Nutrition
Nutrients, supplements, and what the evidence actually supports.
What a vegan diet supplies, what it doesn't, and what closing the gap actually takes — B12, iron, calcium, omega-3 and iodine, judged on absorption rather than label content.
Your vegan diet has enough iron. Your coffee habit might be stealing it.
Non-heme iron from plants absorbs at 5-12%, against 14-18% for the heme iron in meat - which is why vegans need about 1.8 times the RDA. What closes the gap: pairing with vitamin C, keeping tea and coffee away from iron-focused meals, and where the iron actually is.
Where do vegans get calcium? Spinach is the trap
A cup of cooked spinach carries more calcium than a cup of milk and delivers almost none of it. Plant calcium sources ranked by absorption, and a day of eating that clears the RDA.
The cons of a vegan diet
Every version of this question treats planning as a defect of plant-based eating. Animal foods are planned too, at the feed mill, by someone else. What the evidence shows, and the five rules that settle it.
What supplements do vegans need? B12, and then it depends
The honest shortlist is shorter than most vegan supplement guides suggest. One nutrient is non-negotiable, three need attention for specific reasons, and the rest depend on what is already on the plate.