I have a good friend who is a vegan. He takes vitimin and mineral supplements, but I still asssume that he has some deficiencies. He has bad breath and his skin is unhealthy looking. He also has a dry tongue and a constant cough.
I don't know if these are caused by his diet, but I never noticed them before his eating habits changed.
I'm wondering if it's possible to be completely healthy as a vegan. I'm a vegetarian, and get regular blood tests to make sure I'm keeping up with my dietary requirements, but he's much less cautious and his diet is much more limited.
Can a full vegan get all his dietary requirements? If so, what can I do to help him get them?

Thanks,
Kal

Yes if he is not getting enough protein by eating nuts and other protein or if he is not eating a good variety of nutrients from what he eats he can be an unhealthy vegetarian.
Also not all supplement brands are good.

A veggy diet can be great and completely healthy, but as noted one has to get all of the items they need in their diet. And not though pills but by eating all the required things. There is no need for meat in our diets.
*** not that I have the will power for it, but did for over three years.

I'm not a vegan or vegetarian but I know some people are allergic to dairy and they might not be able to eat it. I believe there are nutrients we need in both meat and vegetables. I do believe that there should be moderation in both. Not just eat meat all the time. I like to eat a couple of vegetarian meals throughout the week.

You do have to listen to your body though. If your friend doesn't look good you may want to tell him your concern. You can't just stop eating certain things without replacing certain nutrients.

All for vegans and everyone else too. (http://www.nutrition.for-vegans.co.uk/)
Your friend might like to go through this list and check if he has all the needed nutritions covered.

You have to take good care of yourself when your diet is so limited by something like this. Previously said, you have to eat a wide variety of foods in order to get all the nutrients that you need.

Nuts, fruits, veggies, Vitamins, and WATER! Another thing that most people don't think about is that the human/animal body need sunlight. If your friend isn't getting enough of this it can reek havoc on someone's health.

If he is so dedicated in maintaining this diet, he also should be dedicated to maintaining his health, so talk to him and encourage him to get some help, either online or from a Dr.

The problem is that meats offer the eater a variety of complex proteins that you cannot get from single sources of veggies/nuts. You have to eat a greater variety of them to get the same benefits.

I agree, veggies/fruits are hard to eat and get the full specrum of nutrients. Multivitamins are a MUST!

There are a lot of meat substitutes like beans, lentils, tofu that will give the protein we all need, bean burgers made from beans or mushrooms for instance might help round out his nutritional deficiencies. Vitamins and minerals alone won't give him all the things his body requires, these supplents work with what we eat, he's needs to take a closer look at how to complete the dairy requirements.