Taking Your B Vitamins
If there’s one group of vitamins you should really focus on it’s the B vitamins. Of course, all vitamins are important, but B vitamins require special consideration because they are not as well stored as vitamin A, D, E and K. Vitamins B and C have very small stores and it is easy to become deficient in them.
Why your B vitamins are so pivotal
Vitamin B is, as a group, very diverse and has an important role in natural medicine.
They contribute to the prevention of many kinds of diseases and overall play a major role in enhancing your normal health.
There are so many different ways to improve your health, and Authority Health has the answers to some of the questions you may have. Check out their website for more details on various forms of healthy living.
1. They all help to protect from chronic diseases
There is a strong association with taking B vitamins and reducing the risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease especially. B vitamins are very good antioxidants.
Antioxidants help to protect cells from damage and inflammation. Both cancer and cardiovascular disease are developed by oxidation in various organs.
In cancer, environmental toxins and the products of your body’s own metabolism cause damage to the body because they are free radicals. Free radicals are highly reactive and destroy cell membranes and DNA.
This is a major contributor to cancer. Cardiovascular diseases are also caused by oxidation of cholesterol – and B vitamins help to reduce this. Certain B vitamins like niacin also help to reduce levels of cholesterol, so that less of it can be oxidized.
B vitamins help certain reactive proteins to perform their function.
These reactive proteins, called enzymes, help to build up and break down different substances. In nerves, vitamin B helps enzymes to produce special communication molecules that send messages to and from the brain, muscles, and organs.
They also help different enzymes to break down harmful substances. Many scientific research studies have found a link between the consumption of B vitamins and a reduced onset of Alzheimer’s and cognitive decline.
3. They give you more energy
Vitamin Bs take part in the vital chemical reactions that produce energy. Niacin is converted into a molecule called NAD which provides the chemical energy for the vast majority of chemical reactions in the body.
The chemical reactions that produce the energy to move, breathe and think also require oxygen. Oxygen is brought to different organs by red blood cells.
Vitamin B9 and B12 are very important for the production of red blood cells and a deficiency of them causes a kind of anemia called macrocytic anemia. Without vitamin B9 and B12, the body is less able to carry oxygen to the organs that need it and so it is less able to produce energy.
4. They are important for your sleep cycle
Some of the important molecules in the body that are required to maintain a healthy sleep cycle are produced by enzymes that are supported by vitamin Bs.
One of the important molecules required for healthy sleep is gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) which is synthesized by a niacin-dependent enzyme.
More and more evidence is being produced by scientific studies concerning the role of diet and sleeping habits, and B vitamins are a very important part of this.
5. They increase hair growth
One of the favorite B vitamins of the supplement industry is biotin (B7). Biotin assists with the production of keratin. Keratin is the protein that gives hair, skin, and nails their strong structure.
Several scientific studies have also determined that whether or not a person is deficient in biotin if they take it daily they see improved hair growth.
You can also take good fish oil supplements for healthier skin.
Wrap-Up
There are different recommended daily allowances (RDAs) for each of the B vitamins.
The best sort of foods to eat for getting B vitamins are animal products like meat and eggs, as well as nuts, beans and green vegetables (spinach and broccoli).
If you have reasonable amounts of these foods in your diet, you should be getting enough B vitamins but if you feel that you are not (if you feel any symptoms of a deficiency as above), B vitamin supplements are very affordable and safe to take.
