During the first half of 2009, the Vegan Done Light newsletter ran what turned out to be its most controversial series, a hard-hitting, no-holds-barred, analysis of the research on vegetarian nutrition and supplements.
I’d asked Michael Rae, once a vitamin industry insider, a long-time vegetarian (then, perhaps still?), and now VP of Research for the Calorie Restriction Society, whether he’d be willing to guest author an article for VDL.
As an avid life extensionist, he’d been dishing out such information in drips and drabs for years through his writings at his previous employ and via the CR Society’s mail groups, so he was a natural and logical choice. My challenge to him was to put it all down in one place. He agreed to take up the gauntlet and proposed a three-part split.
I don’t think either of us expected it to wind up being so time-consuming and comprehensive. In the end, with a missed deadline and an extra segment thrown in for good measure, a full five months of dedication had gone into it!
To be fair about the “controversy,” those issues received just as many — actually, MORE — complimentary email responses than angry ones. The thing is Michael brought no biases to the table nor axes to grind, so he spoke objectively and candidly to the findings, and that apparently didn’t sit well with everyone.
He covered topics such as…
- How to analyse your diet for imbalances
- The best food sources of Iron, Calcium, B12, and many more
- The one nutrient he asserts you must take in supplement form
- The full story on Omega- fatty acids
- A slew of “conditionally essential” nutrients
All fully referenced for your further study and debate fodder. It really was a great series of which we were both very proud, he for writing it and me for publishing it exclusively in the newsletter. Good news…
He recently contacted me to ask if he could reprint it, and I happily obliged. You can now read that classic from the Vegan Done Light archives for free on the Calorie Restriction Society forums (no registration required):
Nutrition and Supplementation for Veg(etari)ans
For more from Michael Rae, check out his book Ending Aging: The Rejuvenation Breakthrough That Could Reverse Human Aging in Our Lifetime, co-authored with Aubrey De Grey, Ph.D., shortly before the above.
Note: If you use the book link above, I get a small cut of the sale (at no extra cost to you). Thank you.