Eating more plants is easy to start and easy to get a little wrong. Beans, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and fruit bring plenty of fibre and good fats. But cutting out meat, fish, eggs or dairy takes away the foods that quietly supplied a few specific nutrients. The good news: the list is short, and most of it is solved by knowing which everyday foods to pick.
Use the explorer below. Choose how you eat and it shows which nutrients are easy, which need a plan and which usually need a fortified food or a supplement.
European reference values from EFSA give a sense of scale for adults: vitamin B12 around 4 µg a day, iodine 150 µg a day, calcium about 950 mg a day, and iron 11 mg a day for men and for women after the menopause, or 16 mg before it. EFSA's omega-3 advice is 250 mg a day of EPA and DHA, the long-chain forms found mostly in fish. These are reference intakes for planning, not targets to chase with pills.
B12 keeps blood and nerves healthy. It comes from animal foods, so vegans rely on fortified breakfast cereals, fortified soya drinks and fortified yeast extract or flakes, or a supplement. Check labels for "fortified with B12".
Beans, lentils, wholemeal bread, dark green leaves, nuts and dried apricots all contain iron, but plant iron is absorbed less well than iron from meat. Eat vitamin C (peppers, citrus, berries) at the same meal and leave tea and coffee for between meals.
Calcium comes from dairy, calcium-set tofu, tahini, pulses, broccoli and cabbage, and fortified plant drinks. Iodine is the one people forget: dairy and fish are the usual sources, so plant-based eaters should look for fortified products and ask for advice on the rest.
Walnuts, linseed, chia and rapeseed oil supply ALA, a short-chain omega-3. The body converts only a little of it to EPA and DHA, so people who eat no fish may want to ask a dietitian about algae-based sources. Vitamin D is the same for everyone in northern Europe: summer sun makes it, and in autumn and winter health bodies such as the NHS suggest considering a supplement.
Plant-based eating is not harder, just more deliberate: pick fortified foods on purpose and eat a wide mix of beans, grains, nuts and greens.
Half the plate vegetables and fruit, a quarter wholegrains such as oats, brown rice or wholemeal bread, a quarter beans, lentils, tofu or tempeh. Add a handful of nuts and seeds a day, use rapeseed or olive oil, and choose an unsweetened fortified drink if you use plant milk. Rotate the foods through the week so no single nutrient depends on one ingredient.
This guide is general information, not medical advice. If you have a medical condition, are pregnant or breastfeeding, have or have had an eating disorder, take medication (especially for diabetes or blood pressure), or are feeding children a vegan diet, talk to a doctor or registered dietitian before changing how you eat or starting a supplement. They can check blood levels and suggest doses that suit you; we give none here.