Vegan Vitamins for Women: Top 8 Daily Essentials To Boost Your Health

1. Insufficient intake or excessive loss

Have you ever had a week where you ate clean and hit your macronutrient goals, and you tanked the next week? Falling off track happens to the best of us, but when your diet may not fulfill your nutrient requirements, a multivitamin has your back.

And because women have different nutritional requirements than men, a tailored multivitamin helps to ensure that what the body needs is there when it needs it.

For example, monthly menses increase the need for heme iron to replace what’s lost during bleeding, whereas women going through menopause require increased calcium levels for bone health.

A 2016 NHANES survey found that most adult women don’t meet the requirements of daily intake of the essential nutrients, which can have long-lasting impacts on overall health and well-being. So, rather than gambling with your health, having a quality multivitamin keeps you covered and compliments a healthy diet.

2. Absorption inhibitors

Anti-nutrients can be slightly problematic for anyone who eats a primarily plant-based diet. Although most people don’t talk about nutrients, they’re compounds inherently present in plant foods that inhibit the absorption of essential minerals. While there are several types of anti-nutrients, the main ones we concern ourselves with are:

• Lectins
• Phytates (phytic acid)
• Gluten
• Oxalates (oxalic acid)

They’re present in everything from fruits and vegetables to grains, beans, legumes, and nuts. And if not appropriately prepared during the cooking process, they can prevent nutrient absorption and lead to health concerns like kidney stones, leaky gut, and inflammation. The main nutrients they interfere with are calcium, magnesium, zinc, copper, and iron.

3. Stress

Stress happens, whether we want it to or not. And while acute stress is beneficial for strengthening the body’s responses, chronic stress does the opposite. When stress becomes chronic, your body enters a constant state of fight-or-flight, which means hormones are running high.

Elevated cortisol, the primary stress hormone, can lead to several adverse outcomes, including elevated inflammatory markers, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, thyroid imbalances, sex hormone dysfunction, and nutrient deficiencies ².

The nutrients taking the biggest hit from stress are magnesium, zinc, iron, calcium, and the B vitamins, but proteins and fatty acids are also impacted ²; these are essential for enzyme activity, energy production, immune function, hormone synthesis, tissue growth and repair, and several other biological processes.

And to top it all off, stress shunts energy away from the “non-essential” functions like digestion, which means even if you’re consuming the nutrients, you’re probably not absorbing them effectively. If you want to maximize nutrient absorption and utilization, get your stress under control.

4. Exercise

We all know how vital nutrition is if you’re looking to get results in the gym, but many people don’t know that protein and carbs aren’t the only things you need to replace after training—you need to replace micronutrients, too.

Exercise is a stress on the body, albeit a good one, but puts stress on several metabolic pathways that depend on thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), and vitamin B6 to function, which means the requirements for these nutrients increases ³.

It’s suggested that exercise depleted nutrient stores due to a combination of several factors, including ³:

• Decreased absorption
• Increased turnover, metabolism, or loss of nutrients
• Biochemical adaptations associated with physical activity
• Increased concentrations of mitochondrial enzymes with nutrient-specific cofactors
• Nutrients required for tissue maintenance and repair

On top of the B vitamins, exercise also causes loss of electrolytes sodium, potassium, and magnesium) and increases the need for antioxidants like vitamin E, vitamin C, and glutathione, as high-intensity prolonged activity increases the production of free radicals.

5. Diet

Is it enough to load your plate with lean meats, complex carbs, healthy fats, and vegetables? Ideally, yes, but realistically, no. Theoretically, every nutrient you need can come from diet, but most people aren’t eating enough of the ultra nutrient-dense foods, which means nutrients are getting bypassed.

Sure, loading up on leafy greens is a great way to increase your intake of B vitamins, magnesium, and other nutrients, but most foods don’t contain everything your body needs to thrive.

And when you eliminate foods or entire food groups due to dietary restrictions, you’re further complicating the problem, as certain nutrients are relegated to certain foods.

Eating clean is great, but throwing in a multi as the cherry on top never hurts.

Vitamin D

• What it is: Vitamin D isn’t just for women—it’s one of the most common nutrient deficiencies worldwide, with an estimated 1 billion people not having sufficient levels ⁴. Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin with hormone properties known for regulating calcium, magnesium, and phosphate metabolism, among other functions. It’s widely available in food sources, but the best source is the sun, hence the name ‘the sunshine vitamin.’
• Why you need it: Many women know vitamin D’s role in immune function, but it has much more to offer. Virtually every cell in the human body has a receptor for vitamin D, which means it plays a significant role throughout every body system. Although it’s essential for immune health, mood, and pregnancy, one of its most important roles for women is bone health ⁵. It plays a critical role in calcium and phosphorus homeostasis and bone mineralization and thus prevents the onset of osteomalacia and osteoporosis. On top of that, once women reach menopause (50 years+), estrogen levels drop; estrogen plays an essential role in promoting the activity of bone-building osteoblasts. The drop in estrogen accompanying menopause decreases bone production and maintenance efficacy.

