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um… duh? people who need to be fed via their heart only have one option: TPN, which is made with animal products…. just as one example. (i’ve been vegan 11 years, and am disabled and chronically ill)

I mean yeah if some people have severe digestive issues, lots of allergies, etc, they may not be able to go fully plant-based. But the majority of people are able to safely be plant-based, unless they have pre-existing health issues.

It’s such a small percentage of people that can’t go vegan because of health issues, I have no idea why vegans online argue so much about it. It just makes us look like assholes.

In the future, cultured meat will be a great option for people who need animal proteins.

I'm not currently aware of any peer reviewed research whose authors make the claim that even a single person requires animal products to be healthy. I've asked for this research on this sub and in other places many times, and as of yet, no one has been able to produce anything of value.

This doesn't mean such a person doesn't exist, and it doesn't mean that people with significantly greater challenges than average don't exist where from a practical standpoint we can understand them not consuming a plant-based diet.

What it does mean is that debating this possibility among lay people isn't productive. If you accept the moral arguments of veganism but aren't sure if you can function on a plant-based diet, your time wrt veganism is best spent figuring out how to resolve your challenges, not trying to convince vegans you have a good excuse.

I want to offer a slightly different perspective than I’m seeing in the top comments: any person can be conscientious about making as many vegan choices as they can.

I have no doubt there will be people who for whatever reason it is not feasible for them to have vegan choices all the time, be it food desert/availability, economic violence/hardship, a disability, or medical condition. Hell, even for committed vegans, there are always edge cases out of our control from living in a nonvegan society (i.e. vegans can and SHOULD take whatever medications they need to keep themselves safe & healthy, even if Big Pharma isn’t rly invested in making sure there are vegan options/defaults).

So i would argue a more productive question than “can some people not be vegan because of medical issues” would be “what are the vegan choices that ARE available to someone with [given condition/circumstance/disability]”

Growth mindset 🌱

Yes because I was vegetarian since age 15 then vegan since age 24. I got Lyme disease when I was 36. I was very athletic but I was weak (vitamin deficient - specifically B12 and D3) because of my diet. I also have food allergies to nuts and soy and sesame and slight allergies to legumes and tomatoes but when healing from Lyme I had to avoid all allergens including legumes and tomatoes (two of my favorite foods!) because it’s important to avoid all inflammation so that you can heal.

I saw an herbalist called an LLMD (Lyme-literate doctor - out of network, a doctor who actually treats Lyme because the CDC guidelines teach traditional doctors to give 2 weeks of antibiotics for Lyme and then it’s “treated” when in reality the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, borrelia burdorferia, is most similar to the bacteria that causes syphilis - a corkscrew shape that drills into every cell to destroy it while at the same time hiding and morphing to avoid detection) and will always hide and mutate and is very tricky to kill.

So specific herbs and vitamins can help, along with antibiotics, to almost completely eradicate all the spirochetes. It takes lots of time and patience but Lyme can be tamed and put into remission with enough patience and hard work.

My LLMD didn’t just advise me but warned me that I MUST introduce animal proteins back into my diet if I ever wanted to put my Lyme into remission (it was so bad I felt like I had dementia, I couldn’t drive because my lack of memory became dangerous, I had such extreme joint pain that I woke up screaming in pain at night and laid there for hours wanting relief, I was so anxious and depressed that I was getting thoughts that I would be relieved to die, plus the constant heart pain, like I would get a heart attack at any moment. And the insomnia too, and the anxiety. It’s a sickness I never wish upon anyone.

So I listened to my doctor and gradually started add eggs and cheese and fish and chicken back to my diet. I gagged a lot at first and had a really hard time forcing these foods down my throat. I forced myself to eat these foods though because I could not sustain my existence of suffering any longer.

After about a year of hard work and discipline, my Lyme went into remission and has been now for about two years. Many others I talk to with Lyme follow the carnivore diet. I’m not that extreme. An anti-inflammatory diet with no sugar, no wheat, and obviously no processed food (all organic locally grown food) is the most important. I was following a vegan diet in the beginning, even after multiple sessions with my doctor. I kept resisting following her orders to add animal proteins back to my diet because I was convinced that staying vegan was the healthiest i could be, but I kept getting worse and eventually one day I chose to listen because I kept feeling closer and closer to death the way I had been living.

