Do vegans need supplements? Do you take any? Which do you take?

[hello vegan]

Hey peeps

I was just wondering, when you're vegan is it best to take multivitamins or B12 supplements or nothing? How many of you take them? Don't most tablets have like gelatin or animal stuff in the tablets? :confused:

I live in Australia so its pretty hard to find stuff... :(

Thanks :D

[Veganmama]

Hi

I'm an Aussie too and we drink the fresh vitasoy milk and that has a b12 supplement, i never use to worry but now i'm breastfeeding two babies i like to make sure they get enough through my milk. The longlife Vitasoy doesn't have the supplements in them

[veganmike]

I take 100 mcg of B12 EVERY DAY. There are dozens of vegan B12 supplements out there.

See here http://www.vnv.org.au/Vit&Min.htm for more info on vegan supplements available in Australia.

[ConsciousCuisine]

I make use of fermented foods like cultured veggies, tempeh and miso and also nutritional yeast and sea vegetables. My daughter drinks fortified vegan milks and cereals.

[harpy]

I take them sometimes (when I remember) as well as consuming fortified foods such as soy milk and yeast extract. I thought I was getting enough from the fortified foods but having read Stephen Walsh's discussions about homocysteine I'm not so sure. http://www.vegansociety.com/phpws/mod.php?mod=userpage&menu=104&page_id=29

I think you should easily be able to get vegan ones in a health food shop, and they're cheap as these things go (in the UK at least). The chewable/sub-lingual ones are supposed to be the best.

[cedarblue]

i take a vit b complex every other day which has 1.0ug in it amongst the other b vits.

[Roxy]

I noticed that I had been quite moody lately - especially around PMS time. It was suggested to me that I try a B-Complex formula to help.

Each day I take one of those in vegecap form.

[phillip888]

I don't worry about it much, but I do have 1mg tablets that I take every once and a while. Here in the US vegan B12 is very common. I'm surprised it's hard to find there. You can order it online you know. I think it'll cost you about $10 a year for basic B12 cobalamin pills because you can actually break them into quarters and take them once a day or so...

[Fruitbat]

Vitamin b12 yeast spreads (I buy Meridian's) are they reliable source of B12 and are they the right form of b12 that the body can use as I am trying to avoid taking supplements anymore.

For calcium I eat tahini and almonds in abundance

For Iron i eat spinach and watercress in abundance

For Zinc (and I think I need to pay more attention to this one) I eat brazil nuts about once a week

For Essential fats I eat linseeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds ad avocadoes

For antioxidants I eat sweet potato, red peppers, broccoli, peas, kiwis, watercress and organic carrots every week

For vitamin C I eat eaps of fruti and veg

For vitamin D i go in the sun 15 minutes a day

For vitamins B I eat nuts, seeds and mushrooms

For protein I eat tofu, nuts, seeds, beans, lentil, rice, quinoa and some processed soy meals

For fibre fruti and veg

My biggest fault is not enough carbs I think.

[ConsciousCuisine]

How old are you? How tall? How much do you weigh? All of these things need to be known before anyone can tell you what an adequate intake of nutrients would be.

(Pumpkin seeds are high in zinc , by the way. Very good for men)

[DontJustDoSomething, SitThere]

Vitamin b12 yeast spreads (I buy Meridian's) are they reliable source of B12 and are they the right form of b12 that the body can use as I am trying to avoid taking supplements anymore.



Gabriel Cousens writes here (http://www.treeoflife.nu/ewb12.html) that "I don't really recommend nutritional red star yeast, because of the fungal potential". I guess that goes for Meridians yeast spreads as well.

[ConsciousCuisine]

I enjoy Dr. Schulze's "Superfood" which has a non-active yeast in it. There is no fungal risk and it is a whole foods supplement that is AMAZING.

[After The Rain]

My biggest fault is not enough carbs I think.

I wouldn't worry. Carbs are everywhere!

[Fruitbat]

I wouldn't worry. Carbs are everywhere!yeah but not enough complex slow-releasing carbs like rice and quinoa and pulses and stuff like that. with all the sport i do i need loads and i am sure i amnot getting enough

[Fruitbat]

Do you take supplements? What do you take?

[veganmike]

B12, daily. D2, daily, but only in winter.

[Gorilla]

i eat fortified foods, and take an iron and B12 supplement every day. i know i could easily get enough iron from vegan food, but find it hard to make sure i get adequate supply as i don't like green vegetables much, so take a supplement just to make sure.

i've also been taking omega oil capsules daily, but i'm going to use hemp seed oil when i run out of the capsules as it's better i think.

[8 winks]

once in a while when i am unusually tired i take a multi vitamin, B12, and vitaminE. it seems to help with energy after a few days (at which point i invariably forget to keep taking them :)

[gertvegan]

Vega b12

[Roxy]

B-Complex in vege-caps.

[korova]

every day.
multivits & iron supplements.

[Gorilla]

Yesterday in the Daily Mail (UK newspaper) was an article about vitamins that sounded like a scare story, on the front page it said "Are you taking too many vitamins?" and the headline of the article was "VITAMIN OVERLOAD". But the article was actually quite sensible, looking at whether Denmark were right to ban fortified breakfast cereal, and stated that it's actually quite hard to overdose on most common vitamins/minerals, unless you take a supplement and eat loads of fortified and naturally rich foods as well - e.g. to overdose on vitamin B6, you'd need to drink 25 litres of Sunny D (boooo!) every day.

hopefully the EU won't change the regulations for supplements, as currently they don't need to be tested on animals before going on sale in this country, and can provide a natural remedy for some conditions (such as depression, PMS etc.)

[veganmike]

EU is seeking ways to ban/limit selling many supplements. Damn fascists want to tell us what we should and what we shouldn't eat. These idiots don't mind ciggarettes being legal, but they want to ban vitamins and minerals. This is a joke. I envy Americans their consumer freedom.

http://www.alliance-natural-health.org/

[Fruitbat]

But do you envy American's GM foods, hormone and pestcide and herbicide excessive spraying and commercial policies? EU does alot of things the way I prefer them done!

[veganesquire]

I take a multi vitamin, a calcium supplement, and glucosamine. I get them from www.veganessentials.com They are pretty reasonably priced, and the people who work there are so nice.