Essential Nutrients Every Vegan Should Know
By McDonald, T. | Updated 01 of July 2021 All vegans need to pay attention to nutrition since some vitamins you can't get from vegetables. This is way you may have heard or even seen on food packaging about foods fortified with things like B12. However, it is easy to miss out on a balanced diet if you neglect to investigate nutrition. B12 Why is it important? Without B12, serious health problems can occur such as: Permanent nerve damage Depression A pale yellow tinge to your skin Irritability Pernicious anaemia Function B12 helps to keeps nerve and blood cells healthy. It also helps to made DNA in the cells. B12 loses the protein it is bond to and then binds to another protein in the body called intrinsic factor allowing it to be absorbed. If the body can't make intrinsic factor, it is difficult for the body to absorb B12 resulting in Pernicious anaemia (NIH, 2021). Foods With B12 For vegans, this will have to come from either fortified foods or supplements since