Do Vegans Get Deficiency Diseases?
A varied, vegan wholefood diet is able to provide all essential dietary nutrients, as well as sufficient protein and energy and deficiency diseases are, in fact, rare in vegans. However, meals do need to be planned carefully and you will find meal planning easier if you understand the principles of vegan nutrition. I would, therefore, recommend that you read Vegan Nutrition Pure and Simple, by Dr Michael Klaper, which contains a lot of useful information as well as many recipes and some sample meal plans. The book Vegan Nutrition by Dr Gill Langley, is also well worth looking at, as it reviews many of the scientific health studies which have been carried out on vegans and is very reassuring reading. You may also like to check out the article ‘Veg Out Time?’ which was published in the Guardian recently (February 3 1998). This article, which is not so reassuring, covers both vegans and vegetarians and takes the view that the vegetarian diet can be harmful. It highlights some of the areas