Magnesium

• What it is: Magnesium is an essential mineral that serves as a cofactor for over 600 enzymatic reactions ranging from energy production and protein formation to muscle function, neurotransmitter release, and DNA synthesis ⁶. Simply put, your body cannot function without magnesium.
• Why you need it: While there seems like no end to the list of benefits associated with magnesium, there are a few key ones for women ^7-13: required for DNA synthesis and fetal growth and development during pregnancy; blood pressure regulation; bone integrity and mitigating the risk of osteoporosis; reducing symptoms of PMS; blood sugar regulation and insulin sensitivity, especially among people with type 2 diabetes; improved recovery from physical activity; and lower levels of inflammation. There is no shortage of places where you can find magnesium, but most people still aren’t getting enough—and it’s essential for proper physiological function.

Iron

• What it is: Iron is one of the most abundant minerals in the human body and plays a vital role in growth and development and red blood cell production. You’ll find iron in two forms: heme iron and non-heme iron; the former is found in animal foods and has higher bioavailability, whereas the latter is found in plant foods and can be difficult to absorb without help from other compounds like vitamin C ¹⁴.
• Why you need it: Most people don’t think twice about iron, but it’s essential for optimal function—especially for women of reproductive age. It’s estimated that for every one day of menstrual bleeding, women lose roughly 1 to 1.6mg of iron, and if you’re experiencing heavy bleeding, those losses are even higher ¹⁵. Although iron stores don’t drop excessively fast, low levels can be detrimental to red blood cell formation and heme synthesis; heme is a protein that’s responsible for transporting oxygen, and a deficiency of iron can lead to iron-deficiency anemia, a condition whereby red blood cell count is low, and oxygen transport decreases, leading to weakness and fatigue.

Vitamin B12

• What it is: Vitamin V12, also known as cobalamin, is an essential B vitamin involved in red blood cell production, DNA and RNA synthesis, energy metabolism, and nervous system function. It’s water-soluble and therefore must be replenished daily. Insufficient levels can lead to B12-deficiency anemia, characterized by low levels of healthy red blood cells and inadequate tissue oxygenation.
• Why you need it: Vitamin B12 is one of the tricky nutrients to get if you’re following a plant-based diet and one of the more difficult ones to absorb if you struggle with intestinal issues. Vitamin B12 is essential for the health and function of the nervous system, where it’s involved in the development and myelination of the central nervous system and regulating neurotransmitter synthesis ¹⁶. It also works with folate (B9) to regulate homocysteine metabolism, which is part of maintaining a healthy cardiovascular system. And for women looking to have children, B12 plays a critical role in perinatal health, as it’s involved in DNA formation, bone health, and mood regulation ¹⁷. Requirements for B12 increase during pregnancy, too.

Vitamin K2

• What it is: Vitamin K2 isn’t a nutrient you hear much about, but it’s no less important than any other. It’s a fat-soluble vitamin known for its role in blood clotting due to its role as a coenzyme. But it’s also required for bone metabolism, making it an essential nutrient for women’s health.
• Why you need it: Vitamin K2 is an underdog in the nutrient world. It serves as a coenzyme for vitamin K-dependent carboxylase, an enzyme required to form proteins involved in hemostasis (blood clotting) ¹⁸. It also benefits bone turnover through its role in stimulating osteoblast differentiation, upregulating transcription of specific genes in osteoblasts, and activating vitamin K-dependent proteins that support extracellular bone matrix mineralization ¹⁹. Studies find that postmenopausal taking vitamin K2 supplements had a much slower decrease in age-related bone mineral density than those not supplementing ²⁰.

Folate

• What it is: Vitamin B9, more commonly known as folate (the natural form) or folic acid (the synthetic form), is a water-soluble vitamin involved in DNA synthesis and cell growth and development. Low folate levels are linked to high homocysteine, congenital disabilities in babies, and increased cancer risk.
• Why you need it: Folate is essential for women of all ages, but it has become increasingly more important for pregnant women, as it’s required for proper DNA synthesis, normal growth and development of the fetus, and prevention of neural tube defects ^{21, 22}. It’s also necessary to convert homocysteine to methionine, which, when levels become elevated, can lead to cellular toxicity and an increased risk of cardiovascular complications ²³. And in conjunction with B12, folate helps produce red blood cells and tissue oxygenation.

Zinc

• What it is: Zinc is the second most abundant mineral in the human body after iron and functions as is needed for the activity of hundreds of enzymes involved in metabolism, digestion, nerve function, immunity, thyroid, and much more.
• Why you need it: Zinc and the immune system go hand in hand because it’s required for producing immune cells and wound healing, but it also plays several other roles. It’s necessary for more than 300 enzymes to carry out chemical reactions and is a significant player in DNA synthesis, cell growth and development, protein synthesis, neurotransmitter activity, collagen synthesis, hormone production, and fertility ²⁴.

Iodine

• What it is: You’ve likely heard about iodine, but most women know very little about it. It’s a trace element that the body needs in small quantities for proper thyroid function. It’s also essential during pregnancy and may help prevent certain health conditions later in life.
• Why you need it: Iodine is perhaps one of the most important nutrients required for thyroid health, and the thyroid is the master regulator of several critical processes. It produces three hormones—triiodothyronine (T3), tetraiodothyronine (T4), and calcitonin—that are required for growth and development, metabolism, temperature, calcium and bone metabolism, and more ²⁵. While the body needs only tiny amounts of iodine, even small changes to thyroid levels can seriously affect thyroid function.