by Jack Norris, RD
I was requested to write a blog post about what supplements I take. Here’s my daily routine:
A daily Deva Vegan Multivitamin & Mineral Supplement provides 6 µg of vitamin B12, 20 µg (800 IU) of vitamin D2, and 75 µg of iodine in the form of potassium iodide which I prefer instead of kelp. It also provides 36 µg of selenium, although vegans in the U.S. don’t need to supplement due to selenium in the soil. Note that the Amazon link does not provide any commission, I include it only to make it easier for people to order the multivitamin if desired.
Although the Deva multivitamin provides 5 mg of zinc, I seem to need more to prevent getting cracks in the skin on the sides of my mouth, and so I also take a 10 mg zinc tablet.
For omega-3s, I eat about 1/8th cup of chopped walnuts.
For calcium, I drink a cup of calcium-fortified orange juice and eat about 2 cups of cooked collard greens on most days. I recently discovered bags of cleaned and cut collards that can be cooked in the microwave in a large pyrex container with about a 1/4″ of water for 5 minutes, making cooking greens a very convenient process. But the most important thing I do for my bone health is weightlifting once a week.
For vitamin A, I eat about 10 baby carrots dipped in hummus which provides fat for absorption.
I eat plenty of high-protein foods, including a serving or two of vegan meats, a high-protein energy bar, and half a scoop of Orgain protein powder in my morning coffee. I find that I feel better when eating more high-protein foods but don’t think all vegans need to add these sources of extra protein.
That’s it!
For more information on the daily nutrient needs of vegans see our article, Tips for New Vegans.
10 thoughts on “What Supplements Does a Vegan Dietitian Take?”
Hello Jack. Regarding the multivitamin supplement you take, the question is: all vegans should take a supplement like that ? And with respect to the vitamin B complex, all of them can be obtained from food only ? ( regardless of B12 ). I am eager to read Vegan For Life, I still have not bought it. From Argentina.
Martin,
Have you read our article, Tips for New Vegans? That summarizes what vegans generally need to know about nutrition. Not everyone needs a multivitamin—if you obtain all the nutrients talked about on that page in a different way, then you wouldn’t need one. But, a multivitamin is an easy way to cover a number of nutrient needs.
Thank you very much Jack. It just drew my attention that many nutrients included in the multivitamin are easily found in plant foods. Kind regards.
Martin,
We have a multivitamin listed fohttps://veganhealth.org/wp-admin/comment.php?action=approvecomment&c=5500&_wpnonce=7d80271546r Argentina towards the bottom of the Spanish version of Nutrition Tips for Vegans.
so in the vegan for life book I read it said Daily supplement of 25-100 micrograms of b12, in that daily multi your taking it says 6 mcg of b12. I see on your recommendations that daily it can be 6-100mcg a day though. I’m just a bit confused since I read the book, did it recently change or something to lower? can I take that same multi your taking and then take a 1,000 mcg b12 twice a week too?
acacia,
In the time since writing the book, Stephen Walsh and I decided to revisit the literature and absorption formulas and concluded that 5 µg was enough to meet the RDA, so I lowered my recommendations. Yes, the regimen you’re on meets our recommendations.
Hi! I thought people shouldn’t take iron unless they are truly deficient and even then, they should choose iron rich foods and eat them with vitamin C rich foods. I’ve always been nervous about taking a supplement with iron….
Pamela,
Your impression is correct but you don’t need to be nervous about the small amounts of iron in a multivitamin.
I used to get cracks in the corner of my mouth also and thought it was some nutrient deficiency. At one stage I went to the doctor for fungal toenail. He took a sample to identify the fungus involved and then prescribed some medication. As well as fixing the toenail (when a variety of natural approaches hadn’t) it fixed the cracks so sometimes this can be a fungal issue.
That’s interesting and I hadn’t heard of this previously. Because zinc is important for the immune system, it’s possible that supplementing with zinc can allow some people’s immune system to fight an infection that causes these cracks. I’m just hypothesizing—I haven’t looked into it and doubt it’s been studied in any rigorous way.