Essential B Vitamins

B Vitamins are the everyday water-soluble vitamins that are essential for most functions in our bodies, including our brain, and are are necessary for metabolism, co-enzyme functions and even DNA/ RNA synthesis. Deficiency in B vitamins from mal-absorption or lack of intake include: depression, dementia, and cognitive decline or brain fog.  These essential vitamins are produced primarily by plants, except for B12 which is made from bacteria and primarily gotten from the animal products we eat.  Humans do not produce the essential B vitamins in our bodies, therefore must receive these vitamins from outside sources.  By bypassing oral absorption and given directly as an injection via IM or IV our bodies can use 100% of these vitamins right away!

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Some benefits of the various B-Complex vitamins are:

B1-Thiamine

In your diet - yeast, cereal grains, beans, nuts, and meat

Uses - considered the “anti-stress vitamin” for boosting the immune system, for digestive problems including poor appetite, ulcerative colitis, and ongoing diarrhea, diabetic pain, heart disease, alcoholism, aging, a type of brain damage called cerebellar syndrome, canker sores, vision problems such as cataracts and glaucoma, motion sickness, and improving athletic performance. Other uses include preventing cervical cancer and the progression of kidney disease in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Some people use thiamine for maintaining a positive mental attitude; enhancing learning abilities; increasing energy; fighting stress; and preventing memory loss, including Alzheimer's disease.

B2-Riboflavin

In your diet - milk, meat, eggs, nuts, enriched flour, and green vegetables

Uses - for preventing cervical cancer, and migraine headaches, for treating acne, muscle cramps, burning feet syndrome, carpal tunnel syndrome, and blood disorders such as congenital methemoglobinemia and red blood cell aplasia.

Some people use riboflavin for eye conditions including eye fatigue, cataracts, and glaucoma. Other uses include increasing energy levels; boosting immune system function; maintaining healthy hair, skin, mucous membranes, and nails; slowing aging; boosting athletic performance; promoting healthy reproductive function; canker sores; memory loss, including Alzheimer's disease; ulcers; burns; alcoholism; liver disease; sickle cell anemia.

B3-Niacin and Niacinamide

In your diet - yeast, meat, fish, milk, eggs, green vegetables, beans, and cereal grains

Uses - high cholesterol, circulation problems, migraine headache, dizziness, and to reduce the diarrhea associated with cholera. Niacin is also used for preventing positive urine drug screens in people who take illegal drugs.

Niacinamide is used for treating diabetes, schizophrenia, hallucinations due to drugs, Alzheimer’s disease and age-related loss of thinking skills, chronic brain syndrome, depression, motion sickness, alcohol dependence, and fluid collection (edema).

Some people use niacin or niacinamide for acne, leprosy, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), memory loss, arthritis, preventing premenstrual headache, improving digestion, protecting against toxins and pollutants, reducing the effects of aging, lowering blood pressure, improving circulation, promoting relaxation, improving orgasm, and preventing cataracts.

B5-Pantothenic Acid

In your diet - plants and animals including meat, vegetables, cereal grains, legumes, eggs, and milk

Uses - treating acne, alcoholism, allergies, baldness, asthma, attention deficithyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, burning feet syndrome, yeast infections, heart failure, carpal tunnel syndrome, respiratory disorders, celiac disease, colitis, conjunctivitis, convulsions, and cystitis. It is also taken by mouth for dandruff, depression, diabetic nerve pain, enhancing immune function, improving athletic performance, tongue infections, gray hair, headache, hyperactivity, low blood sugar, trouble sleeping (insomnia), irritability, low blood pressure, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, muscular cramps in the legs associated with pregnancy or alcoholism, neuralgia, and obesity.

Pantothenic acid is also used for osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, Parkinson's disease, nerve pain, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), enlarged prostate, protection against mental and physical stress and anxiety, reducing adverse effects of thyroid therapy in congenital hypothyroidism, reducing signs of aging, reducing susceptibility to colds and other infections, retarded growth, shingles, skin disorders, stimulating adrenal glands, chronic fatigue syndrome, salicylate toxicity, streptomycin neurotoxicity, dizziness, and wound healing.

B6-Pyridoxine

In your diet - cereals, beans, vegetables, liver, meat, and eggs

Uses - treating heart disease; high cholesterol; reducing blood levels of homocysteine, a chemical that might be linked to heart disease; and helping clogged arteries stay open after a balloon procedure to unblock them (angioplasty).

Women use pyridoxine for premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and other menstruation problems, "morning sickness" (nausea and vomiting) in early pregnancy, stopping milk flow after childbirth, depression related to pregnancy or using birth control pills, and symptoms of menopause.

Pyridoxine is also used for Alzheimer's disease, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Down syndrome, autism, diabetes and related nerve pain, sickle cell anemia, migraine headaches, asthma, carpal tunnel syndrome, night leg cramps, muscle cramps, arthritis, allergies, acne and various other skin conditions, and infertility. It is also used for dizziness, motion sickness, preventing the eye disease age-related macular degeneration (AMD), seizures, convulsions due to fever, and movement disorders (tardive dyskinesia, hyperkinesis, chorea), as well as for increasing appetite and helping people remember dreams.

Some people use pyridoxine for boosting the immune system, eye infections, bladder infections, and preventing cancer and kidney stones. Pyridoxine is also used to overcome certain harmful side effects related to radiation treatment and treatment with medications such as mitomycin, procarbazine, cycloserine, fluorouracil, hydrazine, isoniazid, penicillamine, and vincristine.

Vitamin B12

In your diet - meat, fish, and dairy products

Why you need it - Vitamin B12 is required for the proper function and development of the brain, nerves, blood cells, and many other parts of the body.

Uses - for memory loss; Alzheimer’s disease; boosting mood, energy, concentration and the immune system; and slowing aging. It is also used for heart disease, lowering high homocysteine levels (which may contribute to heart disease), male infertility, diabetes, sleep disorders, depression, mental disorders, weak bones (osteoporosis), swollen tendons, AIDS, inflammatory bowel disease, asthma, allergies, a skin disease called vitiligo, preventing cervical and other cancers, and skin infections.

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For more information and education on our treatment and how vitamins are more effective without absorption orally please make an appointment or stop by and speak with one of our friendly nurses today!

Kennedy D. O. (2016). B Vitamins and the Brain: Mechanisms, Dose and Efficacy-A Review. Nutrients, 8(2), 68. doi:10.3390/nu8020068

 Depeint, Flore, Bruce, Robert, Shangari, Nandita Mehta, Rhea, O’Brien, Peter J. (2006). Mitochondrial function and toxicity: Role of the B vitamin family on mitochondrial energy metabolism. Chemico-Biological Interactions, 163:1, 94-111. doi:10.1016/j.cbi.2006.04.014