Christopher Masterjohn

Not all vegetarians develop overt health problems in such a short length of time from abandoning animal foods and some—especially those who eat eggs, milk, or occasional fish and shell sh—may maintain good health for decades. A strictly vegetarian diet, however, clearly lacks nutritional qualities that an omnivorous diet possesses. If the people most sensitive to deficiencies of these nutrients su er the types

of problems that I did, those who are less sensitive and not suffering obvious problems may nevertheless fail to achieve optimal health without optimal levels of nutrients from animal sources. This article will discuss those nutrients, their functions and their sources, starting at the beginning of the alphabet with vitamin A.