I am mostly vegan again now that I’m healthy but I still eat salmon about one a month because of the omegas and healthy fats that keep my Lyme at bay. Sometimes I feel that joint pain creep back into my life and I do feel a lot better in the week or two following my salmon meal. I hope to eventually cut salmon out completely.

I think it’s possible to be mostly fully vegan with an autoimmune disorder or Lyme disease or other similar medical conditions but in my experience I know for a fact I wouldn’t be where I am without consuming animal proteins.

There are certain vitamins and nutrients u can only get from animal sources and when ur really sick and weak, that’s when u need them most. But once you’re better and don’t need them, that’s when I believe it’s healthiest to be vegan.

I can’t wait to be fully vegan again. I’m 80% there besides the once a month fish I consume.

I think that mental illness and neurodivergence can make it temporarily impossible or very challenging at least. I would not push someone stuck in depression to establish a plant-based diet.

When it comes to physical illnesses, I am not sure. I'm not educated enough in this field.

There are multiple examples of people who genuinely cant be vegan because of medical conditions, and many where they could be but it becomes far too much stress and effort for the person so they just can't stick to it. Legume allergies are a good example, effectively cutting off a majority of vegan protein sources.

For sure. I was vegan for a long time but currently I have conditions that I'm working through and need to eat lactose free yogurt to get any amount of protein. (Digestive problems, SIBO, GERD, gluten free, low fodmap, no sugar, and restrictive eating due to AuDHD) It's really difficult and makes me feel bad. Sometimes I just don't eat because I'd rather not think about eating dairy, but at the same time I can't just starve myself. I'm slowly finding alternatives, but yogurt smoothies and smaller amounts of tofu are the only thing I can currently eat for higher amounts of protein without having negative effects. It's exhausting. but I still eat as vegan as possible and live as vegan as possible. No eggs, meat, fish, gelatin, leather, wool, etc etc etc. At one point I thought I was going to have to put fish into my diet (never liked eating fish even when I ate meat as a kid) *really* glad I found a way around it bc idk if I could stomach eating any type of meat again, I'm already struggling eating yogurt mentally.

I've also had to take meds with gelatin. I'm on meds for my SIBO and digestive probs so I'm hoping once the meds are done I can go back to a vegan diet. That would be great /:

Hi, multi-allergic here.

I am allergic to a wide variety of foods, including legumes, nuts, seeds, and soy.

There are two different ways to interpret your question: whether being vegan is theoretically possible, and whether it is practically feasible.

In my situation, I cannot eat the vast majority of commonly served vegan foods, and the risk of cross-contamination is very high. Most vegan kitchens rely heavily on legumes, soy, nuts, and seeds.

Alternative vegan protein sources such as seitan or mycoprotein are not widely available in my country, and when they are, they tend to be expensive and highly processed, which is not suitable for my medical needs.

For these reasons, being vegan would not be a healthy or sustainable long-term option for me, even though it may work well for others.

This could change in the future with new food technologies, but at present it is not a realistic option for my health.

Do you mean, are some people not able to adopt a wholly plant-sourced diet for biological/medical reasons, that is, they must eat some meat/dairy? I would say that anyone with genuine reasons for needing to eat meat/dairy can still be vegan, by which I mean adopting the ethics and acting as best they can accordingly. In the end, that's just what veganism is - people choosing to enact the ethics to the extent they are able. But they could still be guided by vegan principles, for example by not buying meat produced in CAFO conditions, etc.

i think it’s possible for someone to be allergic or intolerant to every single plant based food (that would suck). i think some people can have a WAY greater challenge only eating plant based. i think that’s the best way to answer that

yes. not many people tho (compared to the huge number of people who claim they can’t go vegan but actually could).
but still, even if they aren’t 100% vegan, every step towards the cause should be appreciated

Just wanted to comment on this aspect- I think the reason a lot of vegans typically push back on this kind of thing is that it's everyone's excuse of choice for why they quit veganism, whether or not it's true. It's the ultimate get-out-of-jail card for people who don't want to admit that they were too lazy, or were too fickle etc. Some influencers' entire identities initially were about being vegan and if they want to quit without losing any pride over it they can just mention some unspecified medical issues and that's pretty much the end of it. Some people definitely do have medical issues around this, but I would wager is grossly out of proportion with how often this is reported.

Yes. People with gastroparesis sometimes can't move enough volume of plant matter through the system and need dense calories

Do you believe some people can not be Vegan because of medical issues?

