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  "path": "/2026/05/19/student-killed-while-suffering-delusions-caused-vegan-diet-28436646/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-19T15:26:18.000Z",
  "site": "https://metro.co.uk",
  "tags": [
    "News",
    "UK",
    "Inquest",
    "Vegan",
    "Essex",
    "Cambridgeshire",
    "mental health",
    "News Updates",
    "Breaking News",
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    "Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source"
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  "textContent": "Georgina Owen, 21, from Saffron Walden in Essex, had been following the plant-based diet for three years before her death in September 2019 (Picture: Family Handout)\n\n**A student ended her own life while suffering ‘delusions’ triggered by her vegan diet, a coroner has found.**\n\nGeorgina Owen, 21, from Saffron Walden in Essex, had been following a plant-based diet for three years before her death in September 2019.\n\nThe University of Swansea student, described as ‘vibrant and full of enthusiasm’, suffered from a B12 deficiency – which can cause psychosis and paranoia – in the last few months of her life.\n\nElizabeth Gray, area coroner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, said Georgina had shown ‘unusually erratic behaviour’ in the same period and her diary entries suggested a ‘deterioration’ in her mental health.\n\nIn a narrative conclusion, she ruled the student died while ‘on the balance of probabilities suffering delusional beliefs brought about by a Vitamin B12 deficiency developed as a direct result of her vegan diet’.\n\n##  Sign up for all of the latest stories\n\nStart your day informed with Metro's **News Updates** newsletter or get **Breaking News** alerts the moment it happens.\n\nThe NHS states that adults need around 1.5 micrograms of vitamin B12 per day. It can be found in meat, fish, milk and eggs, and is difficult to obtain through an exclusively vegan diet.\n\nVegans must get it through supplements or fortified foods.\n\nGeorgina’s family told the inquest the student had said she ‘forgot’ to take her supplements but had bought an ‘organic’ B12 spray from Canada, the Daily Mail reports.\n\nThe University of Swansea student was described as ‘vibrant and full of enthusiasm’ (Picture: Family Handout)\n\nHowever, blood samples taken after her death showed she was deficient in the micronutrient.\n\nA report by three experts noted Georgina had ‘vague signs of cognitive impairment, anxiety, difficulty with simple decision-making and fatigue’.\n\nIt added that her symptoms were indicative of a ‘gradually developing psychiatric disorder culminating in the delusional beliefs’ expressed in a note found alongside her body.\n\nGeorgina’s father Julian, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon, told the newspaper before the conclusion of the inquest that he ‘strongly suspected’ a B12 deficiency ‘may well have had a role to play’ in her death.\n\nThe inquest heard the family arranged psychological support for what they thought was anxiety and had been planning to drive her back to Wales to resume her studies on September 19, 2019.\n\nBut they found her having attempted to take her life at home that day, and she died at Cambridge’s Addenbrooke’s Hospital two days later.\n\n##  Need support?\n\nFor emotional support, you can call the Samaritans 24-hour helpline on **116 123** , email jo@samaritans.org, visit a Samaritans branch in person or go to the Samaritans website.\n\nPAPYRUS offers specialised suicide prevention support for young people. Their HOPELINE247 is open every day of the year, 24 hours a day. You can call 0800 068 4141, text 88247 or email: pat@papyrus-uk.org.\n\n******Get in touch with our news team by emailing us atwebnews@metro.co.uk.******\n\n**For more stories like this,** check our news page.\n\nComment now Comments \nAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source\n",
  "title": "Student killed herself ‘while suffering delusions caused by her vegan diet’"
}