Vegan Nutrition

Chia and flaxseed compared per 100 g: flaxseed has more ALA and potassium, chia more fibre, calcium and iron. Why whole seeds did not raise blood ALA, the evidence on cholesterol and blood pressure, and what EFSA says about cyanide in flaxseed.

Tofu and tempeh compared per 100 g: tempeh has more protein, magnesium and potassium; firm tofu set with calcium sulfate has six times the calcium. What fermentation really changes, and why tempeh is not a B12 source.

Five things to include when you ask a chatbot about vegan nutrition, an example question and a seven-point checklist for testing the answer before you act on it, with the five studies behind them and their limits.

Creatine, carnitine and taurine are sold together, shelved together and written about together. They deserve none of that. The last of three short pieces, showing that what separates them is not the biology but how much anyone looked.

Taurine is the one where the honest answer is uncomfortable: nobody has looked properly. The measurements that exist are real, small and forty years old. What is missing is not a negative result, but any result at all connecting taurine status in vegans to health.

The supplement pitch is simple: it is concentrated in meat, vegans get almost none, therefore vegans are short of it. Every step of that sentence is either uncertain or wrong. Two human studies point in opposite directions, absorption adapts, and supplementing carries a measurable cost.

Vegans carry less creatine in their muscles than meat eaters, and it has been measured by biopsy rather than assumed. The first of three short pieces: why the stores are lower, how big the effect of supplementing actually is, what dose the literature gives, and what the kidney question really amounts to.

On average, switching to a vegan or vegetarian diet lowers cholesterol, but by less than many expect, and a trial average cannot promise the same result for every individual. A 2023 meta-analysis of 30 randomised trials finds an LDL drop of about 12 mg/dL — and shows who gets less than that, and why.

Seitan is the most protein-dense food on most vegan shelves, and the one whose protein is most digestible: 97% true ileal digestibility. It still scores last on protein quality, because lysine is limiting, and a ready-made block carries 447 mg of sodium per 100 g. For coeliac disease and IgE-mediated wheat allergy it is not a food at all, and a 2026 survey found the highest mycotoxin levels of any plant-based category in seitan.

A portion of cooked beans gives about as much protein as two small eggs, plus fibre, iron and folate. This guide covers what one portion gives you, how much a vegan should aim for, a day meal by meal, cooking kidney beans safely, and why gas usually fades within a few weeks.