The German Nutrition Society Revises Its Position on Vegan Diets
by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
The German Nutrition Society (DGE) is a non-profit organization that develops dietary guidelines for Germany (1). Their website says that they are committed to scientific facts and are not influenced by economic or political interests (2).
This group recently revised their position on vegan diets to state, “For the healthy adult general population, in addition to other diets, a vegan diet can also be an option, provided that a vitamin B12 preparation is taken, a balanced, well-planned food selection and an adequate intake of potentially critical nutrients (possibly also through other nutrient preparations) represent health-promoting nutrition.” The translation, courtesy of Google Translate, may be rough but generally, the position endorses vegan diets for healthy adults as long as a vitamin B12 supplement is used, food selection is well-planned, and intake of key nutrients is adequate. The reason given for revising the position is that they considered four factors – health, environment, social welfare, and animal welfare – for the first time, rather than simply focusing on health. They also considered the risk of diet-related diseases, such as heart disease, to a greater extent, rather than mainly considering nutrient needs.
The German Nutrition Society did not believe that there was enough data available to make a recommendation for or against a well-planned vegan diet for pregnancy, breastfeeding, infancy, childhood, adolescence, and seniors. This contrasts with their previous position which did not recommend a vegan diet for these groups.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans are currently being revised and updated. We hope that those working on this revision will note the German Nutrition Society’s new position on vegan diets.
You can read the revised position here (in German)
References
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Food-based dietary guidelines – Germany. https://www.fao.org/nutrition/education/food-dietary-guidelines/regions/germany/en/
- The German Nutrition Society (DGE). https://www.dge.de/english/
To read more about nutrition policies related to vegan and vegetarian diets see:
What Have the US Dietary Guidelines Said About Vegan and Vegetarian Diets?
Mexican 2023 Dietary Guidelines Recommend that 92% of our Plate Be Plant Foods!
Do International Dietary Guidelines Promote Vegan/Vegetarian Diets?
