As a vegan marathon runner with no deficiencies shown on blood tests, should I still take vitamins?

Question

Dr. Nyree Dardarian, RD, CSSD, EdD · Answer

So vegan marathon runners with no deficiencies in blood tests, should they take vitamins? You know, that's a really hard question to answer. This is something that needs to be done more individually than on a larger group answer. I mean, there are some things that you should be looking for B12, but you can also, you know, find foods that are for If I'd maybe with B12, so it doesn't have to come from supplement. You need to make sure that you are getting enough of your fat soluble vitamins. Make sure that you are eating enough fat, you know, I don't know what you mean by blood test, all being positive, but definitely do that research. Find a doctor, get the blood test, and, you know, you're not going to see things like a Calcium deficiency in your Blood. So, you need to make sure that you're finding different ways to get calcium. For example, if it's not coming from a milk product, at least a fortified product. So, keeping track keeping a food, diary might also help you see where there might be deficiencies. That would not show up in blood test.

Kelly Jones, MS, RD, CSSD · Answer

Question, as a vegan marathon runner with no deficiencies shown on blood tests, should I still take vitamins? And by vitamins, I'm assuming that you mean supplements in general. So we've got vitamins and minerals as essential nutrients, and then some other things that we can get from supplements too. But yes, I believe even as a plant forward dietitian who works with many vegans and has worked with many in the past, you do have certain nutrients that you are not going to obtain in a modern vegan diet that you need just for health, not even performance for a marathon. So first we need to consider B12. You will not get B12 from food. Yes, you can get it fortified in your non-dairy milks, things like nutritional yeast, but I would recommend taking a B12 supplement. If you became vegan later in life, you store B12 in your liver. So you may be running off of some old B12 stores that eventually can run out. The next thing is vitamin D. You can get vitamin D again fortified into some products, but it's safer and better to supplement with it. Really you want your levels above 50, even though blood work will say above 30, to optimize athletic performance. And then the other one I'm really big on is omega-3s. You can get omega-3 from plant foods, but it is not in the form of EPA unless you're having a lot of algae. So look for those and that'll support your health and performance.

Bob Seebohar, MS, RD, CSSD · Answer

I mean, if all the blood work that you got actually did not show any deficiencies for an athlete, and that's a key thing, athletic deficiencies versus normal population deficiencies, sometimes it's a little bit different, so you have to watch that. But if you did not show any deficiencies, specifically, think in vitamin D, B12, folates and iron, there's probably no reason to take a supplement. Now, you did just mention vitamins. I would throw minerals in there also, and those are things like iron. But normally, if you do not have, if you are within the athletic ranges on your blood work and without deficiencies, and you're a vegan marathon runner, I think you're doing a pretty good job.

Keith Ayoob, EdD, RDN, FAND · Answer

As a vegan marathon runner with no deficiencies shown on blood tests, should I still take vitamins? Good question, because the blood tests, although if they don't show any deficiencies, especially for things like vitamin D and for example vitamin B12 that are often limited in a vegan diet, you want to look for those. One thing I would say, look at your diet. And while it doesn't necessarily show up on blood tests right away, you may want to check out how much calcium you're getting. Because a vegan diet can be low in calcium, it's one of the things you want to watch out for if you're not getting enough calcium sources. Vegetables for example, do contain, some green leafy vegetables contain calcium, so does tofu, but you want to make sure that you're getting enough. And as a marathon runner, you need to get enough calcium, well everybody needs to get enough calcium, but particularly if you're avoiding dairy sources, which are a really good source of calcium, you want to make sure you have to make those up elsewhere in your diet and it's not always that easy to get. So something like a soy dairy alternative that's fortified with adequate calcium to the same level that milk naturally contains would be a good thing to have in your diet, same thing with tofu. And you may need a calcium supplement, but check out the calcium sources in your diet first. And you might want to meet with a registered dietitian just for an initial visit to see where your calcium sources are coming from and if you're getting enough.

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"As a vegan marathon runner with no deficiencies shown on blood tests, should I still take vitamins?"