Belgium
Federal Government
The Department of Health, Food safety and environment of the Federal Government of Belgium has published several documents that mention vegan diets in French, Flemish and sometimes German (and English).
Guide 1. Highly recommended for moms-to-be and parents with children from 0 to 3 years old, page 4 of the French version (Flemish, German):
"[...] meeting pregnancy's requirements with a strict vegan diet (without any animal product) becomes much more complex, because of multiple defficiency risks (protein, iron, calcium, zinc and vitamin B12). Supplements are therefore recommended in this situation (ask your GP), as well as support form a dietician."
Pregnant and healthy with a balanced diet, page 10 of the French version (Flemish):
"You are vegetarian?
If you're a vegetarian, and as long as you consume sufficient amounts of protein and B12 vitamin, you may pursue this diet. There is no need to worry if you replace meat by a large quantity of cheese, eggs or dairy products. But if you only consume plant proteins, eat sufficient amounts of legumes - soy products, peas, broad beans - combined with large amounts of whole grain cereals like rye bread, rice or pasta. Essential amino acid requirements can only be met with such combinations. If you consume little animal products, make sure you take sufficient amounts of B12 vitamin. If you think that you may be defficient, ask your GP for a B12 test or take supplements before pregnancy. As a vegetarian you should also make sure that your are absorbing enough calcium. Calcium can be found in dairy products, greens like broccoli, leek, parsley, kale, watercress as well as sesame seeds, tofu, legumes, nuts, whole grain cereals and sea algae. These sources of calcium equally contain iron, which is important for vegetarians.
Eat sufficiently rich fiber foods such as legumes, fruits and whole grain cereals and achieve sufficient exercise."
National Nutrition Programme for Belgium 2005-2010 , pages 95-96 of the English version (page 101 for the French version, Flemish):
"Certain alternative dietary behaviours (unbalanced vegetarianism, veganism, unbalanced or restrictive diets) suggested by the popular media, also often encourage deficiency in iron and vitamin B12, which paves the way for anaemia."
Dietary recommendations for Belgium. Revised 28th october 2009 (French, Flemish):
Page 25 of the French version:
"Protein quality depends on its digestibility and the presence of essential amino acids. The Protein Digestibility-Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS) can be used to measure protein quality. PDCAAS expresses the limiting essential amino acid of the protein in mg per gram of protein divided by this particular amino acid's requirement for children under the age of 4. It is also measured in mg per gram of protein, multiplied by its digestibility. Average Belgiums consume foods from animal and plant origin ; this mixture contains all the essential amino acids in sufficient quantity. Lysine is the limiting amino acid for ovo-lacto-vegetarians and more so for vegans ; for an ovo-lacto-vegetarian diet (milk / wheat as protein sources) PDCAAS is 84 % ; for a vegan diet (wheat / soy as protein sources) PDCAAS is 77 % (Nederlandse Voedingsnormen, 2001). As a result, ovo-lacto-vegetarian requirements are 1.2 times superior to that of mixed diet and 1.3 time for vegans.
Generally speaking, PDCAAS of animal foods is superior to plant foods. Nonetheless, soy and soy products are an exception. Most other plant foods have a specific limiting amino acid. For example, methionine is limiting in legumes while lysine is for corn and wheat. Combining varied plant foods makes it possible to meet all amino acid requirements."
Page 55 of the French version:
"Zinc
[...] According to the French experts (Agence Française de Sécurité Sanitaire des Aliments, 2001), these requirements must respectively be increased to 14 and 12 mg / day for diets that are poor in animal products. For vegetarians and particularly strict vegetarians, these requirements could repectively increase to 19 and 13 mg /day."
Page 62 of the French version:
"Manganese
Manganese food intakes usually range from 2 to 9 mg / day depending on diet type. Highest intakes (up to 10 mg / day) are achieved by those who consume great amounts of plant foods (including tea). The weaker intakes are met among animal products eaters. According to some surveys, the 95 percentile values of usual intakes are between 5 and 6 mg / day."
Page 77 of the French version:
"Vitamin B12
Main food sources of this vitamin are offals, fish, seafood, eggs, cheese and red meat. Exclusively animal sourced, food intakes can be insufficient among strict vegetarians. European diet intakes range from 2 to 6 μg / day, while recommended intakes is 1.4 μg / day for adults. This recommended intake should be increased with 0.4 μg /day for pregnant women and 0.3 μg / day when breastfeeding. Infants should get at least 0.1 μg of B12 feeding. This intake should increase gradually from 0.7 to 1.0 μg / day for children aged from 1 to 10 years old [...]."