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Comment by mg | Hacker News Reader

Vegans of HN: What do you supplement and why?

Personally, I supplement VitaminD3 and Iron.

And I make sure to eat salad, carrots and avocado every day.

I came up with this regime after getting my blood work done and after exactly tracking all my nutritional values for a while and comparing those to the suggested amounts.

I also have a long running project in the "statistics of one" space, where I track a lot of treatment effect correlations:

https://www.gibney.org/a_syntax_for_self-tracking

27,899 entries in my log so far.

From all supplements I a/b tested, Vitamin D3 and Iron look most promising at the moment.

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B12, Omega 3 with both (DHA and EPA), and vitamin D during the winter months.

I had some blood work done after 2 years of being vegan, largely to ensure my dietary shift hadn't caused any problems. This tested everything from cholesterol (lipid profile), iron profile, testosterone, B9 & 12, liver function, CRP and more. All markers we're either in the optimal or normal ranges. I eat reasonably well (I'm not perfect) and I try to keep processed foods - including fake meats - down to a minimum

B12 is the most important one. I've started getting some strange "tingling" in my arms a while ago, went to the neurologist, got a prescription for a higher dosage B12 and it went away. I was supplementing B12 already, but it wasn't regular.

Some other supplements:

- D3 (complemented with a "SAD Lamp" [0] in winter, can recommend)

- Omega 3-6-9

- Magnesium + B6 (helps reduce cramps during/after heavy training sessions)

- Vitamin C + Zinc when feeling that my immune system needs a boost (after traveling/flights)

https://examine.com/ is useful to get a quick look at the aggregated/summarized research for supplements.

[0] Random link with some explanation: https://psychcentral.com/reviews/sad-lamp

Just B12 and sometimes D3 and omega (I'm really bad at remembering it). I eat enough tofu to get all the iron I need as a man :)

Recently I've been tracking proteins more closely but reaching recommended levels has never been an issue.

I'm a 58 year old male, and have consumed a vegan diet for almost 40 years now. I take a women's daily multivitamin, primarily for the iron. I also take a calcium-magnesium-zinc tablet, as the multivitamin is relatively low in calcium.

I thought D3 was the non-vegan one and D2 was vegan.

edit: Double-checked, D2 is always vegan, D3 can be vegan but isn't always.

My almond milk has some vitamin D, and I have nooch fairly often which is very full of B12. I don't take any pills/gummies currently.

Had never heard of or seen Nooch before. Going to try that. Great shout.

B12, Magnesium, multi-vit, Omega3 (from algae), D3. I'm pescatarian (although rarely, mostly vegetarian).

I'm taking the VEG 1 supplements (https://www.vegansociety.com/shop/veg-1-supplements) as I believe they essentially cover everything I need to worry about on that front (I hope it does).

None, but I'm only vegetarian. I get nearly all required B12 from dairy and eggs. For some reason I get >500% the daily suggested amount of iron. I'm pretty low on Vitamin D (~20%), I figured the worst case scenario is I get some mild depression during winter so no supplements either.

There are enough people becoming b12 deficient on a diet that actually contains b12. Take a b12 supplement. Don't risk it. Fortified products are not enough. Deficiency can take years to develop.

Personally I take a vegan supplement that contains b12, iron, d3 and zink. I also eat algae oil for the omega3.

I also make sure to use fortified soy milk.

I have personally found zink to be the hardest nutrient to get enough of, at least since I got kids and started cooking more kid-friendly food.

I never had issues before starting to supplement iron despite giving blood, so I don't think it is a problematic nutrient for me. Every day I eat more than twice the RDI, but of course non-heme and together with the regular absorption inhibitors.

I supplement D (because lots of people are deficient, vegan or not), B12, and K (helps with B12 or D absorption, forgot which)

For iron, I’d suggest switching to cast iron or carbon steel pans. They transfer iron to anything you cook in them and you absorb it. Works the same way as these little iron fishes to drop in the stew some ONGs gave (give?) to third world populations that are having iron deficiencies from not being able to afford or find a proper diet.

Those iron fishes are not actually terribly effective.

Maybe if used once rather than for every meal.

In any case, cooking every lunch and dinner on cast iron or high carbon steel pans solves the iron deficiency for us. Ask an MD to see if it’s an avenue for you too because the iron supplement pills or IVs are made out of animal blood afaik which kinda defeat the purpose of not killing animals.

Have you researched if choline supplementation is necessary?

Please also check you b vitamins and B12. They are very hard to get and had some friends being defficient without knowing it. Most of the plant based fake meats put it in, so that saves most people. But they were health oriented and also didn't eat those.

B12 and B6 for vegan me. As I'm male, and live somewhere sunny, I think iron and d3 are less of an issue. B6 has been linked to anxiety, so it's mainly an experiment to see if it helps.

B12 and Iron, depending on my levels of exercise also Magnesium.

definitely B12. D3 because I live in Estonia and there is not enough sun all year. I get blood work done once per year, so far all good.

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