Yes 100%.

Veganism is the moral philosophy against all forms of animal exploitation for any reason.

If you exploit animals, you aren't vegan per definition.

The issue is the vegan society identifies things that aren't vegan and gives people a pass for being non-vegan in certain situations.

Do you believe that some people (even if they supplement all the right vitamins and eat a varied vegan diet) can not be vegan because of medical issues?

Yes, 100%. There are some medical conditions where you can't meet those criteria (example: allergies)

I have seen many vegans argue that people who became ill because of veganism just were not supplementing the right vitamins (such as B12) or eating a varied enough diet.

This is 100% true. They were very likely nutrient deficient. Just because you're hitting your RDA's on paper doesn't mean your body is absorbing that much. Also food intolerances/sensitivities/auto immune conditions/allergies lower the absorption of those nutrients even more. The bioavailability of some nutrients in vegan foods is only 50% bioavailable compared to its animal counterpart. And blood tests aren't reliable. A blood test can show you are "in range", but you are actually severely deficient simply because you are on the bottom end of the range. Or other blood tests are notorious for false positives.... showing you are in range when you're actually deficient. All of these nutrient deficiencies lead to symptoms and illness.

This is a few days old, but even using supplements for B-12 isn't enough for me. I get injections of huge doses, things are normal for a year or two, get retested to see that B-12 is low again, get injections... My diet doesn't necessarily revolve around meat, but I do usually eat it 1-2x/day. I drink cow's milk, but I'm lactose intolerant so my dairy choices are limited. Basically I should not be B-12 deficient. I don't drink much alcohol, which can cause the deficiency. Maybe a couple of glasses of wine per month. If that. 

I've gotten multiple scopes and while there is inflammation, I don't have H. pylori or whatever genetic thing can lead to B-12 deficiency (pernicious anemia? I don't know, but it can be tested for with samples of the stomach lining). Nothing obvious to my PCP or the GI specialist I saw. 

I could pretty easily become a flexitarian if it weren't for that. I'd probably still want meat a few times a year, but I don't need it. I stopped eating red meat for 8-9 years as a kid when I got scared of mad cow disease. When I first did an exclusion diet, the test day I was most excited about was soy day. I fucking demolished a package of tofu for every meal that day. 

But because I am not a fan of going to the doctor weekly to get shots in my ass cheek, I eat meat and take supplements to reduce the frequency of needing those visits. 

Everyone’s body is different. We know this when it comes to Zoloft, but we somehow forget this crucial fact when it comes to the vegan diet.

How we absorb nutrients, how our digestion handles vegetables and plant protein, how our body processes fibre etc all affect how well someone handles a vegan diet. So does access to plant based products, time in the week to cook, and money to spend on unprocessed food and supplements. Even the reach of our appetite can affect whether the diet is suitable for us, since accidentally under-eating is a common side effect. Supplements aren’t always enough for people to get what they need - while other people find they don’t even need them, and their whole life changes for the better on the vegan diet.

It’s so, so unique to the individual. We can talk about “you just aren’t doing the diet correctly” but the honest truth is that if the stars have to align for your diet to benefit you, then you need a new diet. We are all about “listening to our bodies” on the internet until that one vegan enters the chat and spins a positively belligerent narrative on why our bodies are telling us lies.

So yeah, life really is more complicated than extremist rhetoric implies. Some people honestly just need a break from the internet a little more urgently than others.

Yes, I do think so. I also believe that some humans can't even be vegetarians because of medical issues. There are allergies, intolerances and illnesses that can make it very difficult or impossible for people to live healthy lives without eating meat. Especially when multiple of such conditions are combined. This is probably the vast minority of the human population, but they certainly do exist.

Yes, we exist. Lots of us actually. Let’s examine one very small group of people. Me, my siblings and our spouses, and my children. That’s a total of nine people. In that group we have one who’s health deteriorated as a vegetarian “doing it right” but who rebounded amazingly on an animal based diet, one who cannot tolerate salicylic acid which is found in nearly all plant life, one with a life threateningly severe case of MCAS who is now nearly symptom free after eliminating most plant foods, and an infant who suffers severe GI pain and bloating with carbs or fiber. 4/9

So yes, people who cannot be vegan or at least be healthy as vegans not only exist, but there are varied reasons. Fyi, two of the four are spouses and genetically unrelated.

