"Michael Balarama" > wrote in message
...
>
> "usual suspect" > wrote in message
> ...
> > ta wrote:
> > > Is there any reason a proper, healthy vegan diet cannot supply all of
> the
> > > necessary vitamins and minerals without supplementing?
> >
> > A lot of planning would have to go into such a diet to assure getting
> > the proper RDA of vitamins and minerals. One would especially have to
> > pay attention to zinc, iron, and B-12. In the real world,
> > supplementation *is* necessary since most veg-ns don't pay attention to
> > what they eat except to make sure their food has no animal parts.
>
> because of the mass farming, pollution and stuff-there are not all the
> vitamins we need in the vegetables and fruit..it is a good idea to
> supplement...

Michael, you hit on a key secondary question that I was hoping to address
as well. That is, to what extent, if any, has the quality of human food
degraded to the point where supplementing is necessary? Naturally (no pun
intended) human beings didn't always have vitamin pills, nor did they
probably need them. In other words, shouldn't we be able to get absolutely
everything we need from the food we eat, and if not, why not? You hit on a
couple of reasons, but if you have any specific sources on that, I'd
appreciate it.

The reason I ask is because it seems entirely "unnatural" to have to take
supplements. Thanks.