Beginners’s Guide to Micronutrients for Vegans

What are micronutrients?

Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals. Why are vitamins and minerals called micronutrients? It’s because we need them only in small (micro) amounts. We may only need a small amount, but if you lack one or more micronutrients, you can still have many negative health consequences.

While there are just over 30 micronutrients that you need to get in your diet, this article will just focus on a few that are of special concern on a vegan diet. Some of the ones we have selected also happen to be hard for many non-vegans to get in adequate amounts as well, without some intentional planning.

How to get all your micronutrients

Before we dive into the actual micronutrients, you should know that the best way to get all that you require is to eat a wide variety of healthy whole foods. Typically, deficiencies arise when we eat a lot of junk food or processed food that had nutrients removed or didn’t have many whole-food based ingredients to begin with.

In most cases, it would be a good idea to get a blood test to confirm a suspected deficiency before spending money on vitamin/mineral supplements. If you are already in a healthy range, supplementing won’t do much benefit for you, and can sometimes lead to toxicity concerns.

You might notice as you read through this that I am not recommending dosages. That is because many of these should be personalized to your particular diet and your particular blood test results in coordination with your medical professionals. If you want to get an idea of standard dose ranges, I highly recommend searching for the vitamin, mineral, or supplement of interest on Examine.com.

Vitamins

Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 is the most important nutrient to be aware of as a vegan. It is used in red blood cell formation and nerve function.¹ Vegans cannot get this from diet and will need to use a supplement or eat B12 fortified foods like nutritional yeast, plant-based milks, plant-based cheeses, and cereals. Some mushrooms and seaweed do have vitamin B12 in minimal amounts, but this is not a strong enough source to make a difference in your diet.

Vitamin B12 is produced from bacteria, not plants or animals directly. Cows happen to be able to synthesize their own B12 from bacteria in their gut when they ingest cobalt, but that doesn’t help us out very much since cows are friends, not food.

Some of the bacteria can also be found in soil and natural water sources. Historically, it always would have been difficult to get a sufficient amount of this vitamin without animal products, and modern agriculture makes it even harder, for various reasons. Even vitamin B12 from modern animal sources is not very bioavailable, which is why even non-vegans run into deficiencies with B12, especially older adults.² Plants grown with organic fertilizers tend to have higher amounts of B12³, but this is not reliable for a typical diet. Other definitely NOT recommended ways to get this vitamin include drinking pond water⁴ and eating feces.⁵ The dirtier it is, the higher the chance that it has some B12.

Or, you know, you could just take a vitamin supplement. Vitamin B12 is not super bioavailable, so you will see plenty of supplements that have very high percentages of the daily recommended value. Whatever your body doesn’t use will just leave in your urine, since it is a water-soluble vitamin.

Vitamin D + K2

Vitamin D is another common deficiency that does not just affect vegans. Vitamin D is important for bone health because it enables your body’s absorption of calcium.⁶ If you don’t get enough sunlight, especially in the winter months, then you may need to take a vitamin D supplement. The best way to determine if you need to supplement this is to get a blood test to determine your vitamin D level.

If you take a vitamin D supplement, you should also take it with vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 will help mitigate issues with excess calcium getting into your bloodstream from vitamin D supplementation.⁷ You can often find a combo vitamin with both D3 and K2 together. You will also want to take this with some fat for optimal absorption potential, since vitamins D and K are both fat-soluble.

Some mushrooms also have vitamin D, and you can also get fortified foods such as plant-based milk and fortified tofu. Technically, if you get enough sunlight exposure you may not need to supplement vitamin D, but a supplement is more reliable and doesn’t come with a sunburn.

There are also links from low vitamin D levels to mood, depression, immune response, and cancer.⁸ Additionally, there is a possibility that vitamin D plays a role in supporting optimal levels of hormones like testosterone.⁹

Minerals

Iron

Iron deficiency is very common, and affects hundreds of millions of people around the world.¹⁰ Anemia from iron deficiency can cause a wide range of health issues like fatigue, weakness, hair loss, brittle nails, dry skin, and poor mental performance. Iron helps your red blood cells transport oxygen around the body, so there are numerous internal issues that start to crop up when there is a deficiency.

As a vegan or vegetarian, it can be pretty tricky to get sufficient iron without some intentional effort. We do have some decent iron sources available to us, though! The top 5 vegan food sources for iron are:

Lentils
Spinach
Tofu
Kidney Beans
Chard (and other dark leafy greens)

You may want to consider getting regular blood testing for iron deficiency as a vegan, and your doctor should be able to do this as part of your annual exam. You do have a doctor and get an annual exam, right? Right? Okay, good, of course you do!

If you end up needing to take an iron supplement, you will probably want to take it with some food later in the day. Iron supplements have a reputation for being a little rough on the stomach, so that should help avoid some of that. You also want to take it with a little vitamin C to help the iron absorb, especially as a vegan. This is because iron from plant sources is a type of iron called non-heme iron. Iron from animal sources is known as heme iron. Non-heme iron is not as easy to absorb and isn’t quite as potent, which is why it is likely to run into iron deficiencies as a vegan or vegetarian.