Yes there are people who have such severe auto immune issues that they can’t live off a vegan diet while also ensuring that they are healthy and thriving.

Edit: of course this is where foods are part of their triggers and they can only eat a small narrow food selection.

I have gastroparesis (essentially stomach paralysis) and when I tried going vegetarian I lost a significant amount of weight. Yeah maybe I just wasn’t doing it right, but also being chronically ill in the world we live in idk where I’m supposed to find the energy and time and money to “do it right”. I have to rely on nutritional supplements like ensure, which have dairy, to meet my nutritional needs. I do the best I can to reduce my meat consumption, source ethically, etc, but ultimately I do still eat meat to hit my protein goals. I believe doing what little is currently in my ability is better than trying to be perfect and killing myself. I think if we were all a little more flexible in meeting people where they’re at, not just w veganism but in general, people would be more willing to try to do things imperfectly

Most people fail to maintain a vegan diet long term due to health reasons... you must already know this surely? This is why there are very few old vegans. It's a young person's game.

All health advice warns that a vegan diet has to be "well planned." Whether it's "technically possible" for humans to continue on this diet long term is besides the point. Good health is important to people. When they start experiencing constant health issues, the wise decision is to revert back to a balanced diet.

Age is a factor in this. As we age our stomach becomes less efficient at extracting nutrient from food. This requires a much higher focus on consuming greater amounts of these essential nutrients. The impact of b12 deficiency is not minor. It can drag out over months of your life before it is medically restored. It is not an intelligent position to continue the cycle of decline to medical intervention for an ailment that can be cured through balanced eating.

Yes. Because of many intense allergies and an eating disorder I now got back to occasionally eating eggs (local farmer only)

I think veganism is cutting out animal products as much as you can. Some people are able to do more, some less

I only have personal experience to speak from, but fruits and vegetables and pretty much anything that isn't meat makes me have either loose stool or straight up diarrhea. I couldn't cut meat out of my diet even if I wanted to

I was vegan for 10 years, but apparently that was the worst diet I, as an undiagnosed diabetic, could have followed because of my soya allergy and the high carb content. By the time I was told this, I was contemplating returning to veganism - craved bacon double cheeseburgers and sausages in curry sauce when I was pregnant, so it kinda ended that - and I was told that the protein I needed was not going to be provided by tofu alone. I eat fish and poultry, no red meat, but I have a vegan meal once a week at least. Reducing my carb intake has helped with the diabetes but I miss being vegan. I'm going to do Veganuary again to see if I can get back to it.

Maybe? But usually people who say this aren't those people so what does it matter? Just because every single person in the world can't be vegan doesn't mean that no one should be.

This is also completely ignoring the fact that veganism is more than a diet. If for some reason someone is unable to follow a plant-based diet, what would stop them from using cruelty-free products, avoiding leather and wool, engaging in activism, etc.? These conversations usually don't even touch on how the individual could do these things, which leads me to believe they aren't actually interested and are just arguing to argue.

My friend and her husband went to a dietician to figure out why they were both struggling with feeling healthy. She is Mexican, he is British American. He is a picky eater to begin with, but seeing as he's almost 60, he seems to be ok. She loves a variety of fresh ingredients, and doesn't like a lot of dairy. They struggled to eat the same food. It turns out that He absorbed plants inefficiently and needed dairy to get enough nutrients from his food. He simply couldn't digest it out of vegetables alone. Genetics plays a big part of what you can thrive on.

Being vegan doesn’t mean that you don’t use animal products at all. It means that you use as little as possible for you. So no, with that definition everyone can be vegan.

Yeah, I do believe some people are medically unable to follow a vegan diet. But I also think that's rarely actually true.

The issue is most people who claim it's impossible for them haven't actually tried a properly supplemented, well-planned vegan diet. They just don't want to put in the effort, which is fine - just say that instead of hiding behind hypothetical medical issues.

Are there edge cases? Sure. But they're edge cases, not the norm people make them out to be.

"Believe"? It's best to operate under the assumption that belief is cognitive sewage. We can do our best to always put beliefs through the processing and filtration of logic and reason, in every situation, to make sure that the beliefs apply to that situation. It's far more efficient to ignore our beliefs and to, instead, base our behavior on what we have concluded. Belief is often slow to catch up to conclusion, and sometimes it never does. If someone is vegan directly because of what they believe, they're doing the right thing for the wrong--well, the problem is that they're not using reason. It might seem that I'm taking the word "believe" too literally, but in my experience, what I've written thus far is compatible with what people almost always are referring to when they use that word and its forms, even if they aren't consciously aware of it.

