Image Source: INDIA TODAY

People switching to a vegan diet, for January or for good, could reap health benefits such as weight loss and lower cholesterol but should beware of vegan junk food with little nutritional value, scientists are warning.

Plant-based food enthusiasts should also take supplements of vitamin B12, nutrition experts say, since evidence shows that while a vegan diet is generally healthy, B12 deficiency is common among vegans and can lead to a condition known as neuropathy that causes nerve numbness.

“B12 is a problem. It’s one thing we are concerned about,” said Tom Saunders, a professor of nutrition and dietetics at King’s College London.

Saunders said he had been “really quite shocked” to find in a study that he and colleagues conducted of people on vegan diets about 20 percent of them were “seriously deficient” in B12. Vitamin B12 is found in beef, liver, milk, fish, and eggs and can be taken as a supplement in tablet form.