Adequate Nutrition

• work in progress*

Human beings need certain nutrients, not specific sources of those nutrients. Adequate nutrition deals with meeting nutritional needs in terms of essential fatty and amino acids, calories, and vitamins and minerals to avoid deficiencies that affect health in a clinically significant way. Where the question of adequate nutrition stops is at more speculative issues. Optimal nutrition picks up where adequate nutrition leaves off, with questions of ideal ratios between macro-nutrients and calorie sources, timing of meals, and other composition to achieve certain results like peak atheletic performance, disease prevention, or longevity.

The consensus among the overwhelming majority of dietetic organizations is that a properly planned vegan diet, with B-12 supplements and other considerations, is adequate for human beings during all stages of life.

It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that appropriately planned vegetarian, including vegan, diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate and may provide health benefits for the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. These diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, older adulthood and for athletes.[1]

This is echoed by nutritional recommendations of major governmental bodies, including the oft criticized USDA (which has animal agriculture industry ties, and it in no conceivable sense biased in favor of veganism).

Vegetarian* diets can meet all the recommendations for nutrients. The key is to consume a variety of foods and the right amount of foods to meet your calorie needs. Follow the food group recommendations for your age, sex, and activity level to get the right amount of food and the variety of foods needed for nutrient adequacy. Nutrients that vegetarians may need to focus on include protein, iron, calcium, zinc, and vitamin B12.[2]

• This is followed by extensive recommendations for lacto-ovo vegetarians and for vegans; the USDA considers both forms of vegetarianism.

Criticism of consensus tend to be either overtly conspiratorial, or vague fear-mongering claims that there isn't enough evidence which is in itself a claim without evidence-- and one that implies either irresponsibility and stupidity of professionals or a conspiracy, because obviously they agree there is enough evidence as reflected by consensus.

Critics may also Cherry-pick the DGE (German Nutrition Society) which released a more critically worded 2016 position paper[3], ignoring the fact that the recommendations are focused on sensitive groups within the context of German culture and food availability: the position does not state that a vegan diet is inherently inadequate or unhealthy, and to the contrary outlines specifically HOW to get the necessary nutrients in table 2: Potential critical nutrients in a vegan diet and vegetable nutrient sources. The general sentiment of the position paper is that they do not believe that people are competent, and it is necessary that fortified foods and vegan specialty foods and supplements be more reliable and widely available to reduce risk of inadequate nutritional status on a population level.

Difficulty

Animal products have many drawbacks, introducing unwanted substances and disease risk factors to the body, and optimal nutrition status may be more difficult to achieve on a diet including them. However, they are rich in a number of nutrients, particularly minerals and amino acids, which make adequate nutritional status somewhat easier (in much the same way that taking a multivitamin does). I.O.W. You might have a higher risk of a heart attack, but less risk of ever being low in B-12.

A properly planned vegan diet (with B-12 supplements) is perfectly adequate, but the nutritional knowledge to plan a vegan diet is neither intuitive nor instinctual, and where cultural eating patterns can help pass on that knowledge through the brute force of surviving traditions that didn't make people sick (at least while they were young), there have never been any large and long-standing vegan cultures to adopt dishes from (likely due to the B-12 issue).

While the developing industry of meat replacements and other animal product replacements will in time solve this issue through fortification, unfortunately not all animal product replacements are properly fortified, and some are offensively inadequate alternatives.

In the mean-time, vegans need to familiarize themselves with the basics of nutrition and the nutrients of concern so that they can overcome the cultural shortcomings by properly planning their diets. There is a learning-curve to veganism, both in understanding the basics of nutrition and learning to prepare nutritious foods that you like and will reliably eat, and particularly for groups that are high-risk (or lazy eaters) it is probably better to go slowly and get accustomed to e.g. lacto-vegetarianism or pescetarianism before moving on and excluding all animal foods.