Recommended Healthy Portion Sizes for Vegans And Vegetarians

admin — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 19:36:41 +0000

It seems that many people today, with the various diets and lifestyles, lack the essential understanding and awareness of recommended serving sizes. Often we we will look at that handy and insightful nutrition information label, but we’ll overlook the little part that tells us exactly how much of the product the nutrition facts actually apply to. In general and contrary to the common assumption among many people, the ‘Nutrition Facts Label Serving Size’ is not related to the ‘Food Pyramid’ recommended servings.
It appears that today the serving sizes that are being printed on products in the US “are more uniform and reflect the amounts people actually eat” (according to the FDA website). A level of concern about this may not be unfounded, especially considering rumors you may have seen on several websites (I have been unable to prove or disprove them) stating such unbelievable statistics as 40 percent of the average diet in America being comprised of dairy and only 8 percent being fresh fruit!
However, glancing at a few products, the serving sizes do seem reasonable so far, for instance 5 crackers amount to one serving. Therefore it would seem they may be studying the healthier half of the American population to derive these portions. There’s no justifiable cause for over reaction to the aforementioned FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) statement at the current time. Thank goodness.
Still, I would like to provide for you a basic outline of suggested daily servings and portion examples for a balanced plant-based diet (source cited below):
Breads/Grains – 6 to 11 servings daily – 1 oz ready-to-eat cereal – 5 or 6 small crackers – 1/2 cup cooked cereal, rice, pasta, noodles – 1 slice of bread – 1/2 hamburger bun, English muffin ~ 1 small roll, muffin, biscuit
Vegetables – 3 to 5 servings daily 1/2 cup cooked beans, peas, legumes – 1 cup raw leafy vegetables – 1/2 cup cooked or raw vegetables – 3/4 cup vegetable juice
Fruits – 2 to 4 servings daily 1/4 cup dried fruit – 1/2 cup chopped fruit – 1 melon wedge – 3/4 cup fruit juice – 1/2 grapefruit – 1 medium apple, banana, orange
“Protein or Meat Group” Substitution – 2 to 3 servings daily 2 tablespoons peanut butter – 2 tablespoons nuts or seeds – 1/4 cup tofu or tempeh – 1 cup soy milk – 1 egg or 2 egg whites – 1/2 cup cooked dry beans or peas.
Milk/Yoghurt/Cheese – 2 to 3 servings daily 1 cup milk – 1. 5 oz natural cheese – 2 oz processed cheese – 1 cup or 8 oz yoghurt
(To maintain a Vegan Diet you can substitute these animal products with nuts and seeds, tofu, kale, edible seaweeds, watercress, parsley, dried figs, or calcium fortified soy milk for example)
Fats, Oils, Sweets which are low in hydrogenated, saturated, and trans fats, to be used sparingly of course!
Credit to source: “Vegetarian Diet Information” (copyright 2003-2008)

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Recommended Healthy Portion Sizes for Vegans And Vegetarians is a post from the Vegetarian Vitamins Guide blog where you can find suggestions and advice from vegetarians and vegans on vegetarian diets, supplements, vitamins and overall nutrition.

Recommended Sources of the Essential Vitamin B-12

admin — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 03:07:43 +0000

Vitamin B-12 is an essential nutrient, but humans cannot depend on the absorption of bacterially-produced B-12 from the gut. Thus, our B-12 must come from food.1

The B-12 synthesized by bacteria is mainly concentrated in the bodies of predatory organisms, so meat, milk, eggs, fish, and shellfish all contain B-12. 2 Comparatvely, the B-12 in eggs seems to be the most poorly absorbed among these sources.2

Some plant foods, such as blue-green algae (cyanobacteria), contain large amounts of B-12, 2 but the B-12 compounds in algae appear to be inactive in mammals.3 Most of the blue-green algae used for human supplements predominately contain pseudovitamin B-12, which is inactive in humans.2 Cyanocobalamin, also used in most supplements, is readily converted to the coenzyme forms of cobalamin in the human body.4

The major signs of B-12 deficiency are megaloblastic anemia and neuropathy.5 Since the bioavailability of crystalline B-12 is not altered in people with atrophic gastritis, the Institute of Medicine has recommended that adults over the age of 50 should get most of their recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of B-12 from foods that are fortified with crystalline B-12 or B-12 supplements.5

While the RDA of B-12 for adults is 2.4 mcg/day in the United States and Japan; the daily loss of the vitamin is estimated to be between 2 and 5 mcg/day.5 Bor et al.6 reported that a daily B-12 intake of 6 mcg/day appears to be sufficient to maintain a steady-state concentration of plasma B-12 and B-12 related metabolic markers. However, B-12?s bioavailability significantly decreases with increasing intake of vitamin B-12 per meal. 2

Studies with vegans have shown that despite the physiological recycling and conservation that become increasingly efficient as B-12 intake falls, the likelihood is high that B-12 deficiency will eventually develop. This may only develop after 20 years or more in vegans who do not consume any animal-based products or take B-12 supplements.7

In summary, the inability of humans to absorb bacterially-produced B-12 in the colon, and the evidence that vegans will eventually show negative B-12 balance8,9 indicate an evolutionary history of animal-based foods in human diets.

References

1. Herbert V (1988) “Vitamin B-12: plant sources, requirements, and assay.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 48, pp. 852-858.

2. Watanabe F. Vitamin B12 sources and bioavailability Exp Biol Med 232:1266 ?1274, 2007.

3. Watanabe F, Takenaka S, Kittaka-Katsura H, Ebara S, Miyamoto E. Characterization and bioavailability of vitamin B12 -compounds from edible algae. J Nutr Sci Vitaminol 48:325?331, 2002.

4. Ball GFM. Vitamin B12 In: Bioavailability and Analysis of Vitamins in Foods. London: Chapman & Hall, pp 497?515, 1998.

5. Institute of Medicine. Vitamin B12 In: Dietary Reference Intakes for Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6 Folate, Vitamin B12, Pantothenic Acid, Biotin, and Choline. Washington, DC: Institute of Medicine, National Academy Press, pp 306?356, 1998.

6. Bor MV, Lydeking-Olesen E, M

Recommended Sources of the Essential Vitamin B-12 is a post from the Vegetarian Vitamins Guide blog where you can find suggestions and advice from vegetarians and vegans on vegetarian diets, supplements, vitamins and overall nutrition.

Vegetarian Vitamins » Recommended

Recommended Healthy Portion Sizes for Vegans And Vegetarians

Recommended Sources of the Essential Vitamin B-12