B Complex made simple(r)
Part of Wolfie’s Nutrition Guide : An occasional series
I’m not really attacking the alphabet in order, at least as far as vitamins go, so apologies for back-tracking to B after having already covered C and E. (I’ll complete the confusion in the next instalment by jumping to D!).
You’ve probably heard the term B complex vitamins, or vitamin B complex. What you may not be aware of is what this actually means, and how it relates to vitamins B1, B2, etc. The B vitamins are a family; they generally occur together naturally and they have what is known as a synergistic realtionship - the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. They tend to work together in the body, and a shortage of one often indicates a shortage of the others.
As with many nutrients, B vitamins have many roles to play in our health including:
- A healthy nervous system
- The release of energy from food
- Proper digestion
- Healthy skin, hair and nails
- Proper production of red blood cells
- Maintaining emotional balance
- Relaxing
They are all water-soluble, so are easily passed from the body - this means that a regular supply is needed to help maintain good health. Some of the B vitamins - particularly B12 (cobalamin) - are mainly found in red meat, so if you follow a vegetarian or vegan diet you should make sure you have a good alternative source. Menstruating women should ensure they have an adequate supply of B6 (pyriodoxine) as this helps to produce haemoglobin.
B vitamins are commonly available as a complex in supplements (ie all of them together) but they can also be available separately; the major ones you will see are:
- B1 - Thiamin
- B2 - Riboflavin
- B3 - Niacin
- B5 - Pantothenic Acid
- B6 - Pyridoxine
- B12 - Cobalamin
- Folic Acid - Folacin
- Biotin
- Choline
- Inositol
There is some debate as to whether those last two are B vitamins, but there is a consensus that classes them as such.So how much do I need? As always, opinion is divided on this issue. The EU things you only need a few milligrams (a spread from 1mg to 6mg) but nutritional practitioners reckon that for optimal health you should be looking for a supplement that gives you 50mg of B1 to B6, Choline and Inositol and around 100µg to 400µg for B12, Folic and Biotin. In times of particular stress (poor health, lots of physical activity) you can double those amounts.
Vitamin A
Part of Wolfie’s Nutrition Guide : An occasional series
As with most of the popular vitamins, there is one thing that everyone knows about vitamin A. That is that vitamin A is good for your eyesight - at least, everyone knows that carrots are good for your eyesight (you never see a rabbit with glasses, after all) and carrots are one of the dietary sources of vitamin A.
As well as being good for eyesight, vitamin A is also good for:
- Healthy skin
- Tissue growth and bone development
- Growth and functioning of the reproductive system
- Mucous membrane integrity
- Proper immune system function
Vitamin A comes in two natural forms; the animal form - retinol - is also referred to as “pre-formed” vitamin A, while the vegetable form - beta carotene - is turned into retinol by the body as and when it requires it. There is some suggestion that if a pregnant woman consistently takes a high level of retinol (over 7,500iu per day), there is a risk of birth defects. The statistical risk is very small, but because of it pregnant women are advised to take beta carotene rather than retinol supplements to achieve their vitamin A intake. It is important to make sure you get enough vitamin A when pregnant, as it is important for growth and development of the foetus.
Vitamin A is what is known as a fat-soluble vitamin, which means that it is stored in the body rather than flushed away like water-soluble vitamins, such as vitamin C. That means that your body hold into any retinol that it is given but, if given beta carotene, it will only convert it to retinol if it does not already have enough in store.
So how much do I need?
As with all things nutritional, opinion is divided. The EU RDA is 800?g, or around 7,500iu per day. Because of prevailing legislation in the UK, most supplements that contain retinol will have a maximum of 800?g. To take a higher amount than this you’ll either need to take several tablets, or take a beta carotene supplement. The optimum intake range is from 7,500iu to 20,000iu per day.
Weights and measures
Part of Wolfie’s Nutrition Guide : An occasional series
Milli-whats?
I realise that my post the other day about vitamin C may have confused some people, because of the use of “mg”. As not everyone is familiar with the system of weights and measures that is used in relation to nutritional supplements, I thought I’d give you a brief guide.
Most vitamins, minerals and other nutrients are measured in milligrams or micrograms. These are indicated as “mg” for milligrams and “mcg” or “?g” for micrograms. (”?g” is the correct form, but you will see “mcg” in some places - particularly websites where the character set may not be 100% accurate).
In the same way that a gram (g) is a 1,000th part of a kilogram (kg), so a milligram is 1,000th of a gram and microgram is 1,000th of a milligram. So:
1 gram (1g) = 1,000 milligrams (1,000mg)
1 milligram (1mg) = 1,000 micrograms (1,000?g)
0.1 milligram (0.1mg) = 100 micrograms (100?g)
What are these IU things?
There are three special nutrients, though, that are also measured in International Units (iu). These are vitamins A, D and E. International Units are a system that was introduced to offer a standard for the potency of each of these three nutrients. They are all available in many different forms, all with different potencies, so by introducing International Units it was hoped to standardise things and make things clearer for the consumer.
