B vitamins

Vitamin B is a complex of several vitamins. The name arises because it was once considered a single vitamin, much like Vitamin C or Vitamin D. Since later research has shown it is in fact a complex of chemically distinct vitamins that happen to often coexist in the same foods, the name has gradually declined in use, being replaced by the generic term "the B vitamins", the vitamin B complex, or by the specific names of each vitamin.

List of B vitamins

Vitamin B₁, (Thiamine)
Vitamin B₂, (Riboflavin)
Vitamin B₃, also Vitamin P or Vitamin PP (Niacin)
Vitamin B₅, (Pantothenic acid)
Vitamin B₆''', (Pyridoxine and Pyridoxamine)
Vitamin B₇, also Vitamin H
Vitamin B₉, also Vitamin M and Vitamin B-c (Folic acid) - important for pregnancies
Vitamin B₁₂, (Cyanocobalamin)

B vitamins Deficiency

Several named vitamin deficiency diseases may result from the lack of sufficient B-vitamins.

Vitamin B₁ (Thiamine) deficiency causes Beriberi. Symptoms of this disease of the nervous system include weight loss, emotional disturbances, Wernicke's encephalopathy (impaired sensory perception), weakness and pain in the limbs, periods of irregular heartbeat, and edema (swelling of bodily tissues). Heart failure and death may occur in advanced cases.
Vitamin B₂ (Riboflavin) deficiency causes Ariboflavinosis. Symptoms may include cheilosis (cracks in the lips), high sensitivity to sunlight, angular cheilitis, glossitis (inflammation of the tongue), seborrheic dermatitis or pseudo-syphilis (particularly affecting the scrotum or labia majora and the mouth), pharyngitis, hyperemia, and edema of the pharyngeal and oral mucosa]].
Vitamin B₃ (Niacin) deficiency, along with a deficiency of tryptophan causes Pellagra. Symptoms include aggression, dermatitis, insomnia, weakness, mental confusion, and diarrhea. In advanced cases, pellagra may lead to dementia and death.

Deficiencies of other B vitamins result in symptoms that are not part of a named deficiency disease.

Vitamin B₅ (Pantothenic acid) deficiency can result in Paresthesia, although it is uncommon.
Vitamin B₆ (Pyridoxine) deficiency may lead to anemia, depression, dermatitis, high blood pressure (hypertension) and elevated levels of homocysteine.
Vitamin B₈ deficiency does not typically cause symptoms in adults but may lead to impaired growth and neurological disorders in infants.
Vitamin B₉ (Folic acid) deficiency results in elevated levels of homocysteine. Deficiency in pregnant women can lead to birth defects.
Vitamin B₁₂ (Cyanocobalamin) deficiency causes pernicious anemia, memory loss and other cognitive decline. It is most likely to occur among elderly people as absorption through the gut declines with age. In extreme (fortunately rare) cases paralysis can result.

Related nutrients

Other substances which are very similar in structure and function to the B vitamins have been discovered. Many of them are vitamins to various plants and animals which cannot synthesize their own. None of these are vitamins to humans, because humans can synthesize their own, though some only technically so (choline, for instance, can be metabolized in humans by canabalizing cells to make use of the choline they contain, killing the cells in the process).

The vitamin concept can be rather misleading, since it focuses on only one aspect of a nutrient (whether or not the body is incapable of making its own from other sources), rather than upon the overall benefits the nutrient provides and its contribution to optimal health. There are many nutrients which the body can make, or which don't cause dificiency syndromes, but nevertheless are still beneficial to take as dietary supplements. The term "essential", which in common English may refer to any objective, has been co-opted by the medical field for the specific aspect of vitamins just mentioned. But many nutrients are essential in other ways, such as for boosting certain subsystems of the body or brain above normal performance, or for optimizing health and function. But when a nutrient is referred to as "non-essential", as the term is used in the medical and nutrition fields, persons who are not well educated in nutritional matters may incorrectly interpret this to mean "not essential for any purpose", when the term is only referring to the fact that the body can make its own. The structure of language as applied to nutrition makes it more difficult than usual to communicate about the subject clearly. By highjacking existing words and giving them new nutritional meanings, rather than creating new words from scratch for this purpose, researchers have made it difficult to speak about nutrition to speakers of common English and still be understood. For instance, to call these "non-human vitamins" may lead a listener to believe that they are not essential to humans, period. But such is not the case.