That said, it does take quite a bit of work to get good information, including checking the quality of sources of information. My understanding is that some people, very few, do not synthesize amino acids to the extent that most people do. For them, more amino acids are essential amino acids. Even if they don't absolutely require some animal-based food (but they might), the "practicable" part of the definition of veganism on r/vegan meaningfully applies.

What's more contentious is whether some people do poorly on a vegan diet even in the absence of a reasonably well understood, named medical condition, even if their diet is one that would work for most people. Many people make this claim. There could be something to it. We don't seem to know quite everything about human biology.

An example, although one not directly related to veganism: I talked to my doctor about something I heard on the Fat Science podcast. My doctor had recently attended a continuing education seminar that included the topic, and ten minutes of it turned into an argument between the speaker and one of the doctors in the audience. The metabolic specialist on Fat Science indicated that no health insurance company in the US covers the treatment that a meaningful percentage of its people need. She draws blood from her patients three times per visit: fasting before the appointment, shortly after eating something, and further after eating something. She has her own lab because typical blood labs, the ones used by most insurance companies, don't offer some of the necessary bloodwork. She sometimes prescribes GLP-1 (among other things) but frequently adjusts the dose based on the results of that sophisticated bloodwork.

Look at this one that I got yesterday. I do not know how to answer him/her., it would be nice to hear from someone who can. TY in advance:

1. Not everyone can eat plant protein for health reasons. For instance, I can't eat wheat (I have Celiac and a wheat allergy), soy (a different autoimmune disease it exacerbates), and it's much harder to break down plant proteins since I lack most of a stomach. I eat as many plants as possible due to preference, but having half of my small intestine bypassed means I get protein deficiency at the drop of a hat. Since this can be fatal (and often is - it's one reason why anorexia is the mental illness with the highest death rate)....yeah, I'm gonna get protein in the most digestible form possible for me.

2. As I mentioned, plant proteins are less bioavailable than animal ones in a strict sense. This is why we often prioritize animal protein when refeeding in a medical setting. Even if you need IV nutrition, this is made in part from animal products, though I think this is due to economy vs. biochemistry. There may be something about IV-based protein where it's easily absorbed if from animals, but I don't know if this is the case, actually. Ten years ago there was a lot of work about how few/no options existed for end-of-life car regarding vegans in this vein; not sure what's been done since.

Yes I knew someone who has a sleep disorder where they never actually fully sleep. They’re basically a bottomless pit and can eat more than any person I’ve known. They cannot be vegan because their metabolism would never keep up. They have several vegan friends and will eat vegan foods but they couldn’t live off of it.

For physical health, not really. I think it can be hard or unwise for some, individually, but it's an overblown concern that exists as a tiny fragment of a percentage point and is more often than not used as an excuse.

However, I think mental health is a greater concern. Many people with eating disorders "hide" in veganism, and it can be a really challenging place for someone with depression, bipolar, or other mood disorders. Especially when the magnitude of suffering hits. People with compulsive and anxiety disorders also probably struggle in very difficult ways (needing to get it "perfect", worrying about ingredients/restaurants/etc.).

I take the mental health reasons much more seriously than someone who claims if they dont eat steak they'll die.

Anyone can be vegan because veganism is about doing everything practicable and possible to avoid animal exploitation. Basically, it means trying your best. Everyone can try their best, and it’s important to remember that what is possible for you to avoid may not be possible for someone else to avoid.

I'm not vegan or vegetarian partly because I just can't be. Trying to cut down on animal products was partly responsible for plugging my health into a crisis a few years ago. I'm neurodivergent and have chronic fatigue, and my health is like walking a tightrope. Even when I eat lots of meat I am often anaemic after heavy periods, so I have to take iron supplements. When my mental health is poor I struggle to force myself to eat and the only things that taste good enough (at least that I know how to make) are high value meat products. When I'm struggling with my life and feeding myself, trying new recipes is impossible.

On a whole, I don't have a choice if I want to live. Therefore I've doubled down, and I'm in vet school and I'm considering being a farm vet - because if I can reduce antibiotics use, improve welfare, etc, then hopefully I can make a difference in that way. There's a local gamebirds shoot to me, which I don't agree with, that has an excess of birds leftover after. I collected some and processed them myself, and they're in the freezer. I don't want to waste lives. I'll eat as much as I can and make stock from the carcasses. I'd like to figure out what to do with the feathers to make use of them... If animals have to die so I can live, I shouldn't waste that sacrifice.

