What You Need To Know About Vitamin B Complex

Perhaps the first and most important thing you need to know about vitamin B complex is that it is, in fact, not a single vitamin. Unlike, say, vitamin C or vitamin D (which are single organic compounds), vitamin B complex is actually a group of chemically distinct compounds. That is in fact why it is referred to as a ‘complex’ (in the same way we can have, for instance, a hospital or college complex – which has many distinct but related buildings).

One of the 8 distinct vitamins which makes up the vitamin B complex is that which is referred to as vitamin B1. Biochemically speaking, this is the substance known as thiamine. The second vitamin in the vitamin B complex is that which a biochemist would refer to as riboflavin, but which for the sake of convenience is referred to as vitamin B2. There is a vitamin B3 as well, and this is the substance a biochemist would more technically refer to as niacin. There is, however, no vitamin B4. From vitamin B3 we ‘jump’ all the way to vitamin B5, which is in fact an acid – the one known as pantothenic acid. Vitamins B6 and B7 are pyridoxine and biotin respectively. But there is no vitamin B8. That means from vitamin from vitamin B7, we jump all the way to vitamin B9, which happens to be the substance known as folic acid. From vitamin B9, we make another huge leap, as there is neither vitamin B10 nor vitamin B11.We therefore end up at vitamin B12 – which is made up of the substances known as ‘cobalamins.’

Several shared features make all these substances part of a single vitamin complex (that being the vitamin B complex). For one, they share food sources – to the extent that most foods that contain at least one of them tend to have others as well. It is for this reason that we talk of vitamin B sources (because although there are many vitamins in the complex, they largely come from the same food sources). Incidentally, vitamin B complex happens to be one of the most easily available vitamins – being as it is, available from virtually all whole unprocessed foods. Meats are also rich sources of vitamin B complex (that is, the whole range of distinct vitamins in the complex). To the extent that you can specifically find some turkey or tuna, you would have chanced upon a very rich source of vitamin B complex. Liver is also a good source of vitamin B complex (and in the process of seeking vitamin B complex from the liver, you will probably also end up getting all vitamin A, C and D you need).

Another thing which makes all the substances mentioned as being members of the vitamin B complex to be considered, collectively, as being part of the same nutrient complex is the fact that they collective have important roles to play in cell metabolism.

Deficiency in the different substances in the vitamin B complex results in different health problems: so that, for instance, a deficiency of vitamin B1 leads to the condition known as beriberi, whereas a vitamin B3 deficiency causes pellagra, with a vitamin B6 deficiency having the potential to cause anemia.

By: Vivian Jones

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The author feels that everybody must ensure they consume the right quantity of vitamin b complex as well as vitamin b12.