Vegan and plant-based supplements: the UK guide

Can you get everything from a plant-based diet?

Almost everything, with a few clear exceptions. Most of what your body needs is well covered by a varied plant-based diet, and in some respects, fibre and a lot of the antioxidants among them, it does better than the average mixed diet. Vegans are told to pay attention because a few specific nutrients concentrate in animal foods or absorb less well from plants, and those are the ones to plan for. The list is short. Once you have it, the rest of a plant-based diet largely looks after itself.

B12: the one you must not skip

Vitamin B12 is the one you cannot skip. It is made by bacteria, not by plants or animals, and in a typical diet it reaches us almost entirely through animal foods. A plant-based diet contains very little reliable B12, which is why every serious source, the NHS and the Vegan Society included, says a vegan needs B12 from a supplement or from foods fortified with it, such as some plant milks, yeast extract and breakfast cereals. In the terms UK law allows, vitamin B12 contributes to normal energy-yielding metabolism, to the normal functioning of the nervous system and to normal psychological function. Do not leave this one to chance or to the odd fortified cereal. We cover the how and the how much in the vegan B12 guide.

Omega-3 DHA

Omega-3 comes next because the plant version and the one your body wants are not quite the same thing. The long-chain omega-3 called DHA, the kind linked with brain and eye function, is found in oily fish. Plant sources like flaxseed and walnuts give a shorter-chain omega-3 that your body converts into DHA slowly and in small amounts. The neat answer for a plant-based diet is algae oil, which is where the fish get their DHA in the first place. We go into the numbers on the algal omega-3 page rather than repeat them here.

Iron

Plants do contain iron, in beans, lentils, tofu, wholegrains and dark leafy greens. The catch is that the iron in plants, called non-haem iron, is absorbed less efficiently than the iron in meat. A plant-based diet is not automatically short of iron, but the practical habits matter more: pairing iron-rich meals with a source of vitamin C, and keeping tea and coffee away from those meals, both of which we explain in the plant-based iron guide. If a blood test has shown you run low, a gentle supplement form helps. If it has not, food usually does the job.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is the one nearly everyone in the UK should think about, vegan or not, because between about October and March there is not enough sunlight here to make it in the skin. The NHS suggests adults consider 10 micrograms a day through the darker months, and all year for some people. The wrinkle for a plant-based diet is the form: most vitamin D3 supplements are made from sheep's wool. The vegan route is D3 from lichen, which we use and explain in the vitamin D for vegans guide.

Iodine

Iodine is easy to overlook on a plant-based diet, which is why it is worth naming here. In the UK most of our iodine comes from dairy and white fish, so a diet without either can fall short. Iodine contributes to normal thyroid function and to normal cognitive function. The food-first sources for a vegan are limited, and seaweed is unreliable because its iodine content is high and swings wildly from batch to batch, so a measured supplement or a multivitamin that includes iodine is often the steadier route. We flag it here because a plant-based routine that covers B12 and omega-3 but forgets iodine has left a real gap.

Building a plant-based routine

Put together, the plant-based short list is B12 every day without fail, an algal omega-3, vitamin D through the darker months, iodine if you avoid dairy and fish, and iron only if a test says you need it. That is a short, manageable list. Our plant-based routine and our vegan-friendly range put the sensible core in one place, so you are covering the gaps that matter and not paying for the ones a good diet already fills.