I'm also refusing to buy fast fashion, have been getting into making my own clothes, learning to knit etc. I've decided if I eat an animal, I should make use of every part of it, so leather and fur (fur only from animals I eat, not from fur farms) are good. And as wool is a byproduct of the meat industry, we should use it. Plus these things are biodegradable unlike synthetics. They also have impressive thermal qualities, and now I'm much warmer!

My hope one day is to have my own small holding, and I'll raise the animals I eat, and spin my own yarn, and know that they have the best life I can give them. We'll see if I manage that!

Do you believe that some people (even if they supplement all the right vitamins and eat a varied vegan diet) can not be vegan because of medical issues?

The most common definition put forward by the vegan society says vegans do what is "possible and practicable" to avoid consuming animal products or other forma of exploiting animals. So if someone had a medical condition that made it impossible (or practically impossible) to eat strictly plant based, they could still claim to be vegan. Though I imagine most vegans would be extremely skeptical of this claim.

In my experience, the only people who can't eat plant based for medical reasons are suffering eating disorders. This diet is currently considered a restriction diet, and any sort of restriction diet would potentially lead to deadly complications for these people. Note, however, this is purely a social problem. If it were common to not eat animal products, then that would be the "normal" diet and not a restriction diet.

Vegan groups typically define veganism as avoiding animal exploitation "as far as is possible and practicable." Under this definition, there's no medical condition that precludes any of us from being vegan. We just do what we can.

I have a friend who was vegan and she was also allergic to everything on the planet. Tree nuts, gluten tomatoes, eggplant.  She tried for a really long time to stay vegan but her list of food she could eat was so small. 

I believe people can not be vegan for a variety of reasons.

I had gastric bypass. I was told ahead not to even consider vegetarian diet let alone veganism. My stomach cannot process the amount of plant based food I need to survive. Plain and simple. When I was vegetarian I gained tons of weight and was always hungry. Not anymore

Merry Christmas to you too.

Clinical medicine recognises multiple conditions—such as vitamin B12 malabsorption, refractory iron deficiency, severe gastrointestinal disease, infancy without supplementation, and age-related sarcopenia—in which animal-derived foods or nutrients are required to prevent serious morbidity or mortality, demonstrating that animal products are necessary for survival in some individuals.

I do believe that certain medical conditions or combinations of them could make it impossible. More commonly though, I think a farely large amount of disabled people have difficulty with daily living activities in general, and veganism can become a barrier that makes functioning even harder due to lack of accessibility. If you can't cook, then you'd need vegan options for instant foods or takeout that are easy to acquire and affordable enough to rely on, which just aren't available everywhere. Not being able to do the dishes can be another barrier that would make cooking at home difficult. People who are bedridden or homebound will have a hard time in general with chores, as well as many people who experience chronic pain. If vegan options were the default in society, the vast majority of disabled people could be vegan, but if you're in a position where you can either cook or take a shower, not both, life becomes much harder and making choices that take consistent, active effort become unfeesible. 

Everyone is different. That is for sure. It’s worth their experience being considered fully rather than a conversation stopper.

“Oh I hear you. I know everyone is different and has different needs for sure.”

And then Without invading privacy you may ask things like this:

“Is it a specific medical condition or a nutritional vulnerability?” “The way you answer, it sounds like you’d prefer to eat less meat but you’re concerned about your health. Is that right?” “I haven’t heard of that before, was it something diagnosed or general advice?” “Did your doctor worry you wouldn’t be able to maintain the vegan diet when they told you?”

"As far as possible and practicable".

It’s possible. But I know this. There is no medical condition which requires the use of leather, wool, silk, etc.

you can become ill with any change of diet. becoming ill when changing your diet doesn't mean you can't survive on that diet, it's just the body adapting. people who travel to a new country and drastically change their diet often become ill as well, even if they aren't giving up meat. like just moving from the US to mexico, and changing your diet from the standard american diet to the standard mexican diet, is going to cause many people to become ill. and same thing in reverse, people become ill when they start eating like americans when they are used to eating a different way in their own country. the illness is just temporary, as the body adapts. so someone jumping from omnivore to vegan is often going to experience some side effects while the body adapts (a common one is bloating due to not used to eating so much fiber). but there's no evidence that someone can't absolutely live without animal products. some people may feel worse on a vegan diet at first, but normally it'd only last a few weeks until they adapt. a common issue besides the fiber is not eating enough calories (the volume of food is a lot larger for the same caloric intake when becoming vegan, so if someone is feeling tired after becoming vegan, chances are they are eating like half as many calories as they need to eat and should be doubling their food intake).

