TAKING YOUR VEGAN RUNNING NUTRITION TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Our monthly newsletters cover a variety of nutrition-related training topics, often emphasizing plant-based approaches for optimizing running performance and overall health.  Become a member to access our in-depth repository on optimising your vegan nutrition for running performance.  Some of our newsletter coverage is summerised below. 

• Importance of B12 for Vegan Running

• The B12 article in the August 2025 Newsletter stresses that Vitamin B12 supplementation is mandatory for all plant-based eaters because the nutrient is produced by bacteria, not plants, and deficiency can lead to severe issues like neurological damage and fatigue. 

• For runners, B12 is described as the "lubricant for a finely-tuned machine," acting as a crucial cofactor in converting carbohydrates and fats into ATP, the primary energy source for muscles. Adequate B12 intake translates directly to enhanced energy production and endurance, helping to ward off fatigue during exercise. 

• B12 supports optimal oxygen delivery by stimulating red blood cell production and ensures sharp nerve function vital for coordination and efficient running form. 

• To achieve optimal functional status, general adult runners are typically advised to take either 50 micrograms daily or 2,000 micrograms of cyanocobalamin once per week. Individuals over 50, regardless of diet, should ensure a reliable B12 source, with a recommendation for a high daily dose of 1,000 micrograms.

• Omega-3 Fatty Acids for Vegan Running

  • Understanding Omega-3s: Focuses on eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), noting that the body's conversion of ALA (from plant sources like flaxseeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds, and walnuts) to EPA and DHA is limited.

  • Potential Performance Benefits: Discusses how omega-3s may improve oxygen utilization by acting as vasodilators, enhance running economy (especially for lower-level athletes), reduce perceived exertion, and accelerate recovery by decreasing delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and oxidative stress.

  • Vegan Considerations: Highlights the higher risk of deficiency for vegans due to the absence of fish in their diet.

  • Heart Health: Emphasizes their importance for cardiovascular efficiency, reducing inflammation, lowering triglycerides, preventing arrhythmias, and regulating blood pressure.

  • Practical Tips: Recommends boosting ALA intake (1-2 tablespoons of flaxseed oil or 2-3 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds daily, aiming for 3-5g ALA), considering algae-based EPA/DHA supplements (200-500 mg daily), timing intake with meals containing healthy fats, and monitoring levels with an Omega-3 Index blood test.

• Pre-Race Meal Strategy: Avoiding Performance Sabotage:

  • Ideal Meal Focus: Advises on balancing taste with performance, highlighting the pitfalls of restaurant meals often loaded with dietary FOG (fats, oil, and grease) and high salt.

  • Impact of Saturated Fat: Explains that even a single high-saturated fat meal can negatively affect endurance by delaying digestion, increasing inflammation, and impairing vascular health and endothelial function.

  • Nitric Oxide (NO): Discusses how saturated fats can impair the endothelium's ability to produce NO, a potent vasodilator that increases blood flow and oxygen delivery to muscles, which is crucial for performance.

  • Recommended Foods: Suggests low-salt, FOG-free options like grains (buckwheat, quinoa), salads with balsamic vinegar (no dressing), plain white flour pasta with grilled tomatoes and vegan pesto, and easily accessible items like cooked beets and white bagels when traveling.

• Vitamin D for Athletic Performance:

  • Seasonal Deficiency: Addresses "Seasonal Performance Variation" due to reduced sunlight exposure, leading to deficiencies peaking around March, especially in northern hemispheres.

  • Benefits for Runners: Explains Vitamin D's critical role in muscle function (ATP synthesis, mitochondrial efficiency, strength, power, endurance), bone health (calcium absorption, preventing stress fractures), and immune support.

  • Supplementation: Recommends 2,000-4,000 IU per day for athletes, cautioning against exceeding 100 micrograms (4,000 IU) without medical advice.

  • Deficiency Impacts: Symptoms include muscle weakness, fatigue, and slower recovery, potentially causing a 1-3% decrease in performance.

  • Supporting Nutrients: Briefly notes the abundance of Vitamin C in plant-based diets and stresses the importance of magnesium for Vitamin D activation and metabolism, and Vitamin K2 (from leafy greens or supplements) for calcium incorporation into bones.

