Unless you are very comited into calculating your intake in every mineral and vitamin, I would recommend to take some supplements if you are going vegan (which is something I support but did not totally go through yet)
edit: I'm not disputing the benefits of fiber for the average person, but the implied necessity of fiber is just false. Fact: A zero fiber diet is not guaranteed cause disease, whereas essential nutrient deficiencies will cause disease.
Just because it's not as severe as rickets or scurvy doesn't mean people should ignore the needs of their gut microflora, especially given that the majority of cells in our bodies are (mostly beneficial) bacteria.
Heart disease is #1 killer of Americans, diabetes is #7 according to CDC [1].
[1] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm
American Heart Association says "Dietary fiber can help you improve blood cholesterol levels and lower your risk of heart disease, stroke, obesity and even type 2 diabetes" [1]
American Diabetes Association says "eating foods higher in fiber can also improve your digestion, help you manage your blood sugar and reduce your risk of heart disease." [2]
[1] https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/eat-s...
[2] https://diabetes.org/healthy-living/recipes-nutrition/unders...
"Previous studies have linked a higher fibre diet to protection from heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity and certain cancers."
From what I can tell, meat eaters are even less likely than vegans to calculate their nutritional intake (naturally so, vegans are much more likely to read ingredient and nutrient lists because how else can you shop vegan?), and the claim that it's easy to not have enough nutrients on a vegan diet goes both ways. It's easy to miss having enough of specific nutrients on a meat diet too if you don't carefully calculate your intake.
From what I can tell, in practice some amount of nutritional deficiency just isn't that big a deal for most people. College kids that live on a diet of 80% ramen still survive relatively well, as do people who spend time attempting to balance their nutritional intake. The level of impact varies by person I'm sure.
B12 deficiency can have quite profound neurological effects, though thats in pretty severe cases, IIRC
Note that I did not say it is impossible to get these through a vegan diet, just that it takes some efforts and care to have the daily dose necessary to avoid a deficit.
Yes, I agree that almost no one calculates their nutrients intake, but when you go full vegan, you remove more than half of your food diversity, it opens yourself more easily to deficits.
> From what I can tell, in practice some amount of nutritional deficiency just isn't that big a deal for most people. College kids that live on a diet of 80% ramen still survive relatively well
People with mild depression survive relatively well, and this is what is discussed here.
I used to have very bad dietary habits when I was working like crazy at my first job, and managed to get a deficiency in vitamin C. As I was young and in good conditions, it did not trigger any medical problem, but I can tell you that my quality of life improved greatly after I started taking vitamins (and later just rebalancing my diet a bit). It was removing a constant fog from my brain.
I think this is a reason why so many pseudo-scientific dietician advice abound: "surviving relatively well" is not a good enough criterion anymore, yet that's what the medical research focuses on. Well-being is also something that people seek to achieve. Being more alert, more focused, less depressed, less stressed are things that a diet can have an influence on, and the scientific data on that is pretty scarce.
Again this has only been demonstrated in a couple of studies. But if you’re on a plant-based diet consider giving it a try.
Omega-3 fats can also be important, but I’m not sure if there’s any vegan options there (it’s been a few years, maybe someone is synthesizing them now.)
Which Omega-3 fatty acids are you referring to? It can’t be all of them. There are plant sources like flax seeds, walnuts and others for ALA and EPA. DHA is the one that’s a bit difficult to get (or be synthesized in the body from the others). That has been solved by algal oil or algae based supplements (fish get DHA from algae).