Zinc is a really significant one for vegetarians, and no-one talks about it, because pretty much the only usual dietary sources for zinc are meat-based.

> Other good sources of zinc are nuts, whole grains, legumes, and yeast. [1]

I've found nuts are basically a super food. No need for refrigeration or preservatives/processing to keep edible. I always have bags of shelled organic nuts on hand and eat handfuls on a daily basis. The only down side I've found is cost; nuts, especially organic ones, are more costly than filet mignon per lb at whole foods.

[1] https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002416.htm

This page details actual zinc contents of foods: https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Zinc-HealthProfessional/

Note that the first non-meat source (other than fortified breakfast cereal) is baked beans and you'd have to eat at least a full can a day to get your RDI. Or I guess you could eat 2.2kg of yoghurt.

That's quite a sparse list,

Walnuts have 3mg/100g (33% DV) [1]

Sunflower seeds 5mg/100g (53% DV) [2]

I'm currently holding a 340g bag of raw organic walnuts I opened this morning, and it's nearly empty just from snacking throughout the day. Also snacked on sunflower seeds, but not much.

Dinner was a large bowl of lentils, which have 3.5mg/100g (35%) [3]

Without even optimizing for it I'm over the RDI for Zinc without animal products, this is just what I happen to be stocked up on currently. So clearly it's not much of a challenge for a vegetarian to get sufficient Zinc.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walnut#Nutritional_value

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunflower_seed#Nutrition

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lentil#Nutritional_value

Wouldn't want to upset the narrative that meat eating is unnatural and completely optional.

Eating meat is perfectly natural, humans are opportunistic omnivores. It's weird that I don't, and I wish it were an option for me, but I've just always been too creeped out by the thought of eating parts of another animal's body.

Story with zinc is much less than certain actually... likewise with boron.

Boron? What on earth would you do with that? Is it used in some metabolic process somewhere?

edit: Ok, according to "Devirian, T.A. and Volpe, S.L., 2003. The physiological effects of dietary boron."

> Boron is known to influence a variety of metabolic actions. It interacts with calcium, vitamin D, and magnesium, which are all important in bone metabolism. Boron accumulates in bone in concentrations dependent on the amount of boron consumed. Boron has also been found to increase steroid hormone concentrations in postmenopausal women and to have antioxidant properties, which could make it beneficial in preventing atherosclerosis

I would disagree.

https://examine.com/supplements/zinc/#summary1-3

Read the page again about 10% estimated below RDA in the US. Then the RDA is not exactly very well validated and being below it does not mean being deficient.

You can tell if you have zinc deficiency if you have those white dots on your fingernails. Although that's more in the range of "severe deficiency" so if you ever notice that symptom you should try to be more mindful about your zinc intake in the future (food or supplements).

No. White dots on your fingernails can have tons of reasons. It’s more likely that it’s not due to zinc deficiency. [1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leukonychia