By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

Many registered dietitians with an interest in vegetarian nutrition are members of the Vegetarian Nutrition (VN) Dietetic Practice Group. This is a professional-interest group that helps dietitians connect with other dietitians who are involved with vegetarian nutrition. I’ve been active in VN since its inception.

This organization offers a variety of free fact sheets about different topics in vegetarian nutrition, all based on research and written by registered dietitians. They are relatively short and are written at a consumer-friendly level. Many include sample meal patterns.

Topic areas include:

• Nutrients such as vitamin B12, calcium, protein, iron and iodine
• Life Cycle including pregnancy, lactation, infants, children, and teens
• Chronic Conditions such as chronic kidney disease, eating disorders, diabetes, and eating gluten-free
• Sports
• Getting started

Some fact sheets are available in Spanish.