What Do B-Vitamins Actually Do?

ENERGY: B vitamins help the body metabolize carbohydrates, fats and proteins into energy. In fact, in recent years, studies have suggested that patients with chronic fatigue syndrome felt more energetic when provided with a supplementation of B vitamins.
HEALTHY SYSTEM: B Vitamins are necessary for maintaining a healthy nervous system, skin, eyes, hair, liver and mouth.

BRAIN HEALTH: Recent research indicates that B vitamins may help reduce age-related brain damage like Alzheimer’s and dementia.

STRESS RELIEF: Disorders that arise from stress are often due to nutritional deficiencies, especially deficiencies of B Complex Vitamins. With multiple sources and meaningful doses of B vitamins.

"It looks like getting B vitamins -- from foods or supplements -- is nearly as important as stopping smoking, lowering high cholesterol, and controlling blood pressure when it comes to preventing a heart attack," says epidemiologist Eric Rimm of Harvard University.

In 1998 Rimm and his colleagues reported that women who got ample folic acid and B-6 suffered heart attacks only about half as often as women who took in meager amounts. The finding may help clear up an enduring mystery: Half of all heart attack victims have cholesterol levels that are in the desirable range. More and more experts are coming to accept the notion that in some cases the culprit is an amino acid called homocysteine.
Homocysteine is thought to scar blood vessels, setting the stage for artery-narrowing deposits. Unfortunately, your body produces this substance when it digests animal protein. How might B vitamins help? They may work to dispose of homocysteine before it wreaks havoc. All three of these vitamins are found in a variety of ordinary foods. And synthetic folic acid is sprayed onto enriched grains. Still, you can't count on getting the recommended 400 micrograms of folic acid from food unless you eat a bowl of fully fortified breakfast cereal every day.

As for B-6, studies have shown that up to half of women over age 50 don't get enough. And up to a third of those over 50 have trouble-absorbing B-12 from food.

The bottom line on B-Complex Supplements:
You need more of these vitamins than your meals can possibly supply. The easiest way to get them in the proper balance is by taking a B-Complex supplement and a quality multivitamin.