We know Vitamin B-complex is essential to a healthy body, but are we getting the sufficient amounts from the foods we eat? What we may not know is that B vitamins are present in a wide variety of foods only at low concentrations. Thus, we are not likely to meet the required daily intake for each vitamin. It is for this reason that supplementation of vitamins and nutrients are highly recommendable.

Chemical Compounds Known as B Vitamins

The same way we refer to other vitamins today, A, C, D, and so on, B-complex were believed to be one single compound for most of the 20th century largely owing to their coexistence in the same food sources. However, in the past few years scientists have found out that vitamin B is actually a group of separate entities with distinct chemical makeup.
What difference does it make?

Discovering the different chemical compounds in the once one B vitamin is significant indeed, not just for the scientific community but for all of us, since this advancement led to a better understanding of how each one of them reacts in the human body. Diseases resulting from a deficiency in one B vitamin can now be treated minus the adverse effects associated with high levels of other B vitamins. For example, Vitamin B3 occurs in the same foods as other B vitamins, but excessive intake of vitamin B3 is toxic to the liver. Supplementation avoids just that in addition to giving us the right amounts we need.

Here are the eight components of what we refer to as Vitamin B-Complex: Thiamine designated B1; Riboflavin, B2; Niacin, B3; Pantothenic acid, B5; Pyridozine, B6; Biotin, B7; Folic acid, B9; and Cyanocobalamin, B12.

Known Benefits of B-Complex Supplementation

Each of us has different dietary needs. Nevertheless, chances are we do not meet the recommended daily allowances for at least one of the vitamin B-complex, whatever diet we may follow. It is a fact that these vitamins do not occur at high levels in natural unprocessed food sources, let alone in abundance in processed goods, frozen or canned. Ironically, getting our hands on natural food products does not mean we get the vitamin B-complex we need.

Egg yolk is rich in B-complex, biotin in particular, but significantly reduces the effects of biotin when eaten with egg whites. Beer is a known source of vitamin B complex owing to the yeast used in its production, but ethanol as an alcohol inhibits the absorption of these vitamins.

Riboflavin occurs in relatively higher amounts in dairy products and vegetables like legumes, but disappears when exposed to light.

B-complex is water-soluble and likely to get expelled from the body in the urine. That