Did You Know Just That Many Cancers Are Linked To A Vitamin Deficiency?
How B Vitamins
Work
by Dr. Jerry Gordon
We've
all stared at the cereal box label during breakfast and
wondered what words like riboflavin, folic acid and pyridoxine
mean. Has your mom ever reminded you to eat a balanced diet
and "make sure you eat your greens"? The words
on your cereal box and your mother's good advice both involve
vitamin B. The B vitamins are a group of eight individual
vitamins, often referred to as the B-complex vitamins. In
this article, we will take a look at how the B vitamins
work so you can begin to understand why Kellogg's and your
mother made sure you included these essential vitamins in
your diet. We'll also look at some of the more serious conditions
that can result from B vitamin deficiencies and how the
B vitamins can help treat major diseases such as coronary
heart disease.
What
Exactly Are Vitamins and What Do They Do For Us?
The word vitamin is derived from a combination of words
-- vital amine -- and was conceived by Polish chemist Casimir
Funk in 1912. Funk isolated vitamin B1, or thiamine, from
rice. This was determined to be one of the vitamins that
prevented beriberi, a deficiency disease marked by inflammatory
or degenerative changes of the nerves, digestive system
and heart.
If
you read What are vitamins and how do they work?, you know
that vitamins are organic (carbon containing) molecules
that mainly function as catalysts for reactions within the
body. A catalyst is a substance that allows a chemical reaction
to occur using less energy and less time than it would take
under normal conditions. If these catalysts are missing,
as in a vitamin deficiency, normal body functions can break
down and render a person susceptible to disease.
The
body requires vitamins in tiny amounts (hundredths of a
gram in many cases). We get vitamins from these three primary
sources:
Foods
Beverages
Our bodies -- Vitamin K and some of the B vitamins are produced
by bacteria within our intestines, and vitamin D is formed
with the help of ultraviolet radiation, or sunshine, on
the skin.
Vitamins are either fat-soluble or water-soluble. The fat-soluble
vitamins can be remembered with the mnemonic (memory aid)
ADEK, for the vitamins A, D, E and K. These vitamins accumulate
within the fat stores of the body and within the liver.
Fat-soluble vitamins, when taken in large amounts, can become
toxic. Water-soluble vitamins include vitamin C (see How
Vitamin C Works) and the B vitamins. Water-soluble vitamins
taken in excess are excreted in the urine but are sometimes
associated with toxicity. Both the B vitamins and vitamin
C are also stored in the liver.
The
B-complex vitamins are actually a group of eight vitamins,
which include thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3),
pyridoxine (B6), folic acid (B9), cyanocobalamin (B12),
pantothenic acid and biotin. These vitamins are essential
for:
The breakdown of carbohydrates into glucose (this provides
energy for the body)
The breakdown of fats and proteins (which aids the normal
functioning of the nervous system)
Muscle tone in the stomach and intestinal tract
Skin
Hair
Eyes
Mouth
Liver
Some doctors and nutritionists suggest taking the B-complex
vitamins as a group for overall good health. However, most
agree that the best way to get our B vitamins is naturally
-- through the foods we eat!
http://home.howstuffworks.com/vitamin-b.htm
