I think vegan diets have proven themselves to be among the best when it comes to mortality, and the differences between the top diets in mortality don’t matter much at this point. If vegan diets were bad enough for mortality to be a concern, we’d see this in the observational studies that adjust for health behaviours.
Cognitive function and energy are what I’m most worried about now, for my quality of life and productivity. I’m bivalvegan (6 years), and I take a multivitamin, creatine, DHA/EPA, vitamin D3 (I had problems with it despite my multivitamin) and iron (I had problems with it despite my multivitamin). There are other proposed micronutrients I should plausibly be worrying about, but I’m not convinced yet (there is some choline in my multivitamin, but not much). If I were convinced, I’d probably just eat more bivalves, since I don’t have them often now.
I think I spend around $1/day on supplements, mainly for the DHA/EPA.
Worth noting that multivitamins are associated with very slightly increased mortality in the general population. Cochrane put this down to them overdosing A, E, and beta-carotene, which I don’t expect vegans to be deficient in, so the finding might transfer. (Sounds like you’ve done blood tests though, so ignore me if it helps you.)
I haven’t dug through the studies, but these were specific supplements, not multivitamins, right? I’d imagine ~100% recommended daily value in a multivitamin and ~200% in your entire diet is safe for pretty much any nutrient, but ya, some multivitamins go way over for some nutrients (although are typically below upper limits). Supplements for specific nutrients may be worse.
I use https://labdoor.com/ to pick supplements. The multivitamin I’m using now is poorly-rated, but significantly above average for safety, including all nutrients below upper limits, but maybe the upper limits are set too high.
I think vegan diets have proven themselves to be among the best when it comes to mortality, and the differences between the top diets in mortality don’t matter much at this point. If vegan diets were bad enough for mortality to be a concern, we’d see this in the observational studies that adjust for health behaviours.
Cognitive function and energy are what I’m most worried about now, for my quality of life and productivity. I’m bivalvegan (6 years), and I take a multivitamin, creatine, DHA/EPA, vitamin D3 (I had problems with it despite my multivitamin) and iron (I had problems with it despite my multivitamin). There are other proposed micronutrients I should plausibly be worrying about, but I’m not convinced yet (there is some choline in my multivitamin, but not much). If I were convinced, I’d probably just eat more bivalves, since I don’t have them often now.
I think I spend around $1/day on supplements, mainly for the DHA/EPA.
Worth noting that multivitamins are associated with very slightly increased mortality in the general population. Cochrane put this down to them overdosing A, E, and beta-carotene, which I don’t expect vegans to be deficient in, so the finding might transfer. (Sounds like you’ve done blood tests though, so ignore me if it helps you.)
https://www.cochrane.org/CD007176/LIVER_antioxidant-supplements-for-prevention-of-mortality-in-healthy-participants-and-patients-with-various-diseases
I haven’t dug through the studies, but these were specific supplements, not multivitamins, right? I’d imagine ~100% recommended daily value in a multivitamin and ~200% in your entire diet is safe for pretty much any nutrient, but ya, some multivitamins go way over for some nutrients (although are typically below upper limits). Supplements for specific nutrients may be worse.
I use https://labdoor.com/ to pick supplements. The multivitamin I’m using now is poorly-rated, but significantly above average for safety, including all nutrients below upper limits, but maybe the upper limits are set too high.