After my vegetarian wife discovered her B12-deficiency this year (tingling hands are a dead giveaway) and starting taking B12 supplements, we discovered that her ability to write fan-fiction immediately returned, after she had struggled to write anything for about a year. So you can add "inability to write fan-fiction" to your list of B12-deficiency symptoms.
* it's pretty easy to overdose on iron, especially if you don't menstruate, which is bad. I suggest not taking iron supplements without a ferritin test.
* vegan iron exists and works great for some people, but just isn't digestible by others. Consider making an exception for heme iron if you can't get your ferritin up.
* I found iron-deficient cis male vegans, but also totally fine ferritin levels among menstruating women who were vegan and didn't supplement. People vary a lot.
* it's pretty easy to overdose on selenium, which is also bad. I assume there is a test for that although I haven't looked into it.
* RDA is not a great guide for anything. The RDA amount is set to the 97.5th percentile person, so 97.4% can get away with less. Except that the conversion between different forms of vitamins aren't well handled, so 10% RDA from carrots isn't the same as 10% RDA from beef liver. How do you convert between those? No one knows, but it probably depends on genetics.
Chia and flax contain a precursor to DHA and EPA, α-linolenic acid (which by the way is also found in high levels in canola oil, which is plenty common in most people's diets, plant based or otherwise). Animals, including humans, can covert it into EPA and DHA, so it doesn't need to be consumed directly. Consuming it directly is more efficient, but unnecessary.
After my vegetarian wife discovered her B12-deficiency this year (tingling hands are a dead giveaway) and starting taking B12 supplements, we discovered that her ability to write fan-fiction immediately returned, after she had struggled to write anything for about a year. So you can add "inability to write fan-fiction" to your list of B12-deficiency symptoms.
Some notes:
* it's pretty easy to overdose on iron, especially if you don't menstruate, which is bad. I suggest not taking iron supplements without a ferritin test.
* vegan iron exists and works great for some people, but just isn't digestible by others. Consider making an exception for heme iron if you can't get your ferritin up.
* I found iron-deficient cis male vegans, but also totally fine ferritin levels among menstruating women who were vegan and didn't supplement. People vary a lot.
* it's pretty easy to overdose on selenium, which is also bad. I assume there is a test for that although I haven't looked into it.
* RDA is not a great guide for anything. The RDA amount is set to the 97.5th percentile person, so 97.4% can get away with less. Except that the conversion between different forms of vitamins aren't well handled, so 10% RDA from carrots isn't the same as 10% RDA from beef liver. How do you convert between those? No one knows, but it probably depends on genetics.
I don't get the "werewolf fan fiction" meme. Do I want to know?
https://arbital.com/p/omega_troll/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omegaverse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega-3_fatty_acid
Ooof embarrassed I missed that
Chia and flax are not sufficient sources of omega-3s, they have the wrong ones. You need EPA and DHA. Vegans should look for algae oil with high levels of EPA and DHA. The linked supplements are fine. https://www.nordic.com/healthy-science/is-eating-chia-and-flax-enough-to-meet-your-daily-omega-3-needs/
Chia and flax contain a precursor to DHA and EPA, α-linolenic acid (which by the way is also found in high levels in canola oil, which is plenty common in most people's diets, plant based or otherwise). Animals, including humans, can covert it into EPA and DHA, so it doesn't need to be consumed directly. Consuming it directly is more efficient, but unnecessary.
Interestingly women - including trans women on HRT - produce more DHA than men (presumably because it's important for fetal development). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002916522036735?via%3Dihub