Vegan nutrition

Vegan nutrition refers to the nutritional aspects of vegan diets – diets which include no animal products.

While a well-planned, balanced vegan diet is suitable to meet all recommendations for nutrients in every stage of life, improperly-planned vegan diets may be deficient in vitamin B₁₂, vitamin D, calcium, iodine, iron, zinc, riboflavin (vitamin B₂), long-chain fatty acids EPA and DHA, and omega-3 fatty acids.

Doctors Dean Ornish, T. Colin Campbell, John A. McDougall, Michael Klaper, Caldwell Esselstyn, Michael Greger, Joel Fuhrman, and Neal D. Barnard claim that high animal fat and protein diets, such as the standard American diet, are detrimental to health. They also state that a lifestyle change incorporating a vegan whole foods diet could not only prevent various degenerative diseases, such as coronary artery disease, but reverse them. A number of documentary films, such as Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, Planeat and Forks over Knives, focus on the purported health benefits of plant-based diets. Although there is general consensus amongst doctors advocating plant-based diets, Joel Fuhrman and Michael Greger have disagreed with Campbell and Esselstyn on the use of nuts and seeds.