Research
Micronutrients & recovery
Vegan diets are associated with lower calcium intake compared to vegetarian, semi-vegetarian, and pesco-vegetarian diets, and may fall below national dietary recommendations.
If you follow a vegan diet, be aware that your calcium intake is likely to be lower than if you consume dairy or fish. Aim to include calcium-rich plant foods (like fortified plant milks or leafy greens) or consider supplementation to meet national dietary recommendations.
ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
Calcium intake was lowest for the vegans and below national dietary recommendations... The highest calcium consumption was found in semi-vegetarians and pesco-vegetarians, the lowest in vegans, with respectively 1470, 1470 and 738 mg/day.
Why this rating
Cross-sectional observational study with self-reported data.
Source
Comparison of Nutritional Quality of the Vegan, Vegetarian, Semi-Vegetarian, Pesco-Vegetarian and Omnivorous Diet
Peter Clarys et al. · Nutrients · 2014
DOI 10.3390/nu6031318
cross_sectional · n=1475Cited 500×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Adhering to a vegan diet results in superior overall dietary quality scores (HEI-2010 and MDS) compared to omnivorous, vegetarian, semi-vegetarian, and pesco-vegetarian diets, primarily driven by higher intakes of fruits, vegetables, and fiber, and lower intakes of saturated fat and sodium.Moderate
- Vegan diets are associated with lower total energy intake, lower saturated fat, lower sodium, and higher dietary fiber and polyunsaturated fatty acid intake compared to omnivorous diets.Moderate
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