Vitamin B’s – Benefits and Side Effects

February 8, 2009 1 Comment

The Vitamin B that we know is actually composed of eight water-soluble vitamins that play a vital role in cell metabolism. In the past, the eight Vitamin B’s were thought to be on Vitamin B. It was later discovered that they were different vitamins with distinct chemical compositions that co-existed in the same food sources. Vitamin supplements that contain Vitamin B complex contain all eight.The eight vitamin B’s are:

* Vitamin B1 or thiamine
* Vitamin B2 or riboflavin
* Vitamin B3 or niacin,
* Vitamin B5 or pantothenic acid,
Vitamin B6 or pyridoxine, pyridoxal, and pyridoxamine,
Vitamin B7 or biotin or Vitamin H
Vitamin B9 or folic acid or Vitamin M
Vitamin B12 or cobalamins or cyanocobalamin

Food Sources

The different Vitamin B’s can come from different natural sources, including potatoes, bananas, lentils, chili peppers, tempeh, liver oil, liver, nutritional yeast or brewer’s yeast, tuna, turkey, and molasses. Because of its high brewer’s yeast content, beer is a source of the Vitamin B’s, although it should be said that the alcohol in beer impairs the body’s ability to activate vitamins.

Symptoms of Vitamin B Deficiencies

Deficiencies in the different Vitamin B’s often lead to different distinct symptoms. Vitamin B1 thiamine deficiency, for example, causes beriberi, a disease of the nervous system. Beriberi symptoms include include weight loss, Wernicke’s encephalopathy (impaired sensory perception), weak and painful limbs, periods of irregular heartbeat, and edema or swelling of bodily tissues.

Deficiency in the other Vitamin B’s include:

Vitamin B2 riboflavin
Deficiency condition: Ariboflavinosis
Symptoms: cracks in the lips, extreme sensitivity to sunlight, inflammation of the tongue, seborrheic dermatitis or pseudo-syphilis, pharyngitis, hyperemia, and edema of the pharyngeal and oral mucosa.

Vitamin B3 Niacin

Deficiency condition: Pellagra (if you are also deficient in tryptophan)
Symptoms: aggression, dermatitis, insomnia, weakness, mental confusion, and diarrhea.

Vitamin B5 pantothenic acid
Deficiency condition: acne and paresthesia

Vitamin B6 pyridoxine
Deficiency condition: anemia, depression, dermatitis, high blood pressure (hypertension), water retention problems, and elevated levels of homocysteine.

Vitamin B7 Biotin
Deficiency condition: impaired growth and neurological disorders in babies

Vitamin B9 folic acid
Deficiency condition: macrocytic anemia, elevated levels of homocysteine, and birth defects

Vitamin B12 Cobalamin
Deficiency condition: macrocytic anemia, elevated homocysteine, peripheral neuropathy, memory loss, mania and psychosis

If you are not getting enough Vitmin B complex in your diet, then you should buy Vitamin B supplements.

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