Someone told me I should be taking these to get proper nutrition, which admittedly I probably don't. I do eat fish but not frequently enough to rely on it for nutrition (a couple of times a month) and I eat eggs maybe once a week so I probably don't get enough B vitamins, and I know I don't get enough iron (unless somehow the added vitamins in my cereal and luna and balance bars are enough to compensate). I tried to find vegetarian vitamins at the grocery store and couldn't. Do they even exist or was he confusing them with vegan vitamins that don't have animal products? And if they do exist are they worth buying or should I just start taking normal women's multivitamins?

Vegetarian vitamins do exist, i find them everywhere these days from health shops to supermarkets. But vegan tablets wouldnt be a problem either if thats all you can find. Also i know zinc can be something which lacks in the vegetarian diet, especially the vegan.

B12 (i think, its one of the B's) is the vitamin that you can't find anywhere except in meat products.

I'd look at a mega b or b group vitamin suppliments. Iron is also very important and sometimes the tiredness/lethargy may not be low iron but low in B.

Make sure you have a variety of pulses, grains and nuts as well as green leafy vegetables and vegetables of other colours. Absorbic acid (aka vitamin c) is really good for your body to help absorb iron from green veggies so have some oj or squeeze lemon on your greens.

A good multivitamin is also good, too as an all rounder.

B12 can be found in animal products like meat and dairy,so as a vegetarian it is highly unlikly that you would be deficient in it.
vegans can run low levels of B12. but soya milks etc are fortified with it, and marmite also has B12 in it.

What the hell? Sorry, this makes fuck all sense. Vegetarians DON'T EAT MEAT and most of them have very little in the way of dairy. It's actually fairly LIKELY vegetarians will be B12 deficient. I was when I was a vego and I used to drink about 3 pints of milk a day.

I think you should just get a multi vitamin and some B12s on the side. You can't overdose on vitamins and minerals, you just pass it out in your urine if it's not used by the body.

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I just take a multi-vitamin with +iron...

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B12 is not only found in animal sources and usually is vegetarian safe in vitamins. if in doubt, check up on the brand using your friendly internet!

everyone should be taking a multivitamin as it's exceedingly rare for someone to actually be eating a nutrient rich and balanced diet.

additionally a calcium supplement should be taken as most people -omni or veggie- are low on their intakes. another everybody problem.

things to look out for if avoiding animal products but dairy sources are okay by you:

most of the multivitamins available on the market contain gelatin. it's listed among the other ingredients and just takes reading the bottle.

vitamin A should only come in it's carotene forms, if it lists it as just Vitamin A, retinol or as pro-vitamin A it's at least partially -if not wholly- from animal sources.

vitamin D should only come as D2, not as D3. D3 can be gotten from milk and often is, but can also be gathered from animal organs. note that all the D you need daily can be gotten in about 15 minutes of sunlight on the hands and face. it'll often be in your calcium supplement, though, and that's best for absorption and use as the body doesn't do well with calcium supplements to begin with (as compared to dietary calcium from natural sources).

vitamin K should be vitamin K-1 or "phylloquinone" to be from an vegetarian friendly source.

calcium is tricky as it often is gathered from animal sources ... sometimes it's from shells, often it's a biproduct of the meat industry (bones). look for calcium from rock sources. this can take some checking as they often just list "calcium".

iron and zinc tend to be issues for most folks, veggie-wise make sure they're in the multi you get.



it can be easier to just go to a reliable veggie/vegan source and get your supplements without the looking-up hassle. they're often in the exact same price range and easy to order of the net (just google, there're lots of veggie and vegan stores online, veganessentials.com is one... i think pangea.com is another... not sure of them exactly). if you've a health food store or similar nearby, even easier.

edited to add that you *can* overdose over time on some vitamins and minerals, but Bs are (primarily) water-soluble and not a worry. so long as you take things around your daily recommended amount you'll be fine.

i should have worded the original post better. i do realise that vegetarians don't eat meat, i was just pointing out that it could be found found in animal products like meat and dairy, also eggs. not just meat like someone else said. dairy and eggs are good sources of b12..
RumpusP also said 'B12 is not only found in animal sources' , although technically true, the human body can't absorb b12 found in plants.

you need quite small amounts of b12, and your body should have stores of it for at least 3 years anyway.

so honestly, a being vegetarian will never cause you to be deficient in b12.

and you can overdose on vitamins, some are fat and not water soluble, so you won't just wee them out. you would have to ingest a fair amount of that vitamin, but people have died from vitamin overdose.

the body rarely can absorb sufficient amounts purely from vegetables, but B12 comes from bacterial sources -both in plants and animals. instead of harvesting from animal sources, supplmental B12 is generally produced directly from bacteria.