Bonus tip: Cooking your food in a cast iron skillet could add additional iron content to some foods!¹¹

Zinc

Zinc is important for immune function and fighting infections. You can get zinc from beans and lentils, and most of the same foods that you can get iron from.

Iodine

Iodine is important for thyroid function, and it can be challenging to get as a vegan. It has been found that vegans are at an increased risk of iodine deficiency compared to vegetarians and omnivores.¹²

Seaweed is commonly recommended as an iodine source for vegans, but the dosage in seaweed is not consistent and can occasionally be at much higher levels that should be consumed regularly. Iodized salt is another option, but adding salt to your food just for this purpose isn’t ideal either, especially since the dose you would want daily carries about 1000 mg of sodium.

Given that too much or too little iodine can both cause thyroid issues, the best way to manage this is to use a supplement that works for you and puts you in the right range on a blood test. You should always consult your doctor when adding new supplements or vitamins, but this is especially true if you are someone with an existing thyroid issue of any kind. Supplementing with iodine in this case could cause issues with your normal treatment.

Calcium

Right off the bat, I would like to mention that I don’t recommend taking calcium supplements unless instructed by your doctor. You can get what you need from vegan food sources, and over-supplementation of calcium is relatively easy and can have several negative health side effects.¹³

With that said, calcium is essential for bone health and lowering the risk of osteoporosis as you age. Luckily, vegans do have plenty of options to get our calcium in, but they may not be things you already use regularly. Even with these options, studies have found that most vegans do not get enough calcium.¹⁴

Some of the options are:

Kale
Broccoli
Chickpeas
Fortified plant-based milks

I like using fortified almond milk or oat milk in my oatmeal or protein shakes to get at least one good serving of calcium a day. You can use a food tracking app like Cronometer to put all your food in for a week or two and see what your calcium intake looks like. If you’re a bit lacking, you can just add some of these food options in to your routine.

Omega-3

Technically, omega-3 fatty acids are fat, and fat is a macronutrient. However, omega-3s are commonly referred to specifically in terms of a micronutrient.¹⁵ Typically, omega-3 in plants will be in a form called ALA (alpha-linoleic acid). ALA then converts into the form of omega-3 that is typically found in seafood, which is a combination of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid). However, this conversion is not very efficient, so you would need a pretty large amount of food sources containing ALAs to get an optimal level of usable omega-3 fatty acids in your body.

Higher levels of omega-3s (especially in relation to omega-6 levels) have been linked to a wide array of health benefits ¹⁶ including, but not limited to:

Heart health
Lower triglycerides
Cardiovascular disease
Cancer prevention
Alzheimer’s prevention
Inflammation
Rheumatoid arthritis

Omega-6 fatty acids are related to omega-3 in that they are both forms of unsaturated fat. Omega-6 is typically found in vegetable oils. Omega-3 and omega-6 are both actually good for your heart and overall health, but the ratio is important. The modern American diet has an omega-3:omega-6 ratio of 1:16, and ideally, you want it a lot closer to 1:1.¹⁷ This is best achieved by raising omega-3 intake rather than decreasing omega-6 intake.¹⁸

The best way for a vegan to raise their omega-3 intake is with vegan sources of EPA and DHA directly, rather than ALA. You will likely get some ALA from your food normally, but I recommend also taking an algae-based omega-3 supplement. This is because algae is the only plant source that can produce EPA and DHA instead of ALA. I like using the Nordic Naturals Algae Omega, which is a vegan formula. Since these are just fatty acids, you can think of this more like a food-based supplement similar to protein powder rather than a vitamin or mineral.

Multivitamin

If you prefer a simpler approach to cover a lot of ground, then you can consider taking a daily multivitamin. I recommend not taking a standard one with a ton of different vitamins in it, just because you don’t need most of them if you eat a wide variety of whole foods. For vegans, I really like the product from Wholier. We are not affiliated with them in any way, and we get nothing if you use their product. I just think it is a simple and clean offering, with clear labeling, and a short list of ingredients.

It is specifically made for plant-based people, and only provides 8 vitamins/minerals that are difficult to get on a plant-based diet, and they have reasonable dosages. They provide:

Omega-3
Vitamin B12
Iron
Vitamin D3
Zinc
Iodine
Vitamin K2
Selenium

Conclusion

Just to summarize some of the main takeaways here:

All vegans should take a Vitamin B12 supplement.
It’s always better to get your vitamins and minerals from food rather than supplements where possible. Eat a wide variety of whole plant foods.
You probably don’t NEED any other supplements unless you have confirmed a deficiency in your blood tests.
Always discuss these options with your doctor.
If you want a low maintenance insurance policy, try a simple multivitamin with just a few ingredients of interest.

Beginners’s Guide to Micronutrients for Vegans

What are micronutrients?

How to get all your micronutrients