Vegetarian Medication: Gelatin and Other Slaughter-Derived Ingredients to Check

On a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet, which leaves out meat, poultry, and seafood but includes dairy and eggs, the ingredients to watch for in medicine are the ones made from slaughtered animals. The clearest example is gelatin, the material many capsule shells are made from. That is the definition this guide uses, and under it, lactose (the milk sugar used as a filler in tablets) and ingredients made from eggs are not a vegetarian problem. Gelatin is.

A few common ingredients sit in between. Magnesium stearate, for example, can be made from either plants or animals, and the label uses the same name either way. This guide covers where these ingredients show up, how vegetarian differs from vegan when you read a medicine label, and how to check the specific product you take.

Vegetarian or vegan: what changes in the medicine cabinet

MedlinePlus, the National Library of Medicine’s consumer health site, describes several kinds of vegetarian diet. A lacto-ovo vegetarian diet includes plant foods, dairy products, and eggs. A lacto-vegetarian diet includes plant foods and dairy, but not eggs. A vegan diet includes only plant foods, with no eggs, milk, or honey. MedlinePlus adds that vegetarians also do not eat products containing gelatin or rennin, an enzyme from calves’ stomachs that is used to make many cheeses.

That last line is the one that matters most for medicine. A vegan has a longer list to check, including ingredients that come from milk, from insects, and from sheep’s wool, and our vegan medication guide goes through it. For a lacto-ovo vegetarian, the question narrows to ingredients that come from slaughtered animals. If your practice also excludes eggs, add egg-derived ingredients to your list as well.

Gelatin: the main ingredient to check

Gelatin is an animal product. A 2021 review of capsule materials found that gelatin made from pigs or cattle is still the primary ingredient in capsules, and noted that this is a concern for some religious communities. The ingredient list will say “gelatin,” and it normally stops there. For a vegetarian, though, the animal does not change the answer: gelatin from any animal is an animal product.

The good news is that capsules do not have to be made of gelatin. The same review describes hard capsules made from other materials, including hypromellose (HPMC) and carrageenan, which comes from seaweed. Whether a gelatin-free version of your medicine exists depends on the product. Sometimes another manufacturer uses a different capsule, and sometimes the drug also comes as a tablet, which avoids the capsule question entirely. Your pharmacist can check. Our guide to gelatin in medication covers the alternatives in more detail.

Ingredients that can come from plants or animals

Magnesium stearate is a lubricant that keeps tablet and capsule ingredients from sticking to manufacturing equipment, and it is made from stearic acid, a fatty acid. According to The Vegetarian Resource Group, the principal commercial sources of that stearic acid are cottonseed, coconut, and palm oils; animal fats such as tallow or lard are much less common. As of 2022, the group’s research found plant sources were the major ones used for both food and medicine.

That is reassuring, but it is not a guarantee. The same group says it cannot claim that all magnesium stearate is plant-based, and it notes that the source is not required by law on pharmaceutical labels. So for a specific product, the manufacturer is the one who can tell you. Glycerin is another ingredient that can be made from animal fat or from vegetable oil; our beef-free medication guide covers it alongside magnesium stearate.

For a small number of medicines, the question is not a filler at all: the active ingredient itself is made from animal tissue. Our guide to pork-derived ingredients in medication covers the main examples.

Vegetarianism as religious practice

For many people, a vegetarian diet is part of their faith. In a Pew Research Center survey of adults in India, 92 percent of Jains, 59 percent of Sikhs, and 44 percent of Hindus said they were vegetarian, with each person left to define the word for themselves. The Seventh-day Adventist Church’s health guidance says that a well-balanced vegetarian diet that avoids meat, along with a source of vitamin B12, will promote vigorous health.

People who call themselves vegetarian do not all draw the line in the same place (whether eggs are included is one example), and some traditions have rules about particular foods that go beyond this guide. If your vegetarianism is part of your religious practice, the ingredient facts here are for you to take to your own religious authority, who can advise you on what to do when a medicine you need has no vegetarian version.

How to check your medication

• Read the inactive ingredients. Look for gelatin, and note magnesium stearate, stearic acid, and glycerin as questions rather than answers.
• Know what is not a vegetarian issue. On a lacto-ovo diet, lactose and ingredients made from eggs are not slaughter products. If you avoid eggs, check for them too.
• Ask your pharmacist whether a tablet, a gelatin-free capsule, or another manufacturer’s version of the same medicine is available.
• Ask the manufacturer about the source of any plant-or-animal ingredient in the product you actually have, since the answer can differ from one maker to the next.
• Check again when something changes. A new manufacturer or a new formulation can mean new ingredients, even for the same medicine.
• Look it up in the app. The AllergenMeds app flags ingredients like these in the exact product you look up, so you know which questions to ask.

infoThis guide is for education only, not medical advice. Always talk to your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping, or switching any medication.