According to a recently conducted survey by the German government 44% of the respondents describe their diet as flexitarian or semi-vegetarian which means they only eat meat at special occasions. Furthermore 7% follow a vegetarian diet and even 1% completely vegan.
Excluding animal products from the dining table shifts the nutritional focus to more fruits and vegetables. But does this automatically improve your vitamin status? According to the German Food Association there are indeed some nutrients that vegans often could lack of. Specifically proteins and essential amino acids often come up short in a plant based diet. There is evidence that vegans have a deficient intake of long-chained fatty acids, vitamins (like B12, B2 and D) and minerals like calcium, iron, iodine, zinc and selenium.
When it comes to vegan supplementation, vitamin B12 is always the center of attention as considerable amounts can only be found in foods of animal origin like meat, fish, eggs and dairy products. Hence, a vegan diet doesn’t cover the demand of vitamin B12 making supplementation a crucial point to consider. Also, people with a vegan diet face an insufficient ingestion of iodine and as a matter of fact, so do flexitarians. Having a various and well-planned nutrition theoretically covers the needs for further vitamins and minerals.
There are many different dosage forms of nutritional supplements to choose: from tablets, capsules and chew gums to powders, effervescent tablets etc. Our experience shows that capsules and tablets are the best choice due to their easy intake. However, as a vegan/vegetarian you should pay attention to the ingredients list to make sure that the capsule shell is not made of gelatin. Lucky for you, we use cellulose capsules only which don’t require animal ingredients.
We’d love to be your trusted companion for the development and production of your vegan supplement – just get in touch with us!
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