In India, where the diet centers heavily on cereals (rice, wheat) rich in phytates that block absorption, several shortfalls stack up for vegetarians — B12, zinc, folate, vitamin D — and each is corrected differently: B12 almost only via supplement, zinc mainly by diversifying cereals and legumes, vitamin D via sunlight or a supplement.

noli's read

Source: zinc-shortfall prevalence data for India (SAGE Journals, modeling built on 1983-2012 consumption surveys) and a meta-analysis on B12 among vegetarians/vegans (Bakaloudi et al., 2024). Evidence type: large-scale dietary consumption surveys and a biomarker meta-analysis. The data confirm a rising prevalence of inadequate absorbable zinc intake in India (from about 17% in 1983 to about 25% in 2011-2012), largely driven by the high phytate-to-zinc ratio of staple cereals, which blocks part of the absorption — a well-documented nutritional mechanism, not a stretch. B12 shortfall among Indian vegetarians follows the same pattern seen worldwide: high without supplementation, effectively corrected with it. The post rightly distinguishes the strategies: diversifying cereals and legumes helps for zinc, but plant-based B12 remains essentially absent without fortified foods or a direct supplement. Direction: associational for population prevalence; causal for the corrective effect of B12 supplementation.

the sources

No named source held this one up — that absence is part of the verdict.