Best Multivitamin for Vegetarians

Early in adopting a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, the question of vitamins, supplements, and multivitamins inevitably comes up: do vegetarians need a multivitamin, or can they get enough nutrients from a whole food vegetarian diet?

For those on the carnivorous end of the dietary spectrum, the same question applies, due to the assumption that a total “whole food” diet requires a supposedly more balanced “omnivorous” approach to meal prepping and eating.

It’s a fair question.

Many plant foods are high in certain vitamins and minerals, whereas other micronutrients are predominantly found in meats.

However, for both vegetarians and carnivores alike, including the common omnivore in the middle, the importance of supplementing a multivitamin for men is only increasing not only due to voluntary self-limited food choices but due to the nutrient-sapping effects of modern food processing in general.

Though in this article we’re primarily focusing on the Best Multivitamin for Vegetarians, including the key and essential vitamins and minerals that vegetarians should focus on, the information provided here may be useful to anyone and everyone of all dietary lifestyles.

But, yes, vegetarians and vegans: take special note.

Getting the Best and Most Essential Nutrients: The Beginner’s Guide on Multivitamins

In general, taking an all-natural, plant-based supplement is best for avoiding cheap ingredient forms and harmful synthetics.

Virtually all multivitamin supplements deliver the essential micronutrients your body needs. But few actually deliver these micronutrients in forms that your body can efficiently absorb.

These cheap-O multivitamin formulas are poor answers to the low nutrient density associated with modern “ultra-processed” foods:

Nutrient density refers to the amount of beneficial nutrients (vitamins, minerals, aminos, etc.) in proportion to the caloric (energy) content of any given food. Research suggests that “ultra-processed” foods are not only low in nutrient density but strongly associated with obesity and cardiometabolic disorders.^[1]

Foods labeled as “vegetarian” or “vegan” are not exempt from poor nutrient density. Many food manufacturers do what they can to legally advertise their food products as “healthy” and “organic” while providing cheaply processed food items high in “empty calories” absent of the most beneficial and best vitamins and minerals for your health.

And this is only in addition to the common micronutrient deficiencies associated with a predominantly plant-based diet.

List of Key and Essential Vitamins and Minerals for Vegetarians

Even while avoiding “empty calorie” foods, maintaining sufficient levels of all essential vitamins and minerals can be difficult for vegetarians.

In general, a few of the more common nutrient deficiencies associated with plant-based eating include:

• Vitamin B12: though a generally common deficiency, vegetarians and vegans are particularly at-risk of vitamin B12-deficiency, which has been associated with cognitive and energy metabolic disorders.^[2]
• Vitamin D: vegetarians should supplement vitamin D, the “sunlight” vitamin, because everyone should supplement vitamin D, a life-essential compound found in very few food sources, plant-based and meat-based alike.^[3]
• Calcium: though carefully selecting calcium-rich plant-based foods may help combat calcium deficiency, the absence of dairy products in the vegan diet may introduce difficulties in acquiring adequate dietary calcium.^[4]
• Iron: in a comparison between vegetarians and nonvegetarians, a higher proportion of vegetarians were found to have depleted iron stores and iron deficiency anemia,^[5] suggesting an increased need for iron supplementation among vegetarians.
• Zinc: despite a high variability in vegetarian diets, populations committed to a vegetarian diet generally have low levels of zinc, a key mineral involved in immunity and sex hormone status.^[6]

By focusing on these key vitamins and minerals, many vegetarians and senior men can help keep their total nutrient levels within an optimal range. This is where vitamin supplements and multivitamins can play a role.

However, the best all-in-one multivitamin stack that supplies these vitamins and minerals—and more—for vegetarians is Performance Lab® NutriGenesis® Multi.

Let’s take a brief glance at this multi stack.

Continue reading to learn more about why vegetarians and vegans should take multivitamin supplements, as well as the specific health advantages of increasing your essential micronutrient intake while on a vegetarian/vegan diet...

Best Health For Your Future: Do Vegetarians and Vegans Need to Take a Multivitamin?

Back to the BIG question at hand: do vegetarians and vegans need to take a multivitamin?

Again, while virtually everyone may benefit by taking a multivitamin, vegetarians and vegans may particularly benefit from adding a multivitamin to their daily routine for a couple reasons:

1. Food Processing – modern manufacturing processes value quantity over quality, resulting in a lot of nutrient-sapped foods, such as vegetables that are most nutrient-dense when eaten raw.
2. Meaty Micronutrients – certain nutrients, such as carnosine and vitamin B12, predominantly come from non-vegetarian food sources.

An exceptionally vigilant and well-researched vegetarian meal plan full of whole food and with quality control measures and plant-food diversity may help you acquire all micronutrients and sufficient levels.

However, this is, of course, easier said than done, especially for all the busybody vegetarians who eat on-the-go.

For this reason, many vegetarians who need those essential nutrients take a multivitamin simply for the peace of mind (quite literally, considering the strong link between diet and mental health!^[7]).

Common Malnutrition Risk Factors Associated with Vegetarian Diets: Why Multivitamin Supplements May Benefit

Increasingly, “vegetarian” is becoming synonymous with “healthy.” Even so, there are potential downsides and risk factors to abiding by a strictly vegetarian diet plan, especially as we’re remembering that not all “plant-based” foods are exactly good and essential for your health.

For example: French fries.