Unfortunately, this didn’t really work because a different standard was adopted in some parts of the world. In the UK, however, this is how International Units are defined:
3.3iu vitamin A = 1?g retinol (pre-formed vitamin A) or 6?g beta carotene
40iu vitamin D = 1?g vitamin D
1iu d-alpha tocopherol equivalent (?-TE) = 0.67mg vitamin E
Wolfie’s Nutrition Guide
An occasional series
As I think I may have mentioned on these pages before, I work for Health Plus, a company that sells nutritional supplements. I use our products on a daily basis and can honestly say that they have had a positive effect on my health. But during the course of an average day, I find myself answering some quite basic questions from customers - things that you’d think would be general knowledge but don’t appear to be. There are many reasons for this - including the restrictive legislation that exists regarding what can and cannot be said about the nutrients in a supplement - so I’d like to offer the first in an occasional series of articles about vitamins and minerals. I’ll try not to get too technical (’cos otherwise I won’t understand it), and I’ll try not to ramble on and hopefully the information I offer will be useful for someone out there.
As we’re well into the cold season now, and as the one thing everyone knows is that when you have a cold you should take vitamin C, I’ll start there.
Vitamin C is one of those nutrients that is known as an antioxidant; what this means is that it helps the body to fend off free radicals. These are molecules containing oxygen that have an unpaired electron which creates an uneven electrical charge. The molecule then tries to re-balance itself by robbing neighbouring molecules, which triggers a set of reactions that can damage cell membranes, proteins, carbohydrates and even DNA - the genetic material of the cell. This reaction continues until the free radical is neutralised (or scavenged) by an antioxidant. Other antioxidant nutrients include vitamins A and E, and the minerals selenium and zinc.
Most people know that vitamin C comes from oranges, but it can also be found in most other fruits and vegetables. The problem is knowing how much, or how little, you’re getting from your diet. One study a few years ago that I read about reported that, in a random sampling of oranges, the vitamin C content ranged from nothing to 180mg. This uncertainty about the nutritional content of food is what first leads many people to take a supplement - especially in the winter when they feel they need extra protection.
Used by the body in over 300 biochemical reactions, vitamin C can:
- Help make collagen - the building block that your body uses for all its skin, connective tissue, cartilage, tendons and more
- Reduce the risk of viral attack
- Help the growth and repair of tissue
- Maintain normal blood fat and cholesterol levels
- Help your immune system to function fully - even when under attack.
- Assist the uptake of iron from the diet
- Aid haemoglobin and red blood cell production
It is also a vital co-factor for the proper metabolisation and utilisation of other nutrients; Zinc, for example, is much more well absorbed in the presence of vitamin C.
Unlike some other nutrients, the human body is unable to synthesise vitamin C, so we have to rely on external sources - our food, basically. Linus Pauling, well known advocate of vitamin C supplementation, was of the opinion that we lost the ability to synthesise vitamin C because of our fruit rich diet. However, vitamin C is the most unstable of all the vitamins so is easily destroyed in food by poor storage, peeling, over-cooking, etc. It is also water-soluble (meaning it is not stored in the body but is flushed away), so a daily intake is essential.
So how much do I need?
Well, opinion is divided. According to the EU, you only need 60mg per day. This is what they call their Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA). According to the powers-that-be, this is all you need to stop yourself being deficient in vitamin C.
But avoiding deficiency is not the same as promoting good health. To do that, you need much more than 60mg - even eating just your five-a-day should give you more than 60mg per day (provided you’re eating good quality produce rather than fast-grown, insecticide-riddled, watery rubbish). Linus Pauling (who studied vitamin C for many years and attributed his staving-off of cancer to the nutrient) used to take 25g (25,000mg).
Most sensible people would suggest that you need something a bit more in the middle. I take around 2,000mg per day, and I up it to around 6,000mg a day if I should happen to get a cold (which I rarely do these days) until the symptoms disappear.
What should I take?
The most common form of vitamin C in any type of product - from nutritional supplements to fizzy drinks and everything in-between - is ascorbic acid. This also tends to be the cheapest option, just because it is so common. Ascorbic acid is not right for everyone though; if you have stomach acid problems, you’ll want to avoid it and choose something that contains calcium ascorbate or sodium ascorbate. If you want a chewable tablet you should go for these, as well; if you chew ascorbic acid tablets over a period of time they will strip the enamel off your teeth. Most chewable tablets, though, will contain sugar to make them palatable. This can be a mixed-blessing as too much sugar can interfere with vitamin C absorption.
Start with 1,000mg per day and see how you go. If your intake of vitamin C has been very low previously, you might notice a laxative effect when you take this amount. This should lessen quickly as your body gets used to the intake. If it doesn’t, reduce your intake to 500mg and try again. When your body is used to that, try going back up to 1,000mg.
Some people find they get on better with tablets, some people prefer powders (usually mixed with water or fruit juice); either is good - just make sure that you’re getting 500mg or 1,000mg of elemental vitamin C.
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