A lot of people today are switching to a vegan or plant-based diet. A vegan diet is one that is devoid of all forms of animal-based or animal-sourced foods. It is stricter compared to many vegetarian diets, which may allow poultry-based foods such as milk and eggs.

Protein is a major nutrient for everyone, vegans included. Unfortunately, the best source of protein is animal-sourced, so vegans will have to find the best plant based protein supplement.

You need to consider four things to make sure you’re getting the best-suited supplements for this type of diet.

Factor #1–Make Sure It is 100% Vegan Friendly

The supplement that you bought may be 100% vegan, but you may be missing out on an important detail. What about the casing of the so-called vegan-friendly supplement?

Many brands out there use animal-sourced ingredients like gelatin for the supplement casing. You should check the fine print on the package to see if the supplement product is 100% plant-based.

If that information isn’t available on the packaging, you should call the manufacturer or distributor to inquire about that detail.

Factor #2–Make Sure It is Organic

If you want to follow the spirit of true veganism, you should make sure that you are consuming organic products. It doesn’t make sense to avoid animal-based food products in exchange for synthetic food elements.

It’s like trading one bad thing for another. Make sure that there are no pesticides or herbicides included in the ingredients.

Factor #3–Avoid Synthetics

Again, check the capsule ingredients. If you found something that is kind of hard to pronounce, you better look it up or talk to your dietitian about it. Ask if it is a synthetic ingredient or not. What you are looking for in plant based protein supplements are whole food ingredients.

If “extracts” is included in the ingredients list, inquire about those extracts.

Factor #4–Check the Doses

Different nutrients have different recommended IUs. If you have any health conditions, you may require more IUs of certain nutrients. That may mean you will need more plant based protein supplements or other types of vitamins or minerals.

Talk to your doctor about your particular therapeutic doses. Your actual doses may even need to be adjusted for certain conditions.

3 Types of Nutrients You Should Take

Other than plant based protein supplements, you may also need other types of nutrients in your daily supplement intake, especially if you are following a vegan diet.

Some may claim that by simply eating whole foods, you have all your nutritional needs covered. However, this may be far from the truth as a vegan diet is a restrictive type of diet.

Here are seven supplements that are proven by actual science that vegans need apart from plant based protein supplements.

  • Vitamin B12

Studies have shown that most vegans are at risk of being vitamin B12 deficient, which is why they need to supplement with this more than others.

  • Vitamin D3

Studies show that elderly vegans, especially women, need to supplement with plant-sourced vitamin D3, particularly in the winter months.

  • Long Chain Omega 3s

Studies also show that vegans and vegetarians have 50% lower levels of omega 3s in their blood, which makes sense for vegans to supplement with omega 3s as well.

Apart from protein supplements sourced from plants, vegans also need other nutrients that may be lacking in their diet. Becoming a vegan is a great way to lose weight and live healthily, but you also need to get more protein and other essential nutrients as well.