I can’t. Crohn’s Disease doesn’t tolerate roughage, legumes and some vegetables, in my case.

Yeah. I'm one of them. Without animal proteins my entire digestive tract just stops working.

I cannot digest or tolerate phenols, which are in all plant based foods. I also can’t digest phytic acid, also in plant based foods, like nuts; my body just doesn’t make the enzymes needed to eat a balanced diet. I tried for years to be a vegetarian before I knew I had these issues & always had awful gut issues & was so skinny, no matter how much I ate. Now I know I was malnourished & am basically an obligate carnivore, which i really struggled with but after 15 years of feeling significant better & being a healthy weight, i accept it. I only eat pasture raised/humanely raised meat, but I’d still really rather not eat any.

Yes. But I see it as rather irrelevant since the vast majority of people in the world can't go vegans for other reasons.

As a haver of Crohns, yes

hi, not vegan but have grown up with vegan parents. not everyone can be vegan. i have mcas and can not tolerate soy/nuts/most plant based options without having reactions. people on TPN/feeding tubes also can’t be vegan most of the time. people who have issues with fiber (such as someone with crohn’s) probably couldn’t realistically be vegan. there are a lot of medical issues that could prevent someone being vegan. that’s not to say they shouldn’t try to be as sustainable as possible, but veganism is not possible for everyone.

the difference between 'yes' and 'no' answer to this question will make 0.0000001% of the actual difference in the world

why? even if some people need some animal protein to manage their illness (that can't be overcome with today's meds) they still don't need chicken nuggets, leather shoes, whole milk soft serve, etc. and that amount of ppl is probably very small. by the time we'll live in the world where only these people are consuming animal products we'll have cheap and healthy lab grown

Maybe, in principle. I don't know the state of medical sciences well enough to know about personal situations.

Right now though, it does seem funny the lengths non-vegans will go to in order to disqualify themselves from the diet.

"But I will still be killing or exploiting animals, so it doesn't matter!"

"But B12 and extreme medical outliers!"

"But I'm just one person and my taxpayer dollars go towards animal exploitation/other appeals to futility"

It's ok to not be a vegan. I mean, I will think differently of you given the facts regarding the animal-industrial complex and how easily you can condemn livestock animals to extermination and slavery, but it is entirely possible for you to just say "I don't want to be vegan and I don't care about consuming animal products". You don't need to bend over backwards with the mental gymnastics.

Everyone can be vegan, as far as is possible and practicable, not practical, big difference. If someone is disabled and their meds contain animal products, they need some kind of medical device that somehow contains animal products or testing, etc, they are still vegan. Living in an inherently non-vegan world means we're always striving to do our best under the circumstances. Look for resources, not excuses.

Edit: I only responded to half your comment. Veganism is not a diet so if someone got sick because they didn't eat or supplement properly, that's on them. It is 2025 and there's far too much readily available information now to claim ignorance. A plant-based diet is not missing anything and there is nobody who "needs" to consume animal products for health or sustenance.

this summer, I had food poisoning multiple times and it threw off my whole gut biome. I was having celiac-type reactions to vegan proteins and things as simple as beans. had to go back to eating animal protein because all plant based-vegan proteins were causing a reaction. it was a tough transition, but I was forced to come to terms with the fact vegan and plant proteins were damaging my gut.

I’m anemic. Supplements dont work. While there are vegan foods with enough iron for a typical person, for me it would just mean an unbalanced diet where I couldn’t eat enough to have enough of that without neglecting other areas. I fully support veganism if that’s what you want to do, but it’s not a feasible option for everyone.

I met a person who is gluten, dairy, nut, sesame, and I think potato or tomato. This person seemed to have lost the allergy lottery, I can't imagine managing their dietary needs. Needless to say we didn't go on a second date. I get high maintenance with your food, but it was easier for them to have a list of what they can eat versus what they can't eat. Sure, they could eat other veggies and also avoid meat, but doubtful they'd ever go vegan with all of their restrictions. I imagine if there was a person who met your criteria, this is them.