Many of the following substances have been referred to as vitamins because they were believed to be vitamins at one time. Most of them are vitamins with respect to certain plants and animals. And even though they are "non-essential" to humans only in the sense that they don't qualify to be called vitamins, they are all essential for maintaining other aspects of human health. For more information on this concept, see Orthomolecular medicine.

Vitamin B₄ (Adenine) –
Vitamin B₇ (Vitamin I) – more commonly called alcohol soluble Rice bran anti digestive disterbance factor in Pigions; Inositol, Nicotinic acid, & Biotin are possibles. Note: Carnitine has also been claimed but is not possible as it is insoluble in alchohol.
Vitamin B₈ (Ergadenylic acid) –
Vitamin B₁₀ (para-aminobenzoic acid, or PABA)–
Vitamin B₁₁ (Pteryl-hepta-glutamic acid) – Chick growth factor, which is a form of Folic acid. Later found to be one of five folates necessary for humans); (L-carnitine) in France.
Vitamin B₁₃ (Pyrimidinecarboxylic acid) – Also known as Orotic acid, often misspelled erotic acid.
Vitamin B₁₄ – cell proliferant, anti-anemia, rat growth, an antitumor pterin phosphate named by Earl R. Norris (biochemist of folic acid fame) isolated from human urine at 0.33ppm (later in blood), but later abandoned by him as further evidence did not comfirm this. He also clamed this was not Xanthopterin as the French do.
Vitamin B₁₅ (Pangamic acid) – ^*
Vitamin B₁₆ (dimethylgycine) – also known as DMG. (However Lipoic acid was discovered and named a B-Vitamin after B15 and before B17)
Vitamin B₁₇ (Amygdalin) –
Vitamin B₁₈ –
Vitamin B₁₉ –
Vitamin B₂₀ (Carnitine) –
Vitamin B₂₁ –
Vitamin B₂₂ – often claimed as an ingredient of Aloe vera extracts but also in many other foods. Claimed by one source to be Vitamin B12b-delta. first mentioned on internet in reference to Naturopath Linda Clark's book "Know your Nutrition"
Vitamin B_h – another name for(biotin)
Vitamin B_m'' ("mouse factor") – also used to designate Inositol
Vitamin B_p (Choline) –
Vitamin B_t (L-carnitine) –
Vitamin B_v – a type of B6 but not Pyrodoxine
Vitamin B_w – a type of Biotin but not d-Biotin
Vitamin B_x – another name for PABA (para-Aminobenzoic acid)
Lipoic acid –

Note: B₁₆, B₁₇, B₁₈, B₁₉, B₂₀, B₂₁ & B₂₂ do not appear to be animal factors but are claimed by Natropaths as human therapedic factors.

Health Benefits

The B vitamins often work together to deliver a number of health benefits to the body. B vitamins have been shown to:

Bolster metabolism
Maintain healthy skin and muscle tone
Enhance immune and nervous system function
Promote cell growth and division — including that of the red blood cells that help prevent anemia.

Together, they also help combat the symptoms and causes of stress, depression, and cardiovascular disease.

All B vitamins are water soluble, and are dispersed throughout the body and must be replenished daily with any excess excreted in the urine (which turns a bright yellow color).

Vitamin B Sources

Vitamin B comes from a number of natural sources, including potatoes, bananas, cereal, lentils, chili peppers, tempeh, liver, turkey, and tuna. Nutritional yeast (or Brewer's yeast) is an especially good source of Vitamin B.

Another popular means of increasing one's Vitamin B intake is through supplements, purchased at supermarkets, health centers, or natural food stores.

Source material

Linda Clark's "Know your Nutrition": ISBN 0879834013

External links

How B Vitamins Work