What vitimins and minerals am i missing as a vegetarian?

that is rather alot, how many pills would that be?

Honestly I have no clue, I would say a lot though if you want to take pills to make up for vitamins and minerals that you aren’t getting from meat. Maybe you should talk to your doctor, and ask him the risks of being a vegetarian, and if you was to continue being one, how could you get those vitamins and minerals?

well i have been for 5 years and im not dead but feeling run down ect. i’ll ask around

the major one is haem iron.

The list above is not actually correct. Its true that meat is an excellent source of all those vitamins/mineral but you can get them from other sources. If you eat dairy, you can get riboflavin from milk and eggs, niacin from legumes, vitamin b6 from wholegrains, vegetables and bananas, b12 from eggs and diary, zinc from wholegrains and legumes, vitamins B1 (thiamine) from legumes, vitamin C (ascorbic acid) from fruit and vegetables, vitamin D from sunlight, vitamin E from lipids like vegetable oils, folate from vegetables and cereals, selenium from eggs.

In terms of how many pills you would need to supplement everything you dont get from meat, if you get a good multivitamin/mineral supplement, you will only need one.

You can get most of those in a good multi vitamin.

Alternatively

A vitamin B supplement contains Ribovlavin Iron Vitamin B6 Niacin (Vitamin B3) Vitamin B 12 Folic Acid

Then a zinc supplement should contain Zinc and vitamin A and E

Vitamin C you can get seperately (or like I said a good multivitamin)

And then you do not need extra vitamin D, unless you have very dark skin and living in a very cold country with little sunshine. The sunshine that get from the sun gives us all the Vitamin D that we need.

Not all foods today are totally nutritious as they were in 1900. And especially after WWII they began to use man made fertilizers and not rotate crops. Plus, today most of the foods come from genetically altered seeds. And today many of our foods are radiated before they are shipped out. After processing the food there isn’t much left. Unless you go to a market, like Whole Foods, that sells all organic, you won’t get organic fruits and vegetables, or even meats that are organic.
The best thing to do is buy a very good brand of vitamin that has all of the vitamins and minerals in good dosages. Ask the clerk for advise. For women you should get one with iron, as Danielle says, men’s vitamins don’t have iron in them. Take extra vitamin E, you should take not less than 800 UI a day. I take 1200, it seems I need it. Take extra vitamin C 1000-mg, take 3 times a day. Vitamin D3, 1000-mg, for keeping the immune system strong, 3 times a day.
If you did that each day you shouldn’t even get a cold. If you seem to have a tinkling of a cold, double on the C and D3. It should knock it out immediately.

Most nutrients are more abundant in plant foods than in meat. It would be more appropriate to ask what nutrients are missing in our modern meat centered, fast food provided, and heavily processed diet.

There are some nutrients that can be problematic for vegetarians. We get vitamin D naturally from sunlight or seafood. If you don’t get a lot of sun and don’t eat seafood you should get more D somewhere; either supplements or enriched foods. Personally I drive a convertible which is a nice way to get more sun and vitamin D; in the winter I pop a D3 every now and then. People who have been strict vegans for years should check and monitor their B12. Lots of vegetarian foods are supplemented with B12 which may be sufficient but it is best to check if you haven’t had any animal products in a while. B12 deficiency is rare even among vegans but it can be very serious so better safe than sorry.

Otherwise the best place to get nutrients is from food. Eat a varied diet with lots of whole grains, vegetables, and fruit and you are far better off than most people.

Doctors usually aren’t really that good a source of information. Most doctors have had only one course on nutrition. There are some doctors who use nutrition to combat disease; Dr. Pritican was one of the first to advocate a vegetarian or near-vegetarian diet to combat heart disease. More current doctors are Drs John McDougall, Caldwell Esselstyn, and Joel Fuhrman. There is plenty of information on-line from these doctors to steer you toward a healthy vegetarian diet.

i have multi and iron, i do drink milk and sort of eggs

angelee27, are you assuming that someone who doesn’t eat meat doesn’t eat other foods in its place? All of those except D and B12 are readily available in a plant based diet. Iron is a little harder to get from plants; vegetarian women tend to have lower levels of iron than meat eaters but most vegetarians are not iron deficient.

To me the web site is dubious because it mentions meat as a source of vitamin C. Meat can contain some vitamin C from the animal’s diet but cooking destroys most of it; Eskimos eat their fish and meat raw which is why they are able to avoid scurvy. If you like raw fish and meat bon appeteit.

Being a vegetarian does not guaranty a healthy diet. Soda and chips are vegan after all. Like I said, eat a varied diet with whole grains, vegetables, and fruit and you have most of your bases covered.

I’ve been a vegetarian for 30 years and have never been diagnosed with any vitamin deficiency and I feel fine. Being almost 50 I get blood work every year and my cholesterol, triglycerides, CRP, and A1C are all excellent and all of the rest of my metabolic panel is normal.

There are more health risks eating the standard American diet than a varied vegetarian one.

Has anyone heard of a vitamin supplement that is designed around one own DNA? If so let me know.

There are companies that claim to. Supplement makers are only too happy to make you feel like you have unique nutritional needs that only their expensive product can address.

While humans who have lived in areas for generations have adapted to available foods deep down we are all the same species and baring significant health problems our nutritional needs are not that different.

When we take much more of any vitamin than we need water soluble vitamins are passed in urine while fat soluble can accumulate to toxic levels. Ironically most of the people who take supplements are also the sort who take an interest in their health and eat fairly well. Those who eat a crappy diet are also the ones least likely to take supplements.

There are no pills that can fully make up for a poor diet. Real foods contain thousands of chemicals, many of which we have yet to discover their function. When you take isolated chemical vitamins and minerals you are not getting these.

If you want to be healthier eat better instead of looking for a magic elixir.