B- Vitamins

What are B Vitamins?

There are eight water soluble but chemically dissimilar B vitamins. They are lumped together because they work in concert and depend on each other to get the job done. B vitamins are essential cofactors for many biological pathways of cell metabolism. One of the key biological processes requiring B vitamins is methylation.

What is methylation?

For you fellow science geeks, a methyl group is three hydrogen atoms attached to a carbon atom. Methylation is putting a methyl group on a compound. When that happens, the compound is activated and goes on to do its task. It may build or repair something, it may produce energy or it may suppress cancer genes. Of the 8 vitamins listed above, these 5 are critical to methylation: B-2, B-6, B-7, B-9 and B-12.

Why take supplements if I eat well?

While whole, fresh, organic food can provide many of the B vitamins you need, there are two important reasons to add B vitamin supplements to a healthy produce-rich diet. First, food based nutrients are not in the active form that can be provided in a supplement. Many people have genetic factors that limit the ability to convert food-based Bs into active Bs. The other reason is that our modern world is a toxic environment. We are all exposed to thousands of man-made chemicals every day. Processing these chemicals requires a ton of methylation.

Note that folate should not be confused with folic acid, a man-made chemical that can be helpful in some instances but can be harmful in others. It is best to avoid folic acid supplementation and take MTHF, calcium folinate or folinic acid instead.

How to take supplements

How do you know how much of each to take? The best option is to work with a functional medicine doctor who can run some tests. All naturopathic doctors, many chiropractic doctors, acupuncturists and nutritionists, and some medical doctors are trained in functional medicine. A couple of simple blood tests that are useful to assess B vitamin status are a complete blood count (CBC) and homocysteine. There are currently many genetic panels available to assess your genetic ability to activate your own B vitamins from foods. 

If you are choosing nutritional support on your own, my best advice is “keep it simple”. A balanced multi-B vitamin with all the above active forms will do the most good while causing the least harm. I do not recommend taking high doses of single nutrients without the support of a well-informed professional.

5 Nutritional B-Vitamin Tips

1. Eat an abundance of fresh produce in a rainbow of colors

2. Take a basic B vitamin supplement in the active form

3. Take a homocysteine lowering supplement if you have high homocysteine (about 8)

4. Get a genetic test to see how you methylate

5. Work with a functional medicine doctor to refine your plan