I keep seeing vegan propaganda
I'll start with this bit
Vegan propaganda annoys the hell out of me. I am vegan, but that is my choice. If you are not vegan, that is your choice. I have zero right to presume to tell other people what to eat. You want to eat meat and dairy? Absolutely fine with me. The propaganda is irritating, sententious, repetitive and fundamentally counterproductive. If your aim is to get people to stop eating meat, you're not going to achieve it by lecturing them or taking the moral high ground. Some vegans are idiots and attention-seekers (but not all).
Veganism is pointless IMO
Depends why you're doing it though, surely? I don't want to eat animals or products of the dairy industry; I'm not doing it for health benefits. On the subject of health benefits though, the
World Health Organisation has classed processed meats, especially bacon and ham, as class 1 carcinogens...
Vegans must supplement B12, which is almost impossible to get enough of from vegan sources. In the US, milk is becoming less popular in favor of plant milks, and this could lead to calcium deficiency in some cases. Even though iodine is added to table salt, iodized salt is not used in packaged food, it's not that common in food otherwise, and I suspect that low-level iodine deficiency may be common.
True about B12 in a natural vegan diet, however here in the UK most soya milk is fortified with B12, and all (as far as I'm aware) with calcium. In the UK, if you are getting B12 from soya milk, iodine is the big problem. We do not have iodised salt. Some soya milks have iodine, but many do not. There are other natural sources, seaweeds for example. Also there are of course supplements.
Iodine is vital. There is plenty of it in seafood, but weirdly for a tiny island nation where you're never more than 3 miles (or something :p ) from the sea, the UK has a historic problem with lack of iodine - goitres from hypothyroidism brought on by iodine deficiency were called 'Derbyshire neck', after the county in the middle of the country where you are just too far from the coast to get regular seafood.
best diet is a balanced diet.
as the brits call.. a 'meat and 2 veg' diet (its been around for hundreds of years)
Agreed. Balanced diet is certainly the best. But it can be achieved as a vegan, so long as you are careful about B12 and iodine as above, and so long as you make sure you're not missing out on other stuff. There are plenty of vegan meat substitutes out there.
A vegan is probably going to be eating a lot of that sort of stuff anyway just to get enough calories.
Ha! If you're the sort of vegan who forages from hedgerows and wears a face mask so they don't accidentally inhale bugs, then maybe. I however am a
conoisseur connesuir connissieur devourer of vegan junk food, where calorific intake is certainly not a problem.
people being able to get all the nutrients they need from supplements and it's much healthier
To return belatedly to the original point (sorry), some people (including vegans in certain situations) might need certain supplements for certain deficiencies. In general however, it's far healthier to eat a balanced diet, as franky said. Just balanced diet, enough exercise, don't smoke or drink (or at least not much), and you're fine. Supplements are the go-to quick-fix of modern culture, and are not in general a good idea. Different people have different diets and will need different vitamins in different amounts. A pill that dumps huge quantities of everything into your system is not a good idea.
Vitamin overdose is a thing, particularly with A and D which are fat-soluble.