Experts advise that a vegan diet can cause a lack of protein, which contributes to building enzymes, hormones, antibodies and haemoglobin in our bodies.
Shona Wilkinson, Nutritionist at SuperfoodUK.com, exclusively told Express.co.uk: “There are a few nutrients that may fall short in even the healthiest vegan diet.
“Perhaps the most important of these nutrients is protein. With few exceptions, protein is found in the highest concentration in animal foods: an average serving of chicken breast can contain around 25 to 30 g of protein, a fillet of cod around 20 g, and two eggs around 12 to 16 g.
“In plant foods, on the other hand, an average serving of brown rice will provide only around 6 g of protein, 100 g of cooked lentils around 9 g, and a cup of broccoli, which is one of the highest protein vegetables, will provide around 6 g of protein.”
Shona believes that getting an adult’s recommended daily amount of protein is very, very difficult on a vegan diet.
She said there are: “things we are getting less of by excluding animal foods.”
The most serious of these is vitamin B12, which is very low in plant foods. Non-animal products have be to specifically fortified to make sure vegans get enough.
Shona said: “Longstanding B12 deficiency can lead to high levels of a substance called homocysteine in the body, which is associated with cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease and other chronic conditions.”
Short term it can lead to “a type of anaemia and so one of the first symptoms is often fatigue, with others including headaches, palpitations and loss of appetite.”
Long-term issues can include nerve problems such as pins and needles and numbness.
Oxygen-carrying abilities can also cause a problem for vegans, as in the case of 34-year-old Maria Strydom from Australia who died climbing Mount Everest.
A doctor told Women’s Health that her vegan diet may have contributed to her death.
Niket Sonpal, M.D., assistant clinical professor at Touro College of Medicine in New York said: “Altitude sickness can affect anyone, it’s an equal opportunity offender. But oxygen-carrying capacity is something that vegans can be affected by.”
Shona says: “Iron is another potential shortfall in vegan diets. The iron in animal foods partly consists of ‘haem’ iron, which is relatively well absorbed – between 15 and 35%. The form of iron in plant foods is ‘non-haem’ iron, which has a different structure: only about 2 to 20% is thought to be absorbed.
If you have an iron deficiency you will feel tiredness and fatigue.
Iodine is another mineral that is low in vegan diets - as most intake in the UK comes from milk products.
Shona says: “Iodine is necessary for normal functioning of the thyroid gland, which governs our metabolism.
“Low thyroid function or ‘hypothyroidism’ can result from iodine deficiency and can cause adverse symptoms including weight gain, dry skin, excessive tiredness and fatigue, depression and many others, and is linked to other health conditions including high cholesterol.”
Longer-chain fatty acids EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), forms of Omega-3, are also missing in a vegan diet - but they play vital roles in brain and eye health, heart health and circulation, reproduction, and controlling inflammation.
These are, understandably, very important human functions.
Shona says: “They are generally only found in significant quantities in oily fish and fish livers and are therefore rarely consumed in a vegetarian or vegan diet.
“And while the body can make EPA and DHA from plant-sourced alpha linolenic acid with the help of enzymes, vitamins and minerals, research has shown that the amounts converted to EPA and DHA in this way can be very small if not negligible.”
A vegan blogger who claimed to eat 51 bananas a day recently admitted to breast implants in candid video.
Leanne Ratcliffe, known to her fans as Freelee the Banana Girl, has more than half a million followers on YouTube.
The hoards of online fans watch her videos for advice on eating a raw, vegan diet – something that's grown dramatically in popularity over the past five years.
She said: “This video is not a boob job promotion video - I’m not saying to you girls that you should go and get your boobs done.
“I got my boobs done when I was 21 - I’m 36 now - and it was like a 21st present to myself.”
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