Dr. Matthew Nagra, ND

Dr. Matthew Nagra, ND My passion is to help people regain control of their health through individualized treatment that begins with nutrition and lifestyle.

I particularly focus on plant-based nutrition, athletics, and chronic disease treatment via an evidence-based approach.

04/12/2026

Vitamin B12 supplements absolutely work!

They have consistently been shown to reverse deficiency (although, if left long enough, it may not be completely reversible).

No reasonable professional will recommend consuming a plant-exclusive diet without B12 supplementation, but fortunately, it’s one of the cheapest and most widely available supplements out there, and is commonly being added to plant-based foods like milk alternatives.

And let’s not forget that vegans in the general population tend to have lower risks of cancer and heart disease.

Thanks to for highlighting the importance of B12.

References:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41935355/
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMcp1113996
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38797248/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10586079/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26502280/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36030329/
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10654-026-01380-8

04/08/2026

Children can healthfully be raised vegan as long as care is taken to ensure adequate nutritional intake… just like any other diet. And like highlighted, there may be some benefits. For example, lower BMI and LDL-cholesterol among vegan kids. If you’re wondering why that matters, well cardiovascular disease begins to develop in childhood or even earlier…

So yes, attention needs to be paid to certain nutrients like iron and vitamin B12, which can be supplied in large quantities by fortified foods and supplements, but let’s not write off the potential benefits of feeding kids, at the very least, a plant-predominant diet.

References:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10408398.2025.2572983
https://www.atherosclerosis-journal.com/article/S0368-1319(69)80020-7/abstract
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9389731/

04/08/2026

News flash! If you eat far too few calories for far too long, you could die. If you didn’t know that, now you do.

But when we look at vegans in the general population, we tend to see better health outcomes than meat eaters (as mentioned by ), in part because they tend to consume somewhat less calories. That can be a good thing…

High calorie plant foods:
- Nuts
- Seeds
- Nut butters
- Plant-based meats
- Avocados
- Oils
- Grains

High protein plant foods:
- Tofu
- Tempeh
- Seitan
- Fava beans
- Lentils
- Lentil pasta
- Plant-based meats

References:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36030329/
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10654-026-01380-8
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39415400/
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/obr.13462

04/07/2026

“Soybeans are grown for their oil and leftover product is used for animal feed.”

This is wholly untrue. According to data from the Food Climate Resource Network, University of Oxford, and USDA Database, 76% of the global soy production is for animal feed. Only 13% is for oils meant for human consumption and 4% for industry use.

It’s also untrue that animal feed is the “byproduct” of oil production. We could most generously call them co-products, or consider the soybean oil to be the byproduct. According to data compiled by the International Institute for Sustainable Development, the demand for soybeans is tied to global meat consumption. If we didn’t produce so much soy to feed to animals, which can also be used to produce oil, we’d just shift to using other oils in the place of soybean oil, which would save money and resources. This is because soybeans actually have a lower oil yield than rapeseed, sunflower, or palm oil. So he’s got it completely backwards.

References:
https://ourworldindata.org/drivers-of-deforestation -our-appetite-for-soy-driving-deforestation-in-the-amazon
https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2020-10/ssi-global-market-report-soybean.pdf
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/oil-yield-by-crop

04/07/2026

The issue with framing nutrient deficiencies as a problem with a vegan diet, specifically, is that all dietary patterns have some gaps. The gaps just change. For example, vegans may need to focus more on getting enough of certain nutrients like vitamin B12, whereas meat eaters need to focus more on getting enough magnesium and folate. Of course, these can be taken care of by focusing on consumption of certain food groups or supplements, depending on the nutrient.

Regarding the benefits of supplementation, cited a study in which consuming food fortified with vitamin B12 (similar to taking a supplement) raised vitamin B12 levels more than consuming the same amount of B12 from meat and without the cardiovascular risks that come with regular meat consumption. The reason likely being that the supplemented B12 isn’t bound to protein and is more easily absorbed.

References:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35010904/
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10408398.2025.2572983
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31519167/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35057453/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41096614/

04/03/2026

The American Heart Association just released their new Dietary Guidance to Improve Cardiovascular Health.

The main takeaways are:
Eat your fruits and vegetables
Consume mostly whole grains rather than refined grains
Choose healthy protein sources with an emphasis on plant protein rather than meat.
Replace saturated fats from things like butter and beef tallow with unsaturated fats from plant-based oils.
Choose minimally processed foods.
Minimize intake of added sugars.
Opt for foods that are low in sodium.
Limit/avoid alcohol.

We can quibble about some smaller details here and there, but I’d say it overall sounds pretty good to me. What do you think?

Reference:
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001435

03/29/2026

misses the mark on red meat.

He’s suggesting that red meat does not worsen health outcomes at any level of intake, as long as you’re exercising, managing calories, and eating other healthy foods. Well, researchers typically account for these variables and we see that red meat (even unprocessed red meat) is associated with a higher risk of outcomes like CVD and total mortality.

In fact, in one study, researchers even performed subgroup analyses, looking at specific subsets of the population, and did not find significant differences in results between those who had a healthy or elevated BMI, but they did find that those with the healthiest overall diets actually had a larger effect from unprocessed red meat than those with lower diet quality, with a 9% increase in risk for each additional 2 servings/WEEK. This is likely because, in those with a healthier diet, red meat is crowding out healthier foods, whereas, if you have a poor overall diet, then swapping out a donut for a steak probably isn’t going worsen outcomes.
A meta-analysis also found that replacing a single daily serving of unprocessed red meat with most other protein sources, such as fish, dairy, nuts, or legumes could lower the risk of coronary heart disease and/or all-cause mortality.

So, is an occasional serving of red meat going to have a meaningful impact? Probably not. But the more regular that becomes, especially if being consumed in lieu of other protein sources, the larger an effect it can have, even after accounting for calories and exercise.

References:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32011623/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35380734/

03/26/2026

It’s pretty rich that says that one of the reasons vegan diets aren’t healthy is that they don’t get creatine, which is found in meat, when Mr. “Ex-Carnivore but still ‘Animal-Based’ despite eating tons of plants” supplements with creatine himself. Why does he do that if he gets his creatine from meat?

Perhaps it’s because the amounts found in meat are tiny and you’d need to eat about 2.5lbs of beef to get the same amount creatine in a single teaspoon of creatine powder.

Plus, supplementation has been shown to boost athletic performance and *possibly* cognitive function in BOTH meat eaters and vegetarians... so vegans can get creatine from the same place he does to reap those benefits.

Oh, and plant-based dieters achieve similar muscle and strength gains to meat eaters with or WITHOUT creatine supplements, so meat eaters don’t appear to have some kind of advantage because of the amounts they get through food.

References:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
227249571_Nutritional_Supplements_for_Endurance_Athl
etes
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32349356/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35267907/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33599941/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36822394/

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