Vegetarian and vegan diets

Vegan diets exclude substances of animal origin, including insects.

Vegetarians diets exclude substances that require the death of an animal or insect. Substances from live animals are generally acceptable, such as:

• milk and dairy products
• eggs
• honey, beeswax or propolis
• wool fat (lanolin) from living sheep that will not be slaughtered

For further details, see the formal definitions of vegan and vegetarian diets from The European Vegetarian Union.

Choosing a product

When choosing or advising on a product that is likely to be acceptable to a vegetarian or vegan, consider the appropriateness of the active and inactive ingredients.

These articles provide general advice on choosing medicines for patients wishing to avoid certain substances in medicines:

• Key principles on avoiding ingredients in medicines
• Avoiding animal contents within medicines

Active ingredients

Calcium salts are not of animal origin.

Vitamin D products may contain colecalciferol (vitamin D3) or ergocalciferol (vitamin D2). There is some evidence that colecalciferol is more effective in treating vitamin D deficiency than ergocalciferol. Colecalciferol products are therefore preferred, where possible.

Colecalciferol is synthetically produced using 7-dehydrocholesterol from lanolin (wool fat), or from lichen. Products originating from wool fat may be unacceptable to vegans. However, they may be acceptable to vegetarians if the wool is from sheep that will not be slaughtered.

Ergocalciferol is produced from fungi or yeasts and is like to be acceptable to vegans and vegetarians.

Excipients (inactive ingredients)

Some vitamin D, or vitamin D plus calcium, products contain animal-derived inactive ingredients such as gelatin. This makes a product less likely to be acceptable to vegetarians and vegans.

Legal status and supply

Some vitamin D, or vitamin D plus calcium, products are licensed as medicines. Others are classified as food supplements.

NHS England and NHS Clinical Commissioners recommend that vitamin supplements should not be prescribed routinely in primary care. Patients not diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency, osteoporosis, or certain conditions resulting in malabsorption should be encouraged to buy their own vitamin supplements.

For patients being treated for a medical condition such as osteoporosis, vitamin D deficiency, or malabsorption, it is preferable to use a licensed medicine if possible.

Further advice

In producing this information, we have limited our enquiries to licensed medicines and to the content of the product itself and made the following assumptions:

• if the manufacturer states the product is compatible with vegetarian or vegan diets, this is correct
• if the manufacturer was unable to confirm compatibility with vegetarian or vegan diets, we have assumed incompatibility
• if the manufacturer states that colecalciferol is from live sheep this means the sheep have not been bred for slaughter
• if considering using a food supplement rather than a licensed medicine due to the patient’s beliefs, discuss the implications with the patient

If you need to know if a product may have been in contact with animal-derived substances during manufacturing, contact the manufacturer.

Manufacturers may change the formulations of their products. Check with the manufacturer for the most up to date information on the origins of a product’s ingredients.

Vitamin D products

The following lists are not in any order of preference and are not exhaustive; other products may be available.

Products likely to be acceptable to vegans

There are no licensed vitamin D products which do not contain animal-derived substances.

Vitamin D plus calcium products

The following lists are not in any order of preference and are not exhaustive; other products may be available.

Products likely to be acceptable to vegans

There are no licensed vitamin D plus calcium products which do not contain animal-derived substances.

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