Going vegan? Here are 10 facts you may not know

Whether for ethical or health reasons, more and more people - particularly those aged under 35 - are choosing to avoid food made from animal products.

There are three types of vegans

Dietary vegans don't eat eggs, meat or dairy products. Ethical vegans do not use non-food products that are derived from animals, such as leather. Environmental vegans avoid products that have been harvested or farmed industrially.

They've been officially around since 1944

When Donald Watson founded the Vegan Society in England. At the time, wartime rationing was in force, so there were severe shortages of meat and eggs in urban areas anyway. At first, it was called 'non-dairy vegetarianism', but by 1951 the definition was changed to mean living without exploiting animals.

A vegan diet is completely cholesterol-free

They're high in fibre, magnesium, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E and iron, but vegans are at risk of deficiencies in omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, calcium, zinc and vitamin B12.

The earliest known vegan was the Arab poet Al-Ma'arri

He lived from 973 to 1057.

It was touted as a cure for tuberculosis and acne in Victorian times

And called the 'water and vegetable diet'.

There were vegan communes in the 19th century

They mainly practiced dairy vegetarianism. One, Fruitlands in Massachusetts, was set up by Little Women author Louisa May Alcott's father Amos Bronson. In England, there was a community called Concordium at Alcott House on Ham Common in London.

In 1945 the Vegan Society published a list of approved products

It included Colgate toothpaste, Kiwi shoe polish and Gloy glue. The first vegan recipe books appeared around this time.

The modern dietary trend began in 2010

A Wikipedia article on veganism was viewed 73,000 times a month in 2009. By 2013, this had risen to 145,000.

The first vegetarian butcher opened in 2010

It's located in the Netherlands and sells mock meat. The US's first vegan butcher, in Minneapolis, only opened in 2016.

The UK plant milk market increased by 155 per cent in two years

From 36 million letres in 2011 to 92 million in 2013

Meet the Leeds-based vegan chef hoping to get her cafe off the ground