Should a teen vegan take a vitamin supplement?!
Answers: If so which ones and what brands would it be,what stores could I find it in?
Only if they feel they need to. But most likely with a proper diet you really do not need to, nor shouldn't.
Vegan nutrition
http://www.vegsoc.org/info/vegan-nutriti...
http://www.veganfoodpyramid.com/vegan-py...
Vegans are at no more of a risk for deficiencies than animal eaters, but with a proper diet your health would dramatically improve. But, you must pay attention to nutrition and try to get all of your nutrients no matter if you are vegan or not.
The fact is there are millions of vegans in the world, it is rare from them to have a deficiency, a lot do not take supplements!
If you want. Your first goal should be to eat better.
It depends probably not. Do you get enough protein and vitamins. If your not sure write down what you eat for 3 or 4 days and post another question if your getting enough vitamins
Yeah.It'd be best to.I guess its different if you were raised vegan,and then you might not. . .but maybe you would.And if your transitioning its probably best to just to be safe I think.At the mall I forget exactly what its called but I think its like GMC or GNC Health or something.If you dont have that it'd just be at any Health store like that,and itd have medicine thats not common in pharamacys and supplements and stuff. But you might not need to take a supplement for all your teen years. . .
Im not positive if you need to or not so go into a health store and ask the experts.Or ask your doctor because it might depend on your age and stuff
alright, i was a vegan for 2 years (i was 15-17 years old)
you really gotta be careful, i was vegan and then i went to get a blood test, then i found out i had aenemia (low blood iron)
so YES you really should take vitamin supplements. don't take those multivitamans, they won't have enough. i recommend iron supplements, omega 3 fatty acids ( they are found in fish, if you're a vegan you won't be eating fish), folic acid, calcium - ALOT OF CALCIUM!!!!!
if you go to a nutrition or vitamin store, tell them you're going vegan and you need to know which ones to buy, they'll help you out more than me.
just remember to eat alot of beans and greens.. and alot of brocolli.
and afi rules.
only if you feel the need to do so .... although it might be comforting if you have any doubts: I would go to a health food store and buy a vegetarian multiple vitamin to take 2 or 3 times a week ... but remember that your food is very healthy ...
* tofu
* green soy beans
* wheat, bulgur, buckwheat (kasha, too), rice
* legumes: chic peas, yellow splits, mung dal
* vegetables and fruits of all kinds
* soy milk, cereals
x
Hello, I am a Biochemistry student and in the future I will study medicine, I have recently been looking at journals of case studies on the importance of Teen diets! It said that the foundation of a healthy adulthood is what you eat as a teen and pre teen.. (obviously) but what you are asking is it important to take vitamen suppliments? yes, if you do not get them from your normal diet. But I would encourage every teenager to eat meat! I understand that you may be against eating animal products but imagine the harm it may cause you?
If you insist on not eating meat (meat provides your body with ESSENTIAL proteins for growth and repair, and natural iron) then I would recommend you eat plenty of fruit and veg (especially the skin!! The skin holds most of the goodness..) Also I would urge you to take Calcium suppliments as you may cause your bones to become brittle in your later years.
If you were going to take suppliments for ease of management take a multivitamen tablet and stick to a strict regeme of dosage.
Please follow the link and manage your vitamen and mineral requirements:
http://www.vitamin-insight.com/basics/da...
also if you find any problems with your health or energy levels consult your Doc immediately.
Best of luck.
Mark
Yes, teens are notorious for not eating healthy. Vegans still eat chips and other junk food which has no nutritional value.
Actually, if you are eating a vegan diet, then you are actually eating healthier than a so-called "regular" diet. The average American eats twice as much protein a day than is required, and you can get more calcium from veggies than from cow's milk. Just be sure you are eating plenty of veggies, fruit, etc. and not junk food.
Yes, and vitamin B shots from the doctor.
Actually, a teen shouldn't be a vegan or a veg at all. Not healthy while body and brain are still developing.
my mum ses i shud but i think its just betta 2 eat properly
x
Make it your goal to learn about vegan nutrition and get as much of your requirements from food as possible. Nobody is perfect, so a multivitamin is a good choice for most people - there are vegan multi formulations out there. If you can't find one at Whole Foods or your local health food store, look online. The only nutrient that you MUST supplement as a vegan is vitamin B12; you can get some from fortified foods, but there is no good reason to take a chance on developing pernicious anemia because you're not getting enough. Most people who have spent a significant portion of their lives as meat eaters or lacto-ovo-vegetarians have a good store of B12, but as a teen you may not have enough to last you for very long.
Edit to add: the American Dietetic Association has issued a position paper that concludes that properly planned vegetarian and vegan diets are appropriate for all life stages, including pregnancy, lactation and infancy. Lydia seems to think she knows more about nutrition than the nation's nutritional watchdog agency. Don't let anyone tell you you're too young to be veg*n!
Yes, take a B Vitamin. You can find any brands at your local organic store.
First of all, you should be asking, "What is a vitamin?" If you don't know what that is, then maybe you should go back and find out.
You will see that a vitamin is a 'complex'. That is, an intrinsic part of an organism, connected to everything else in that organism. All the nutrients etc. of that organism are balanced with other nutrients. One cannot simply extract one of these ingredients and put in a pill. What they do to make a vitamin pill is to chemically recreate one of these nutrients, usually just one piece of a nutrient actually. Such as Vitamin C... read the label and it will not say Vitamin C, it will say something like Ascorbic or something else. Ascorbic is only part of the whole complex.
There's a reason that we eat food instead of plucking pills off of the pill tree. Nature is balanced. It's far better to eat oranges than it is to take vitamin C pills, because there is actually Vitamin C in an orange, but there is not any in a Vitamin C pill, but it contains all of the complimentary nutrients and you will not cause an imbalance in your body.
Additional to that, what is the substrate of these pills? Not usually listed. Mystery ingredients.
Now, I'm not saying that vitamin pills are harmful, but they certainly are not what they claim to be, and even if they were able to put a vitamin in a pill, it would still be a totally unbalanced nutrient... you have to take a thousand pills at a time to make certain you have a balanced diet... so just eat the food. Go towards quality food... unprocessed, organic, whole foods...
That said, if you are really worried about getting all the nutrients, or perhaps you are highly athletic, stuck on the diet your parents supply, etc., I recommend you look into food supplements. That is, a whole food, like spirulina. It's packed full of nutrients and should be a raw freeze-dried product with nothing added etc. There's nutritional yeast, flax or hemp oils, well, the list is endless...
ye i think so. I'm a 14 yrs old and only a vegeterian and i take iron suppliments. But a teen vegan should probably be taking calcium and protein suppliments as well. I've learnt through experience and dieticians that at this age it is CRITICAL to get the right amount of calcium, or your bones will become weak and you can easily get osteporosis (scuse my spelling) which is irriversable, so you need to get the calcium now before its too late (once you hit a certain age like in your 20's your bones start to lose strength and calcium, so you need to get it know) protein is important for proper muscle development also, which you can get through beans and nuts, but you have to eat a lot of them so i suggest protein suppliments, iron is also a very important suppliment to take.
there are heaps of different brands (i cant remember the brands of the ones i take) but you can just find them in your local publix or walmart.
My first thought is that you should be getting all that you need from the foods that you are eating.
I guess if you really WANT to - you can. But before you waste that kind of money - I would go to the doctor first and see if you really even have any lack within your body before going the expense.