In my post How can I get plant protein without eating soy? I suggested that people limit their intake of wheat gluten products to 2 to 3 servings a day. Someone asked me why gluten should be limited.

Gluten should be limited because eating large amounts of the same protein day after day can, in some cases, lead to developing an intolerance to that protein. Gluten, in particular, appears to be a protein to which many people develop an intolerance. In the worst-case scenario, eating too much gluten might actually trigger celiac disease in someone who is genetically predisposed.

About 1 in 133 people in the U.S. have celiac disease. Celiac disease is when gluten causes someone’s immune system to mount a reaction against their intestinal tissue. It is very unpleasant and means that for the rest of someone‘s life they will have to avoid foods with gluten. You can read more on celiac at the National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse.

Wheat, barley, and rye contain gluten. If someone has celiac, they have to be very careful about all sorts of products that would not at first seem like they have gluten. But for people without celiac disease to vary the proteins in their diet as much as possible, here are some foods that do not contain gluten:

Corn
Rice
Oats
Quinoa
Buckwheat
Teff
Amaranth
Millet
Tapioca
Wild rice

Although buckwheat doesn’t contain gluten, many buckwheat products are a mixture of buckwheat plus regular wheat. However, Eden Foods’ soba noodles are pure buckwheat.

Teff is the grain from which the Ethiopian bread, injera, is made (note that some restaurants mix wheat into their injera, so people with celiac disease should ask). Teff can also be cooked much like cream of wheat and has a similar consistency.

Finally, I want to mention my friends at Sun Flour Baking Company in Sacramento who are supporters of Vegan Outreach and also make a line of gluten-free, vegan cookies, brownies, and bars.

I have updated the creatine section of Vegan Weightlifting: What Does the Science Say?

Some background: Right after I wrote that article for VRG’s Vegetarian Journal in 2003, a study on vegetarians and creatine was released. I obtained a copy of the study, glanced at it, and put it in my pile of nutrition papers to read soon. Things got very busy for me at Vegan Outreach for the next few years and the issue of creatine sat there.

But in the last few weeks, I transferred Vegan Weightlifting: What Does the Science Say? to the VeganHealth.org site (it had previously been only on VRG.org) and started updating the article. Today I finished the creatine section. It turns out that “the lost study” provided some fairly compelling evidence that vegetarian weightlifters can benefit from creatine supplementation.

If you are interested, check it out at veganhealth.org/articles/weightlifting#creatine.

A 15 year vegan recently wrote me concerned about whether a vegan diet was healthy during pregnancy. In her words, “Everything I have read says that getting the right nutrients is the most important thing you can do to ensure a healthy baby….Vegans (non-credentialed) are quick to tell me that everything will be fine…Non-vegans (Dr’s) are quick to tell me that my diet could be a problem.”

My (edited) response:

The most common nutrition concern is not having enough folate (or folic acid) at the time of conception and the first few weeks of pregnancy, but this is rarely a problem for vegans who normally get plenty of folate in their diet.

If you follow the guidelines here, you should be fine. I would especially recommend the article Pregnancy and the Vegan Diet by Reed Mangels that is linked from that page.

You should also check out this page of real vegan children.

The one exception is if the mother has neglected her own B12 intake for a long time before getting pregnant. Here is what you should know about B12.

Over the years, we’ve had to read a number of stories about non-B12-supplementing vegans coming down with neurological problems. And while it’s unfortunate that this man got mercury poisoning, it was a relief to see for once a story implicating animal products instead.

The January 24th issue of The Lancet has a case study of a 59-year old Singapore man who developed severe neurological problems due to eating tuna every day. He originally went to the hospital for lower back pain where the staff noticed that he was suffering from poor memory – he later couldn’t remember why he had gone to the hospital. His speech was slow, he stooped, and had problems walking.

Although his urine did not show mercury, his blood level was 28 μg/L; normal is less than 15 μg/L.

Sources other than the diet were ruled out (he did not have mercury fillings). He could not remember what he typically eats, but his cousin reported that he eats tuna every day and also bought Chinese herbal tea (which can contain mercury) from unlicensed traditional practitioners.

With treatment using the drug penicillamine, and eliminating tuna and the herbal tea, his mercury level got down to 19 μg/L. After five months, his symptoms had improved, but had not completely resolved.

I don’t suppose the Center for Consumer Freedom will be covering this story…

Source: Ho RCM et al. Amnesia, political ambition, and canned tuna. Lancet 2009; 373: 352.

I just put up a response to another Center for Consumer Freedom article, Response to CCF about Protein for Vegan Teenagers. I promise not every blog entry I write is going to be about protein.

Before I answer, I’d like to make everyone aware of a page on protein at veganhealth.org/articles/protein. It is a technical article and definitely not necessary to read in order to eat a healthy vegan diet. But, if someone out there is haranguing you about not getting enough protein, you might find it helpful. My one concern is that all the technical information might make it seem difficult to get the protein you need. The most important things to know are right here.

First of all, soy is an excellent source of protein for vegans and as long as you do not have an allergy or intolerance to soy, it should be safe to eat 2 to 3 servings of soyfoods per day. (See veganhealth.org/articles/soy for more info on soy safety.)

In addition to soy, the best whole food sources of plant proteins are legumes, followed by nuts.

Legumes include a wide variety of foods including:

Garbanzo beans — falafel, hummus, chana masala
Pinto beans – refried beans, burritos
Black beans – soup, burritos
Lentils – dal, soup
Split peas – soup
Peanuts – peanut butter
Chili beans
Green peas

Almond butter is high in protein and other nuts are also decent sources.

While most grains have only moderate amounts of protein, quinoa is the exception in having quite a bit (8 g per 1 cup cooked). I found quinoa to taste unusual at first, but I quickly grew to like it. Make sure you rinse it thoroughly before cooking.

In terms of total protein content, products made from wheat gluten, such as seitan, are some of the highest in protein. Like soy, it’s probably good to minimize the wheat gluten products to 2 to 3 servings a day.

Finally, there are both soy and non-soy vegan protein powders on the market, such as Naturade Soy Free Veg Protein Booster (an Internet search will provide many places from which to purchase them).

As a general rule, if you eat 3 servings of the above foods per day, your protein needs should be taken care of.

Check out my latest article in response to the Center for Consumer Freedom’s press release bashing vegan diets. Link.