I am a vegetarian considering a vegan diet and I would like to know if it is healthy to cut out dairy products from my diet or if they should be incorporated into any balanced diet?

Nick Busietta, Australia

A well-planned and varied vegetarian diet can provide adequate energy and sufficient amounts of essential nutrients. There are different types of vegetarian diets. The most common is the lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet, with the exclusion of all meat, fish and poultry but eggs, milk and milk products are still consumed.

The lacto-ovo-vegetarian diets are more easily balanced than a vegan diet avoiding all animal-derived foods. In any case, the key to a healthy, balanced vegetarian diet (as with an omnivorous diet) is an understanding of the food groups that underpin a healthy diet, i.e. which foods provide which nutrients, and forward planning of meals.

A balanced diet is easier to achieve with milk and dairy products. Less milk and dairy products can translate into less essential nutrients such as good quality proteins, calcium, zinc and vitamins B12 and D, which are mainly presents in these products. Calcium is a very important mineral in the human body, not only for our bones, but also for many other tasks including nerve and muscle function and blood clotting. Bones are not a calcium store for these functions, they need calcium to keep a high density. People should eat calcium their entire life though you reach the highest density at the age from 25 to 30. Then degradation begins which ends in osteoporosis in the worst case.

However, if you decide to cut milk and dairy products out, make sure that they are replaced by suitable alternatives in terms of the nutrients they supply. You should refer to a registered dietician for diet counselling to assure an adequate intake of protein and essential vitamins and minerals.

Here is a table with animal and plant sources of vitamins and minerals.

Nutrient	Animal Sources	Plant Sources
Protein	Meat, poultry, fish, eggs, milk, cheese, yogurt	Soya, pulses (including lentils, chick peas and beans, including baked beans), bread, grains, seeds, potatoes, nuts
Calcium	Milk, cheese, yogurt and tinned sardines and other small fish eaten whole	Fortified soya milk and tofu, seeds (e.g. sesame seeds), green leafy vegetables (e.g. spring greens), nuts (e.g. almonds), bread (especially white bread), dried fruit (e.g. apricots)
Iron	Liver, red meat, chicken, fish (haem iron), eggs especially the yolk (non-haem iron)	Fortified breakfast cereals (the label should be checked to see if iron has been added), wholegrain bread and cereals, pulses (e.g. soya beans), green vegetables, dried fruits (e.g. apricots), nuts, plain chocolate. The iron in eggs and foods from plant sources is not absorbed as efficiently as iron from meat, fish and poultry. Iron absorption from these nonflesh foods is enhanced when consumed with foods high in vitamin C, such as orange juice.
Zinc	Meat, milk and diary products	Wholegrain bread and cereals, pulses (e.g. soya beans), nuts like peanuts
Vitamin A	Liver, butter, whole milk, cheese	Yellow/orange vegetables (e.g. carrots) and dark leafy ones (e.g. parsley, watercress), yellow/orange fruit (e.g. mangoes, and apricots - fresh or dried), fortified margarines and spreads, sweet potato In vegetables and fruit, vitamin A is in the form of carotenoids, e.g. beta-carotene.
Vitamin B12	Liver, meat, poultry, fish, milk and milk products, eggs	Yeast Sauerkraut and other fermented products Some type of seaweed/algae Fortified products (check on the label)
Vitamin D	Oily fish, meat, liver, eggs especially the yolk also whole milk and its products (the content is not high but in accumulation of all dairy products it is worth mentioning)	Fortified margarine and spreads, fortified breakfast cereals (the label should be checked to see if vitamin D has been added) Mushrooms

Plant sources like wholegrain are also high in phytate, which can be an inhibitor of mineral absorption. Although unrefined foods (e.g. wholemeal bread and brown rice) do contain more phytate, they are still preferable to refined sources, which contain less zinc and other micronutrients.