Multivitamins

This is especially true for anyone choosing (or needing) to follow a more limited diet.

This includes people with food allergies or intolerances, as well as people choosing to follow meat free or entirely plant based diets, such as vegans.

Eight of the key nutrients that vegans can miss out on from not eating meat or fish are:

- Vitamin B12 - essential for a normal nervous system and blood cell formation

- Protein - needed to grow and repair our muscles

- Iron – which helps our red blood cells carry oxygen

- Calcium – required for normal teeth and bones

- Vitamin D - we need this in order to absorb calcium, which helps our bodies do many things, from looking after your immune system to maintaining normal teeth

- Omega-3 fatty acids – important to support normal brain and heart function

- Zinc – required for normal vision and protein synthesis

- Selenium – contributes to normal thyroid function,  male fertility, as well as contributing to normal hair and nails

If you would like to read more about this, check out article, ‘8 essential nutrients for Vegans’, on the Health Hub, as it goes into more detail about each of these key nutrients.

Unfortunately, many tablets and capsules are not 100% vegan.

This is because common ingredients used to produce the tablets themselves include animal products such as lactose, fish, gelatine, glycocholic acid, or lanolin.

Additionally, many medications are tested on non-human animals, which goes against a key tenet of veganism.

Watch out especially for multi vitamins available as gummy tablets. These often use gelatine, an animal product, to provide the chewy texture.

If in doubt, check the labels, which will indicate their suitability for vegans and vegetarians alike.

So what can you do if you are a vegan but do not like taking tablets?

This can be a real issue for younger children, who usually prefer chewable tablets or gummies.

Luckily, we have a great brand in Optima, who make Healthcare Junior Multi Plus Chewable Tablets.

Better still, they are vegan-friendly and ideal for kids aged two and over.

These Healthcare Junior Multi Plus Chewable Tablets provide children with many key vitamins, including vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, B12, C, D2, E and minerals including folic acid and zinc, among other essentials.

If you eat a plant-based diet, your doctor may have recommended you take vitamin supplements. 

Perhaps they suggested a vitamin B complex or a calcium or iron tablet. 

This is because many of the vitamins we need for everyday health are most abundant in animal products, with oily fish, eggs, milk and organ meats particularly rich sources of the vitamins and minerals our bodies require for everything, from immunity to healthy skin and good eyesight.

Even a balanced vegan diet, featuring plentiful vegetables, wholegrains and cereals can be a little lacking. 

There are certain vitamins and minerals which simply do not crop up as often if you are only eating plant foods. 

Taking vegan vitamins can be a simple and reliable way to get all the vitamins vegans need.

We all know that there are plenty of plant based vitamins out there. However, there are certain vits that occur mainly in animal products.

Vitamin B12

A vegan diet tends to be particularly lacking in vitamin B12. This vitamin is used for making red blood. 

If you do not get quite enough B12, you might find you lack in energy and feel tired. 

For this reason, a vegan vitamin B12 supplement is a must for non-meat eaters.

Iron and zinc

Although iron is found in plentiful amounts in dark green veggies such as spinach, this non-haem iron is much harder for the body to absorb than the haem iron found in meat. 

Taking an iron supplement is highly recommended to help vegans to avoid symptoms of anaemia.

Vital for immunity, zinc can be tough to find in plant-only diets, as can calcium, important for bone health and iron absorption and mainly found in dairy produce.

Omega-3 and iodine

If you omit fish from your diet, you might not be able to get all the omega-3 and iodine you need for a heathy heart and thyroid respectively. 

Not if they are vegan! 

A dedicated plant based multivitamin is made to be completely compatible with a vegan diet, so there is no need to worry about any animal-based products sneaking in.

There are plenty of vegan-specific multivitamins to choose from out there, including gelatine-free, chewable vegan gummy vitamins, allowing you to enjoy a healthy dose of all the vitamins and minerals you need, without risking the diet we know you work hard to maintain.

With so many vegan vitamins on the market, it might be hard to choose the best vegan multivitamin for you.

First and foremost, be sure to choose one that contains all those vitamins and minerals vegans are most likely to lack – iron, calcium, zinc and vitamin B12.

A tailored vegan multivitamin for women can be a good choice if you suffer heavy periods or are entering the menopause. And children’s multivitamins are an especially important choice for young people on a meat-free diet.