Comparative bioavailability of vitamins in human foods sourced from animals and plants

Sylvia M. S. Chungchunlam & Paul J. Moughan

Recent international reports suggest that some forms of animal food production may be environmentally unsustainable, and that the current consumption of animal-sourced foods should be lowered in favor of plant-based foods (Adesogan et al. Citation2020; Beal et al. Citation2023; FAO et al. Citation2020; Pimentel and Pimentel Citation2003; Springmann et al. Citation2018; WHO and FAO Citation2019; Willett et al. Citation2019).

However, the nutritional quality of animal- and plant-sourced foods must be considered in the formulation of affordable, sustainable dietary patterns (Ambikapathi et al. Citation2022; FAO et al. Citation2020; Herforth et al. Citation2020; Hirvonen et al. Citation2020; Springmann et al. Citation2018). Our previously reported modeling studies, using Linear Programming, showed that dietary patterns that met the recommended minimum intake requirements for essential nutrients of an average adult in the United States of America or New Zealand, formulated at the lowest dietary cost, relied on foods sourced from both plants and animals (Chungchunlam et al. Citation2020, Chungchunlam, Garrick, and Moughan Citation2021).

Modeled diets that included animal-sourced foods were relatively 30 to 45% cheaper than modeled diets that consisted exclusively of plant-based foods, and the prices of animal-sourced foods had to be increased by two to eleven times to be excluded from the least-cost dietary patterns.

It was also highlighted that the first-limiting nutrients for adults in mixed modeled diets were not the macronutrients but rather mostly the vitamins and minerals, particularly vitamin A, B group vitamins, calcium, iron, potassium, and zinc (Chungchunlam et al. Citation2020, Chungchunlam, Garrick, and Moughan Citation2021).

While the amount and form of essential nutrients may differ among their main dietary sources, their inherent bioavailability is often overlooked. These essential nutrients generally occur in animal-derived foods in higher concentrations and apparently with greater bioavailability, compared to plant-based foods (Adesogan et al. Citation2020; Murphy and Allen Citation2003). However, there is a paucity of published data on the comparison of the overall availability of vitamins and minerals between animal- and plant-sourced foods. The bioavailability of minerals and trace elements will be the subject of a future review from our research group. This review focuses on the bioavailability of vitamins.

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