Yes I think everyone is different. My uncle was very fit and healthy and died at 62, while my grandma was smoking cigarettes till 96. Im vegan for over 10 years and feel great, but my ex gf got really sick with the same diet. We are all individuals with different systems

Its very rare that someone cannot be vegan. Most people I hear on the subreddit are saying they can’t but that just means they haven’t even tried. A daily vitamin is good for everyone, like one a day. Also b12 deficiencies are hard to get if you are eating right. A lot of people I personally know are junkfood vegans or even vegetarians and they are lacking in many vitamins. Unless your diet requires you 100% to eat animal products only, in which you will have very high cholesterol, then yes you can be vegan.

I think it's possible for everyone to have a plant based diet, but it may not be practical for all people. As we advance medical and nutritional science it should become more and more practical for all people including those with long term sickness.

Theoretically we could even create chemically equivalent foods using bacteria or even chemical synthesis. Interestingly the human species could end up being the first to be capable of being externally autotrophic. (that might take a while yet though)

It’s absolutely possible to get all essential nutrients while eating a GOOD vegan diet.

The only potential thing that may need supplementation is B12 but that’s obtainable via Nutritional Yeast that has added B12.

I absolutely believe if your vegan diet is based on whole grains, vegetables, beans & legumes you can truly be fine indefinitely.

I think those who say ‘I had to go back to eating meat for my health’ weren’t balancing their diet with care and nutritional knowledge.

I have a long history of severe anorexia nervosa with multiple relapses (luckily reasonably under control at the moment). I've been advised by multiple medical professionals that it would be a very bad idea for me to attempt to go vegan.

I mean. I can’t.

If I had unlimited time and money maybe. But as it stands I can’t afford the time or money to eat all plant protein. I do my best but I’m not willing to get pneumonia or do another three months wit bronchitis. Am I putting my needs above other living beings? Yes. Do I feel bad? Yes. Would any animal instinctually do that? Also yes. I try to minimize suffering as much as I can without making my own life miserable.

Yes. I have a friend who is an excellent and healthy cook (I'm so impressed by the food photos she shares) and has studied nutrition. She has tried to go vegan multiple times and ended up in really bad health every time.

Veganism is about not using animal products as far as is practicable. So if you can prove people have to eat animal products to live, they can still be technically vegan. Good luck proving that though!

A tiny, tiny minority, maybe. But the issue is way overblown by people looking for excuses.

Im one of them so... yeah.

Until I see good science that documents this, i have no reason to believe any normal person can't go plant based.

Every time the topic comes up as an excuse to quit being vegan, I pay close attention to exactly what happened. I can never get an explanation that explains the medical issue. What's the magical ingredient in meat they can't get anywhere else?

Do you believe people can or should survive on species inappropriate diet, knowing they won't be healthy on it anyway? Being healthy on a vegan diet is the exception.

The claim at issue involves prevalence. I am perfectly willing to conceive that of the billions of humans, there is some person with some such issue. That's statistically true. And generally speaking, there are no such issues, which is why such language receives deserved pushback. These things can be true at once.

I think it's theoretically possible, but I'm very skeptical.

I've met at least one person who was allergic to everything "animal-based," but I've never heard of an individual that could not sustain themselves nutritionally from plant-based sources or was allergic to all plant-based foods.

Yes I can't for instance. I have extremely low iron levels and the only fix I ever found was to eat animal products and meat (occasionally though). I actually was vegan years ago and B12 was no issue but I constantly felt like shit because of my low iron levels.

Yes but it's extremely rare. I have a severe form of MTHFR and even I manage, and am not anemic, nor do I take iron supplements. It's definitely possible for nearly everyone, but most people don't want to put in the extra labor.

Probably, but that doesn't do much to the arguments.

Imagine in a parallel universe that there is an Earth that is completely vegan. Also imagine that a small minority of the population wishes to consume animal products.

In that world, some of these same people insist that they cannot consume animal products due to medical issues.

So to answer your question, to the same extent that people in that world insist that they cannot consume animal products due to medical issues, the people in this world will insist that they cannot be vegan due to medical issues

It’s a fact. Actually veganism is an experiment that has excluded most of the population. There’s a wide range of medical issues that would prevent it.

Maybe someone who can’t consume potassium due to kidney failure? Idk though.