Is this true though? (genuine question btw)
I've heard countless times that vegetarians (or vegans? can't remember) need to take supplements to raise the levels of certain things in their diets as they miss some nutrients from meat or something.
You got any interesting articles for this?
Fair question, its widely explained that 12 things we need, but that includes things like b12 which we do 'need' but are not 100% essential (you'd get very sick with b12 deficiency however), 9 are ESSENTIAL TO EXIST, I made this list for you:
Phenylalanine - soybeans - also found in animals because the animals eat it from plants, like us they cannot make it themselves (being mammals) - for livestock animals its added to their feed
Valine - found in nearly all plants
Threonine - found in nearly all plants
Methionine - seeds, nuts, also found in animals because the animals eat it from plants, like us they cannot make it themselves (being mammals) - for livestock animals its added to their feed
Leucine - found in plants, added as a food additive in modern sanitary food, E641
Isoleucine - soy, seaweed - again added to animal feed to let the animal live and meat eaters can get it 2nd via them
Lysine - soy, beans, peas, grains, - also found in animals because the animals eat it from plants
Histidine - Found mostly from bacteria, also plants added to food, sanitary food production requires it
There is a few more vitamins, minerals and amino acids we need to be healthy - again, always,
the source is plants or bacteria
In a nutshell, all animals basically require the same things we need to survive, so if you someone says you 'need' meat to survive, thats not true - because you're eating the corpse of an animal that needs the same molecules as we do to survive, so really, you're just taking it from their body as its contained within their body - the reality is, literally, animal life only exists because plants do, the plants make the things mammals bodies cannot.
Bacteria make the other bits and bobs - in short, clean modern life requires we add it back in - in fact all animals on farms get b12 supplements in their food, so the animal Is full of b12 - I get mine from soy milk, its added into the product - not many are aware its also added into animals for the same reason, people think meat is 'natural' but all food animals are having themselves pumped full of additives we 'need' (b12), they also have other drugs, anti bacterial stuff etc etc - you don't get that in plants really and plants are washed if pesticides are used, you cannot wash a lump of meat tissue as its added in as it grows.
Side point, loads of foods on the packet says 'added vitamins and minerals' especially on children food products.
So years ago before vegan food also had b12 added, yes, b12 supplement was required, but in the 3,4 blood tests I had 3 years after becoming vegan all my b12 levels were perfect or slightly high (within range)
Minerals etc useful to our body are found (AGAIN!) in 'unsanitary' water, river water etc, which also has lots of B12 in, so yeah, b12, minerals, nutrients to a degree was never a problem for our ancestors as they got huge amounts from drinking river water or similar - there is so many health benefits from not being 100% clean.
Hope thats some useful info!