• Performance-Enhancing Food Supplements:

  • General Supplements: Mentions Dr. Michael Gregor's recommended supplements (algae-based Omega 3, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12).

  • Specific Compound: Introduces a well-researched, legal, and beneficial natural compound (name withheld in source) that can improve muscle strength, lean body mass (especially with resistance training in older people), brain performance, and potentially increase lifespan. It's noted to be particularly beneficial for vegans and older athletes.

• Boosting Mitochondria Through Diet:

  • Mitochondrial Health Overview: Part of a series, this section explains that mitochondrial health, quantity, and efficiency are highly variable and significantly influenced by diet, directly impacting endurance and recovery. A highly trained, well-nourished athlete can have significantly more and more efficient mitochondria.

  • Whole-Food Vegan Diet Benefits: A diverse, nutrient-packed plant-based diet supports mitochondrial biogenesis (creation of new mitochondria), efficiency, and mitophagy (cleaning damaged mitochondria).

  • Harmful Diets: High-fat diets, especially combined with high glucose, can lead to mitochondrial fragmentation and insulin resistance.

  • Key Plant-Based Compounds: Identifies Polyphenols, Soybeans (via Genistein), Cacao Beans, Nitrate-Rich Vegetables (beets, spinach, arugula, Swiss chard, celery, green lettuce), Ellagic Acid & Urolithin A (from yellow raspberries, pomegranates, strawberries, walnuts), Omega-3 Fatty Acids (plant-based sources), and Short-Chain Fatty Acids (from insoluble fiber) as beneficial for mitochondrial health.

  • Essential Nutrients: Highlights the need for Co-Enzyme Q10 (CoQ10), quercetin, NAD+, L-carnitine, creatine, PQQ, and B vitamins, easily obtained from a diverse whole-food vegan diet.

  • Gut-Mitochondria Connection: Explains that gut microbes produce compounds that influence mitochondrial function, emphasizing the link between gut health and performance.

  • Methionine: Cautions against high dietary methionine (mostly in animal products) which can harm mitochondria, suggesting a balanced vegan diet can inherently provide a methionine-restricted environment.

  • Daily Checklist: Provides practical tips like focusing on diversity, including berries, pomegranates, leafy greens, beets, soy, cacao, healthy fats, and fiber-rich/fermented foods.

• Alkaline Diet for Performance:

  • Concept: Explores how diet can impact the body's acidity (pH value), suggesting that an excess of acidic foods impairs muscle performance and contributes to fatigue, while maximizing body alkalinity through dietary choices can offer benefits.

  • Benefits: Favors anaerobic boost for shorter distances (400m-5000m) by reducing acid build-up and increasing bicarbonate buffer. Also suggests improved fuel efficiency through enhanced fat burning at slower paces.

  • Research Findings: Discusses various studies from 2015 to 2024, noting mixed evidence but also improvements in 400m sprint times and longer-term benefits on body composition and aerobic performance when an alkaline diet is combined with exercise. Highlights a Lithuanian study showing high-protein diets in athletes can cause acid-base imbalances.

  • Vegan Alignment: Notes that vegan diets naturally align with alkaline eating principles, but cautions against consuming alcohol, tea, coffee, and processed foods which can negate benefits.

• Hydration and Specific Foods for Performance:

  • Watermelon: Promotes its consumption for hydration (92% water), electrolyte replacement (potassium, magnesium), carbohydrate source for energy, antioxidant content (Vitamin C, lycopene), and citrulline, an amino acid that may reduce muscle soreness and improve blood flow.

  • Beetroot: Recommends daily consumption for its nitrate content, which enhances vascular endothelial function and offers both chronic and time-limited endurance benefits.

• General Nutrition Advice :

  • Provides an example of advice from VEG3 AI for an ideal vegan meal before a 10k race: high in complex carbohydrates, moderate protein, low in fat and fiber, with examples like whole grain pasta, brown rice, quinoa, lentils, chickpeas, steamed vegetables, and fruit, emphasizing familiar foods.

  • Reiterates the negative impact of fats on endothelial function due to high-fat meals impairing blood vessel dilation, reducing blood flow, and increasing inflammation and blood viscosity.

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