Do vegans take a lot of supplements?
I know a lot of vegans. Most vegans I know don’t take any supplements at all, or at most a plant-based multivitamin or B12 (the ones who don’t supplement B12 get it through fortified foods.) Vegan athletes and those looking to build muscle often supplement creatine, but that is also true of non-vegans (creatine is one of the most popular supplements on the market, and the primary customer base is non-vegans).
All that being said, even if we did take supplements, so what? The supplement industry is a multi-billion dollar industry, and the majority of its consumers are non-vegans. So why is it a problem for vegans to take supplements but ok for non-vegans to take them?
The big one I see come up is B12. Non-vegans will argue that because B12 is only found in meat it’s some sort of proof that we have to eat meat. Of course, this is a bit disingenuous. B12 is actually produced by bacteria, it’s not directly found in meat. Ruminant animals such as cows have that bacteria naturally occurring in their stomachs, and can synthesize B12 naturally as long as they ingest cobalt from the dirt. They ingest cobalt, B12 is produced by their stomach bacteria, and then the B12 is transferred to their flesh. But if they don’t ingest cobalt, they will be B12 deficient. Non-ruminant animals such as chickens and pigs (and humans) do not have this bacteria in their stomachs, so they have always relied on ingesting B12 in dirt. That’s right, historically the reason that most animals (including humans) had B12 in their bodies was because it came from B12 (or cobalt in the case of ruminants) in the dirt they ingested with their food (side note: a lot of B12 in the dirt comes from feces). Animals grazed all day and ate plants directly from the earth, and humans picked their fruits and vegetables and didn’t wash them before eating them. The soil these foods grew in wasn’t devastated by modern-day agriculture and was therefore rich with cobalt and abundant with B12. And because humans didn’t wash their vegetables, they ingested a lot of B12 from the dirt on their vegetables. Of course, humans also ate meat and got B12 that way as well, but as I’ve already covered, our ancestors ate substantially less meat than we’ve been led to believe.
Now that animals are commercially raised for food and their diets are more controlled, and because modern-day farming has severely depleted cobalt and B12 from the soil, they aren’t getting nearly as much dirt intake (and the dirt intake they are getting is severely lacking in cobalt and B12) and therefore they aren’t producing enough B12 on their own. This is the case even for ruminants who naturally produce B12 from their gut bacteria; their bodies aren’t producing it in sufficient quantities due to the soil being low in cobalt. And since humans now thoroughly wash our food before eating it, we aren’t ingesting that dirt either, so we can’t get B12 from eating plants. Nowadays, most animals raised for food are given B12 supplements, because they aren’t getting enough from their diet. Or they are given cobalt supplements which help them produce B12. And if anyone tries to tell you that this type of supplementation isn’t common, they’re lying. It’s so common that there are articles and papers written within the animal agriculture industry discussing which is better, cobalt or B12 supplementation. Vegans and non-vegans alike are both getting their B12 via supplementation, it’s just that non-vegans are using an animal as a middleman, and they are mostly unaware of it.
Here are a couple of articles that talk more about B12 (which is very important, so please make sure you’re getting your B12):
Here are some other vitamins and minerals that I often see people saying vegans can’t get from eating plants:
A: https://www.vegansociety.com/resources/nutrition-and-health/nutrients/vitamin
B6: https://gardenofvegan.com.au/blog/great-plant-based-sources-of-vitamin-b6-pyridoxine
Calcium: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vegan-calcium-sources
Carnitine: https://www.plantnutritionwellness.com/carnitine-in-vegan-diets-sources-supplements-deficiency/
Cholesterol: The human body makes its own. Vegans tend to have lower and healthier cholesterol levels due to not eating animal products - https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/16867-cholesterol--nutrition-tlc#:~:text=Your%20liver%20produces%20enough%20cholesterol%20to%20support%20your%20body%E2%80%99s%20processes.%20So%2C%20you%20don%E2%80%99t%20need%20to%20get%20it%20from%20food%20(and%20it%E2%80%99s%20not%20an%20essential%20nutrient).%20The%20cholesterol%20you%20gain%20from%20your%20diet%20is%20extra%20and%20unnecessary%2C%20like%20adding%20sand%20to%20a%20beach.
Creatine: This is one where supplementation may be required for certain individuals. For most people, the human body produces all the creatine it needs. But for athletes or people looking to build muscle, they may need to supplement - https://veganliftz.com/do-vegans-need-creatine-the-low-down/
D: https://www.healthline.com/health/vegan-vitamin-d#vegan-sources
Iodine: https://tofubud.com/blogs/tips/vegan-sources-of-iodine
K2: https://www.dailymint.co/blog/how-to-get-vitamin-k2-on-a-vegan-diet/
Omega 3s (DHA and EPA): https://www.eatingwell.com/article/291962/8-best-vegan-omega-3-rich-foods/#:~:text=3.-,Seaweed%20and%20Algae,EPA%20and%20DHA%20omega%2D3s.
Omega 6s (ARA and linoleic acid): https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/omega-6-foods#How-much-omega-6-do-you-need?
Selenium: https://viva.org.uk/health/selenium/
Taurine: https://www.thymetogovegannutritionservices.com/vegan-taurine-sources/
So as you can see, it’s trivially easy to get the essential nutrients we need from a plant-based diet. Of course, it’s always important for anyone (vegan and non-vegan alike) to have a yearly checkup with their doctor to ensure their vitamin levels are good and they’re getting everything they need from their diet. If they’re not, they can make adjustments to their diet or supplement as necessary.
