Get Your Daily Vitamin B
There are eight B Vitamins. Each vitamin B has a special role in our diet and health.
The B Vitamins are:
- thiamine (B1)
- riboflavin (B2)
- niacin (B3)
- biotin
- pantothenic acid
- vitamin B6
- folate (B9, the natural form of folic acid)
- vitamin B12
What Do the B Vitamins Do?
Each Vitamin B will have special and specific jobs in the body, but we can group them and generalize by function as follows:
- Vitamins B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin) and Vitamin B6 are essential for:
- turning food into energy
- maintaining the digestive system, muscles, nerves and skin
- forming red blood cells
- Vitamin B12 also operates in the formation of red blood cells, and affects the central nervous system.
- Folate, (Vitamin B9) is also active in the formation of red blood cells and our DNA, and so contributes to the building of all of our cells.
Folate has a very special role in the history of how we look at vitamins today. Studies of women who had had children with spina bifida and anencephaly, which occur when the early development of tissues surrounding the spinal chord or the brain goes awry, found that they had a deficiency of folate.
As a result, breads, cereals and other grain products are required by governments to be enriched with folic acid, which is the form that folate is converted to by the body during digestion.
There is also evidence that folate, along with Vitamins B12 and B6, may help fight some types of cancer and heart disease.
Where Can We Get the B Vitamins?
Food Sources Of Folate
- enriched grains,
- liver,
- asparagus,
- corn,
- snap beans,
- mustard greens,
- broccoli,
- oranges,
- legumes, and
- some nuts.
Food Sources Of B12 (Cobalamin):
- beef,
- fish,
- chicken,
- fish.
Plant foods do not provide Vitamin B12, unless they have been fortified with it.
Food Sources Of Vitamin B6
- whole grains,
- soybeans,
- sunflower seeds,
- bananas,
- broccoli,
- spinach,
- chicken,
- pork,
- fish,
- organ meats (liver, kidneys, hearts)
Vitamin B Supplements
All the B Vitamins supplements can be found in your local health food store, supermarket, and pharmaceutical store. Shop online for top-quality, affordably priced Vitamin B supplements.
There are special cautions attached to several of the B Vitamins. You should always check with a professional health care provider about your own personal dietary needs and whether or not you should be boosting your daily Vitamin B and other vitamins, minerals and nutrients.
