutrition.
”(Iron deficiency) is such a bad thing to have, like, your energy levels are just low all the time. Your immune system is not great,” he said. “Because iron carries oxygen around our bodies — and yeah, we kind of need that.”
People who menstruate are especially vulnerable to this deficiency as they’re subject to regular blood loss; “their iron levels are just completely getting depleted every single month,” Byron continued.
“Iron is predominantly found in red meat,” he said. ” … To truly get enough iron, we need to eat animal products or take an iron supplement.”
That’s because, despite vegetables like spinach seemingly being packed with iron, it’s far more difficult for the body to absorb the metal from plants than meat products, Morin noted — “It’s about around 50 per cent less absorption, which means that when we’re plant based, our iron intake (needs to be) almost double.”
The previous protein-laden plant-based foods also come packed with iron, but because our bodies are so much worse at absorbing this nutrient, supplements are often recommended, the experts say. Other iron-rich options include spinach, kale and collard greens, as well as cereal-based products fortified with iron like Quaker oatmeal, Morin added.
Vitamin B12
For Chan, “Vitamin B 12 is the most common deficiency I see,” especially among practicing vegans. The nutrient is naturally found in nearly all animal products like meat, dairy and eggs, but is missing from most plant-based products.
A deficiency commonly presents “in the form of fatigue or tingling in the extremities,” Chan continued. Like iron deficiency, not having enough B12 can also lead to anaemia, where the body doesn’t have enough healthy red blood cells.
“It’s definitely one of those things you learn in veganism 101. (Vegans) usually will be taking a supplement for vitamin B12,” Morin explained. “If we’re going into a plant based diet without doing any reading or research, it’s definitely something that I see a lot of people not taking.”
Vegetarians can get their B12 from dairy products and eggs, but vegans usually must rely on supplements and foods with added B12. It’s also found in nutritional yeast, dried Japanese seaweed known as nori, and certain mushrooms like shiitake, the dietitians say.
Omega-3 fatty acids
Omega-3 fatty acids are another example, the most active form of which is found in fish and seafood, Chan explained. “It is another common deficiency that’s strongly involved in maintaining hair, skin, nails and managing heart health,” she said.
Even omnivores who don’t eat enough fatty fish regularly are at risk of this deficiency, Morin added, which can lead to skin irritation, joint pain and stiffness, changes in hair texture or density and psychological impacts from brain fog and fatigue to depression.
“Although there are omega-3 sources in plants — things like walnuts and chia seeds and flax — it’s not the same form of omega-3 that your body is using,” she explained, adding that we need three different types of omega-3s, only one of which is found within plants.
“We really are going to want to think about looking at a supplement that provides (the missing omega-3s) because it’s just too difficult to do with just food,” Morin continued.
Calcium
Despite there being a lot of plant-based sources that contain adequate calcium, deficiencies in the nutrient continue to pop up in vegetarians and vegans over the long term.
“A lot of studies have shown that people who are following vegan and vegetarian diets overall tend to consume anywhere from 30 to 60 per cent less calcium than people who are omnivorous,” Morin explained. “Again, this is just a matter of planning. There are a lot of nonanimal based foods that contain calcium, but it’s the kind of thing that maybe we’re not consuming in appropriate quantities.”
She said her practice often sees vegetarians and vegans with “suboptimal bone density over the course of their lifetime … at the end of the day, we need to maintain the health of the lean muscle tissues and the skeleton. Because these tend to be the two things that we see, over time, taking the biggest hit from vegan and vegetarian diets.”
It’s why it’s important to consume enough dairy products, or, if you’re looking at plant-based milk alternatives, to make sure they’re fortified with extra iron, Morin finished.
Should I be taking supplements?
Although studies show plant-based diets can be anti-inflammatory and lead to benefits in many different illnesses if done properly, it also opens one up to nutritional deficiencies not encountered by omnivores. These only get worse the more restrictive one’s diet is, like veganism, Morin explained.
“Is it possible (to maintain a healthy, balanced diet) without taking supplements for veganism? I would say no,” she said — “but we can definitely minimize the supplementation routine” by eating a varied, balanced diet of the foods recommended above.
“We’ve kind of just grazed the surface, talking about the core nutrients,” she continued. “But there’s quite a long list of things that someone could be (missing) — probably 20 nutrients or so, depending on how restricted the diet is.”
Byron agreed, recommending the following daily regimen of nutritional supplements for vegans, for optimal health:
- Two micrograms of vitamin B12
- Five milligrams of iron (if no deficiency — follow clinical guidelines if deficient)
- Ten milligrams of zinc
- One to two scoops of protein powder a day
- Omega-3 fatty acids (EPA/DHA) — 2000 mg per day
- Calcium taken with Vitamin D, not exceeding 500 milligrams at one time. It’s fine to do two separate doses of 500 milligrams daily (Use clinical judgment based on calcium intake)
- Vitamin D3 based on sunlight exposure
- An optional multivitamin (with one to two milligrams of copper, which helps recycle iron in the body)
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