"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.