Vegan Nutrition

One of the books I read about veganism, the Vegan Sourcebook, has an entire section on vegan nutrition. Getting enough protein is not a problem, but getting enough calcium and iron may be as well as B12.

The Vegan Sourcebook included a chart for the recommended daily intakes for nutrients and charts for the nutrient content of different foods. Interestingly, it lists fortified and non-fortified versions of food. For example, it would list the calcium content of both "soymilk" and "soymilk, fortified". This shows how much more calcium fortified soymilk may have, although one would have to read the label to be sure. I like this because it makes me reconsider how much more nutrients I need to get from fortification. For the record, 1 cup of soymilk has 84 mg of calicum and 1 cup of fortified soymilk has 250-300 mg of calcium.

What I found annoying was that they listed not only whole foods but also brand-name cereal like Wheaties, Grapenuts, Nutrigrain, etc. While I understand that people have to consider all their options, I want to eat whole foods as much as possible, not processed and prepared foods. And even though I have never studied nutrition, I feel like getting calcium from sesame seeds (2 tablespoons has 176 mg of calcium) or collard greens (half cup cooked has 178 mg of calcium) is qualitatively different than getting it through fortified Rice Dream (1 cup has 300 mg of calcium).

And I guess that is why I am writing this blog. My heart and ethics tell me to eat vegan, but many of my vegan information sources depend on fortified or highly-processed foods like textured soy protein. While these may be vegan and have lots of nutrients, they are not whole foods. I want to eat delicious whole foods.

So here are the whole food winners of the different nutrient categories:

• Adults need 1000-1200 milligrams (mg) of CALCIUM per day. Besides collard greens and sesame seeds, 5 dried figs have 258 mg of calcium, 2 tablespoons of tahini has 128 mg of calcium, 1 cooked cup of navy beans and great northern beans each have 121-128 mg of calcium, and half a cup of cooked turnip greens has 125 mg of calcium.
• Adults need 2 micrograms (mcg) of B12 per day. Out of all the fortified foods, the only one that I would consider eating is Red Star brand Vegetarian Support Formula nutritional yeast flakes, of which 1 tablesppon has 4 micrograms.
• Adlut males need 1.7 mg of RIBOFLAVIN per day, and adult females need 1.3 mg per day. Sea vegetables win hands-down for riboflavin. A half cup of cooked alaria, dulse, kelp or nori give between 1.91 mg (dulse) and 2.93 mg (nori), much more than even enriched cereals. Half a cup of cooked soybeans only give .24 mg, and 2 tablespoons of almonds give .25 mg.
• Adults need 5-10 mcg of VITAMIN D per day. Instead of eating the fortified Grapenuts and vegetable milk, I would rather just sit outside in the sun to make my own Vitamin D.
• Adult females need 15 mg of IRON per day, and adult males need 10 mg per day. Just as for riboflavin, sea vegetables win hands-down for iron. Half a cup of cooked alaria, dulse, kelp, or nori offers between 18.1 mg (alaria) to 42 mg (kelp) of iron. In contrast, 1 packet of instant oatmeal provides 6.3 mg of iron; half a cup of cooked tofu has 6.6 mg; and the same amount of soybeans has 4.4 mg. Other good sources of iron are chickpeas, at 3.4 mg for half a cooked cup, and lentils, at 3.2 mg for the same amount.
• Adult females need 12 mcg of ZINC per day, and adult males need 15 mcg per day. Apart from fortified cereals, half a cup of cooked hyacinth beans gives 2.7 mg of zinc and the same amount of aduki beans has 2 mg of zinc. Other good sources are the sea vegetable Irish moss, tempeh, and peanuts.

Of course, not only is it important to get enough of these nutrients, but also in the right combination for the most efficient nutrient absorption. For example, it is best to eat iron with vitamin C, like spinach with lemon juice or tomatoes, for maximum absorption.