B group vitamins perform many roles in maintaining health. They are necessary for immune and digestive system function, for heart and muscle function, and for the production of new blood cells. Moreover, they also intervene in lipid, carbohydrate and protein metabolism, in growth and cellular reproduction processes. They also have protective effects on DNA and on the liver.
Each of these vitamins has a particular function in metabolic processes that cannot be replaced by any other vitamin of the group. B group vitamins are water soluble and, hence, only scarce quantities of these substances are stored in the body. This means that we mainly depend on their regular dietary intake to ensure an optimal supply.
It has been recently discovered that certain B group vitamins have antioxidant properties. Wrong dietary habits, fatigue, stress, intensive physical exercise, growth, pregnancy and breast-feeding, senescence, medicine abuse (barbiturates, antibiotics, oral contraceptives, frequent use of alcohol) and certain pathological conditions (cystitis, headache, migraine, menstrual disorders, constipation, loss of appetite) are some of the most common factors that can cause depletion of the B group vitamin reserves.
Processing of foodstuffs and over consumption of sugar and fat with the daily diet can reduce the intake of nutrients required for correct function of many physiological activities in which B group vitamins too participate. It has been calculated that, in average, foodstuffs subjected to processing lose up to 50% of their vitamin B content.
B group vitamins
B1 (thiamine)
B2 (riboflavin)
B3 (niacin)
B5 (pantothenic acid)
B6 (pyridoxine)
B8 (biotin)
B9 (folic acid)
B12 (cyanocobalamin)
choline
inositol
PABA (para-aminobenzoic acid)