Thus, it’s important to note that not all vegetarian diets are the same. In fact, there’s high variability in the way vegetarians should eat, and, thus, a high variability in the vitamins and nutrients they are consuming as well as the malnutrition risk factors associated with vegetarian diets.

With that in mind, some of the more common side effects linked to the specific nutrient deficiencies covered in this article (vitamin B12, vitamin D, calcium, iron, zinc) include:

• Poor cognitive performance
• Mood imbalance
• Hair thinning and loss

And, of course, the infamous “vegetarian gas” linked to the increased intake of fibrous plant foods in the diet.

Okay, but There are Advantages to a Meatless Diet, Though, Right?

Though some experience a common set of downsides associated with “going vegan,” many naturally experience a significant and much needed health boost in many areas of their health and fitness when they cut meat and animal-based foods from their diet.

Some of the more common benefits of a vegetarian diet:

• Increased Energy Levels
• Leaner Physique and Muscle Mass
• Lower Blood Pressure
• Improved Cardiometabolism
• Balanced Blood Sugar

And many more, depending on many other lifestyle and dietary factors. Again, due to the high variety of vegetarian diets, your mileage may vary. But let’s not get it twisted: the health advantages gained by a generally more nutritiously rich plant-based diet are immense.

Just make sure to also focus on those key micronutrients that can't be derived from plants and are generally absent in many vegetarian diets - even the best and most healthy ones.

Essential Nutrients: What to Look for in a Vegetarian Multivitamin Formula

In the same way that French fries technically qualify as “vegetable” products, many multivitamins and multivitamin supplements technically qualify as “vegetarian,” - and therefore "healthy". Insomuch that they exclusively use plant-sourced ingredients and plant-based additives—or, at the least, non-animal additives.

However, this isn’t enough to qualify a vegetarian multivitamin formula as effective nor healthy.

Here are a few things to take into consideration when looking for the best and effective, healthy multivitamin for vegetarians:

• Quality: are the ingredients in potent, easy-to-absorb forms?
• Quantity: are the ingredients sufficiently dosed?
• Focus: are there any unnecessary “hybrid” formula items (e.g., caffeine)?
• Cleanliness: are the additives all-natural and minimal?
• Affordability: does the price match the value?

Essentially, what you want is a multivitamin formula that uses only the best and most highly bioavailable ingredient forms at effective dosages delivered in clean, green, synthetic-free capsules. No artificial sweeteners or tablet preservatives or gimmicky additions (again, e.g., caffeine).

Just the good kind of stuff.

List of Key and Essential Vitamins and Minerals for Vegetarians

Eat more plants, get more nutrients—except for the following essential nutrients, which are generally more difficult to come by when committed to a wholly green diet:

Vitamin B12

Vegetarians and the elderly (and, by that token, elderly vegans) are particularly at risk of having deficient levels of vitamin B12, one of several B-vitamins important to cognitive health and energy metabolism. Vegans more so than vegetarians, especially vegans who don’t take a B12 supplement, have been found in clinical research to be especially at risk of B12-deficiency.^[8] Taking vitamin supplements like a comprehensive B-vitamin complex may help combat not only B12-deficiency but all B-vitamin-deficiency.

Vitamin D

Although vegetarian status isn’t a key central factor in vitamin D status, vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike should supplement vitamin D, a life-essential vitamin associated with immunity, bone health, sex hormone status, and protein synthesis. Vegans in cold regions with poor sunlight exposure are especially at risk of vitamin D-deficiency and should consider taking a vitamin D supplement if they aren't getting enough of it.^[9]

Calcium

Associated with milk and other dairy products, calcium is a mineral commonly deficient in plant-based diets, most notably among vegans, who demonstrated in the lowest calcium intake in clinical research.^[10] A key mineral for bone and joint health, as well as cardio and muscular performance, calcium is a worthwhile mineral for active, athletic vegans and vegetarians to supplement in multivitamins.

Iron

Low levels of iron are a particular risk among vegetarians over non-vegetarians,^[11] though high levels of iron are also a common danger for people of all dietary lifestyles. With that in mind, supplementing a moderate amount of iron via a multivitamin supplement is a smart move for vegetarians who aren't getting enough, which may assist with blood cell formation, oxygenation, neurotransmitter synthesis, and exercise performance.

Zinc

Another mineral commonly deficient among vegetarians more so than non-vegetarians: zinc.^[12] An essential mineral involved in immunity, vision, nervous health, and cell growth, zinc is one of the more important trace minerals for overall health and performance, especially among men given zinc’s direct correlation with testosterone status.

Conclusion about the Best Multivitamin for Vegetarians

The major upside of committing to a predominantly plant-based diet: increasing your intake of life-essential nutrients including vitamins and minerals.

But the downside? Risking deficiency in a few key life-essential nutrients predominantly found in animal meats and byproducts.

Performance Lab® NutriGenesis® Multi for vegetarians who can get a steady supply of those essential nutrients and then some in highly bioavailable, vegetarian-friendly NutriCaps® capsules.

In supporting a firm nutritional foundation, Performance Lab® NutriGenesis® Multi establishes a solid baseline for other health and fitness supplements to build upon, for both vegans and non-vegans, men and women.

Prebiotic-infused and probiotic-cultivated, Performance Lab® NutriGenesis® Multi is safe for long-term, daily use.