Food allergies that prevent/make it incredibly difficult to go fully vegan?

Vegan message board for support on vegan related issues and questions.
Topics include philosophy, activism, effective altruism, plant-based nutrition, and diet advice/discussion whether high carb, low carb (eco atkins/vegan keto) or anything in between.
Meat eater vs. Vegan debate welcome, but please keep it within debate topics.
Post Reply
User avatar
NonZeroSum
Master of the Forum
Posts: 1159
Joined: Fri Feb 10, 2017 6:30 am
Diet: Vegan
Location: North Wales, UK

Food allergies that prevent/make it incredibly difficult to go fully vegan?

Post by NonZeroSum »

Thank you. I am allergic to vit c. I can eat 2% rda every 2 or 3 days lol. So fruits and most veg are out. Life is strange and fascinating
Anyone with more education in nutrition know about this?
Unofficial librarian of vegan and socialist movement media.
PhiloVegan Wiki: https://tinyurl.com/y7jc6kh6
Vegan Video Library: https://tinyurl.com/yb3udm8x
Ishkah YouTube: https://youtube.com/Ishkah
carnap
Anti-Vegan Troll
Posts: 414
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2017 12:54 pm

Re: Food allergies that prevent/make it incredibly difficult to go fully vegan?

Post by carnap »

If you ate 2% of the RDA for vitamin C every 2~3 days you'd die of a vitamin C deficiency. You need to consume around 10~15% of the RDA daily to avoid an outright vitamin C deficiency.
User avatar
brimstoneSalad
neither stone nor salad
Posts: 10273
Joined: Wed May 28, 2014 9:20 am
Diet: Vegan

Re: Food allergies that prevent/make it incredibly difficult to go fully vegan?

Post by brimstoneSalad »

I'm not sure it's possible to be allergic to vitamin C... at least, I can't find any credible looking information on this.

There could be intolerance to large amounts, but like carnap said, somebody could not live without moderate amounts.

This person may be confused and be thinking about citric acid intolerance instead... but that has no rda.
Citric acid intolerance can cause trouble.

Beyond that, issues with fiber are relatively common, but those usually come up with large amounts and it's possible to tolerate things like tofu and white flour breads.

None of those are impossible to work around, but do make it more difficult.
User avatar
NonZeroSum
Master of the Forum
Posts: 1159
Joined: Fri Feb 10, 2017 6:30 am
Diet: Vegan
Location: North Wales, UK

Re: Food allergies that prevent/make it incredibly difficult to go fully vegan?

Post by NonZeroSum »

brimstoneSalad wrote: Fri Jan 26, 2018 2:34 pm I'm not sure it's possible to be allergic to vitamin C... at least, I can't find any credible looking information on this.

There could be intolerance to large amounts, but like carnap said, somebody could not live without moderate amounts.

This person may be confused and be thinking about citric acid intolerance instead... but that has no rda.
Citric acid intolerance can cause trouble.

Beyond that, issues with fiber are relatively common, but those usually come up with large amounts and it's possible to tolerate things like tofu and white flour breads.

None of those are impossible to work around, but do make it more difficult.
Ochay here's the response:

Thank you. The common wisdom says it is not possible to be allergic to c. But if i have more than 2% i react and i lost my top front teeth to a reaction. I have carefully tested this (didn't want to lose more teeth lol). The V.A. finally put it in my records and I am at peace with the whole thing.

[(I asked about diet now)]

Meat(not organ meat of course), certain instant potatoes, olives, pickles, iceberg lettuce, newmans own dressings, pastas. So i am not hurting 😊. I appreciate you!

[and diet before]

I ate what folks made. Went with the "normal" diet suggestions any given time. Citric acid is not good for me. I have not found any form of vit c i can tolerate more than the 2% though. The breakouts(blistering etc.) have been going on for 50+ years lol. Never put the vit c as the culprit til i lost my teeth 13 years ago . I was in madison wi wintertime teaching comp programming and took vit c pills to not get sick. Lost my teeth looked at everything again and experimented til i found that 2% did not make my membranes throb. I usually get the 2% through a glass of milk. Havent blistered for the 13 years yaaaay!

[and about the tablets]

I dont remember what additives they had. Said 100%. Anyway...my lips, gums, and genitals blister and then if it was enough c the blisters explode. Pretty interesting experience but nice to be in the past rofl. One bad time last year when i was in hawaii and took a couple bites of muffin before realizing it was made of poi. Ah well

---

I suggested getting his bloods tested in regular periods with minor diet changes, and take the results to a dentist or specialist doctor for peace of mind.

Also I had to look up V.A. for not being American and it's Veterans Affairs for anyone else not in the know aha.
Unofficial librarian of vegan and socialist movement media.
PhiloVegan Wiki: https://tinyurl.com/y7jc6kh6
Vegan Video Library: https://tinyurl.com/yb3udm8x
Ishkah YouTube: https://youtube.com/Ishkah
User avatar
brimstoneSalad
neither stone nor salad
Posts: 10273
Joined: Wed May 28, 2014 9:20 am
Diet: Vegan

Re: Food allergies that prevent/make it incredibly difficult to go fully vegan?

Post by brimstoneSalad »

It's apparently just coincidence that he decided was caused by vitamin C after some novice self experiments... this is the case for a lot of people with inexplicable intolerances. Sounds like the VA just humored him.

He certainly didn't do controlled experiments under clinical supervision, so there's no reason to think whatever he did was credible (and he probably didn't even keep records, it's very easy to misremember things). For most things self experiments might be credible, but extraordinary claims require more extraordinary evidence than that.

If he's really a clinical oddity and has a legitimate reaction to vitamin C itself, he should submit himself to a case study which could increase the body of human knowledge and could ultimately help a lot of people with the information it provides us which could have broader application.

That said, the idea that he only eats 2% of the RDA for vitamin C is ludicrous.
It's entirely possible to eat a very low vitamin C scurvy inducing vegan diet, though. "Vitamin C allergy" if it existed should be no serious obstacle to going vegan, just means eating a lot more processed foods.
Post Reply