By definition, everyone participating in this discussion has access to the internet. So on the offchance that they can’t physically get to a store that sells books or vitamin supplements, they can order those items online.

And this is relevant how?

Thank you for the explanation. I do not object to using multivitamin suppliments or fortified foods but many areas of the world do not have reasonable access to nutritional suppliments. Or the freedom to access the appropriate books and websites to obtain this information.

I mentioned the Vegan Health website for three reasons: (1) There’s more relevant information than I could possibly include in a blog comment that anyone would want to read, (2) even if I could include all the information, it’s always good to cite your sources, and (3) the person who runs the site is an expert on vegan nutrition, whereas I am merely a user.

What’s your objection to vitamin supplements? (And does it extend to fortified foods, which are no more “natural” than vitamin pills?) Since I see no reason why a healthy diet that doesn’t include vitamin supplements should be in any way preferable to a healthy diet that does, I can’t really answer your last question.

Now I ask you, how are these dietary deficiencies eliminated without popping pills? Please do so without accusations, antedotal stories or telling folks to read a book/website and figure it out for themselves.

My response? We were much healthier than most of our friends. We were very seldom sick. My parents did actually care about our health and our diet – probably more than most of our friends’ parents, simply because they were by definition more aware of what we ate. And *any* child or adult can have deficiencies in their diet. Just because someone eats meat or doesn’t eat meat, doesn’t mean they have a healthy or unhealthy diet.

Me, I’m in a household of one, so I don’t have to worry about cooking for anyone else on a regular basis. I find that usually, if someone cares about me enough to invite me to their home and prepare a meal for me, they also care about me enough to want there to be something that I can eat. If they’re not sure what to prepare, I either offer suggestions or offer to bring something. And if they mess it up a bit (like when my aunt sprinkled parmesan cheese on my veggie pasta), I forgive them and eat it anyway.

A good (but not perfect) book on the subject is “Living Among Meat Eaters” by Carol Adams.

They do if they have blood tests done. And diagnosing nutrient deficiencies based on symptoms isn’t always the greatest way to go, either – if I had a nickel for every ex-vegetarian who diagnosed themselves with iron deficiency anemia, I’d have a lot of nickels.

I am really sick of people who go out of their way to make vegan diets out to be dangerous, or make vegan parents out to be child abusers.

Of course it makes sense to pay attention to nutrients in your diet. But that’s true whether you’re vegan, vegetarian, omnivorous, or none of the above.

If anyone on a vegan, vegetarian, or mostly vegetarian diet is looking for real information about nutrition, a great place to start is a site called “Vegan Health.” It’s run by a registered dietitian who really knows his way around the scientific literature.

B-12 suppliment is a must have. Other common deficiencies with a vegan diet are B-2, alpha linoleic acid, lysine, methionine, zinc, calcium, iron. Not that these nutrients are particularly difficult to obtain from food or suppliments but they may be either absent in an individual’s diet or chemically or physically bound so it is unavailable for absorption. Not so much a fault of the diet but of the participant.

People don’t know what essential nutrients are deficient until symptoms develop. If the victim is a fetus, nursing infant or growing child; developmental damage is usually permanent.

You know, if you really wanted to help people rather than scare them away from a vegan diet, you could mention what those nutrients are. Are you talking about vitamin B12? That’s one nutrient (and is easily obtained by taking a daily multivitamin). If you know of others, do tell.

True herbivores have areas within their digestive tracts where bacteria synthesize and modify proteins these animals require that aren’t readily available in their plant-only diet.

True carnivores (and insectivores) depend upon their prey for their plant-based nutrients by consuming contents of the digestive tract along with the rest of the carcass.

As omnivores, humans obtain a complete diet by consuming everything – not either plant or animal exclusively. Our digestive system does not function properly when forced to endure a diet devoid of plant material nor are a full compliment of necessary nutrients supplied in such a diet. Although the human digestive tract operates quite well on a herbaceous diet, vital nutrients are often missing from such a diet as well. The human appendix is functionally inadequate to work as a cecum in harboring the bacterium necessary to suppliment the herbivore’s nutritional requirements. There are several plants which can substitute for nutrients commonly found in animal tissues but they must be intentionally and regularly included in volume to the diet or supplimented by artifical means (pills).

Be aware of the risks involved and compensate adequately, stepping into a new diet without allowing for nutritional deficiencies is not something anyone should take lightly. Malnutrition leads to unwelcome ailments in adults and permanent disabilities in children.

Your body, your life.