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foods, use iodized salt. If you don’t typically add salt to your foods, don’t start doing so just to get iodine. One-quarter teaspoon provides 76 micrograms of iodine. Different “natural” salt preparations, including sea salt, have variable amounts of iodine and aren’t dependable. Sea salt also has the same detrimental effects on blood pressure and bone health as regular salt. The salt added to processed and fast foods is rarely iodized.

• Consume sea vegetables like kelp, nori, dulse, and alaria several times per week. This is a tricky way to get iodine, though, since the amounts are so variable. And some sea veggies are extremely high in iodine, which can cause thyroid problems. So while consuming sea vegetables three to four times per week can be helpful, we recommend that you not eat them more often than that.

• Take a modest iodine supplement providing 75 to 150 micrograms of iodine three to four times per week. If you take a vegan multivitamin, check the label since it probably contains iodine. Using a supplement is our favorite way to get iodine since it is reliable (unlike sea vegetables) and harmless (unlike salt). Don’t overdo it with supplements, though, since the range of safe iodine intake is relatively small, and it’s important to avoid intakes above the upper limit for safety.

RDAs AND UPPER LIMITS FOR IODINE INTAKE

Age (years) RDA (micrograms) Upper Limit (micrograms)

1–3 90 200

4–8 90 300

9–13 120 600

14–18 150 900

Over 18 150 1,100

Pregnant

18 or younger 220 900

Over 18 220 1,100

Lactating

18 or younger 290 900

Over 18 290 1,100

VITAMIN A

The active form of vitamin A is retinol and it is found only in animal products. But plants have more than fifty compounds called carotenoids that the body can convert to vitamin A. The most common is beta-carotene. Because there are so many forms of vitamin A, the vitamin A content of foods is stated as retinol activity equivalents (RAE). Think of these as the amount of potential vitamin A activity in a food. The RDA for vitamin A is 900 RAE for men and 700 RAE for women.

In addition to their role as vitamin A precursors, the carotenoids have antioxidant properties and other potential benefits for reducing chronic disease. The preformed vitamin A in animal foods doesn’t have those advantages.

In 2000, based on new evidence about the conversion of beta-carotene into active vitamin A, the FNB doubled their estimate of how much beta-carotene it takes to produce adequate vitamin A. That means that the RAE content of plant foods is only half of what was previously thought. Where we once thought that vegan diets automatically provided enough vitamin A, it’s now clear that getting enough requires at least some diligence.

As you can see from the table on page 74, carrot juice is very high in vitamin A. If you like carrot juice, consider drinking ¼ cup per day to give your vitamin A intake a boost. A varied diet that includes plenty of brightly colored vegetables should make up the rest of your requirements. Both cooking and added fat increase the absorption of beta-carotene, so there is a benefit to eating some of these vegetables cooked rather than raw. And it’s a good idea not to let the fat content in your meals drop too low.

VITAMIN A CONTENT OF PLANT FOODS

Recommended intake is 700 RAE for adult women and 900 RAE for adult men.

Food Vitamin A Content (in retinol activity equivalents or RAE)

Vegetables

(½ cup cooked unless otherwise indicated)

Beet greens 276

Broccoli 60

Bok choy 180

Butternut squash 572

Carrots, 1 medium, raw 509

Carrots, ½ cup cooked 665

Carrot juice, 1 cup 2,256

Chicory greens, 1 cup raw 166

Collard greens 148

Dandelion greens 356

Hubbard squash 382

Kale 443

Mustard greens 221

Pumpkin, canned 953

Spinach 472

Sweet potatoes 961

Swiss chard 268

Tomato, 1 medium 76

Tomato juice, 1 cup 56

Fruits

Apricots, 3 fresh (not dried) 101

Cantaloupe, 1 cup chunks 270

Mango, 1 medium 80

Nectarine, 1 medium 50

Papaya, 1 medium 167

VITAMIN K

Although vitamin K was discovered in the early part of the