Brilliant B VitaminsBetter mood, less stressed, more energy!

Have you ever noticed that some multivitamins give your pee a fluorescent yellow colour ? It’s the B vitamins that make urine a brilliant colour, and they are brilliant for us in many ways too. But what makes B vitamins so very helpful in your body?

B vitamins are really important co-factors for energy production. Whether you are using fats, carbohydrates or proteins for energy, B vitamins are crucial co-factors for many of the biochemical processes involved.

Biochemical reactions in your body don’t just need the molecules that are being processed, but also enzymes to make the reactions occur. Those enzymes often also need B vitamin co-factors to enable those reactions. They aren’t part of the input or output of the process, but they are essential for making it happen.

B vitamins help us deal with stress and support better moods. Yes, energy production is just the start of it. B vitamins also help us make and regulate important neurotransmitters. These are the chemicals in our brains that affect mood and pleasure: some of the same ones that anti-depressant drugs target.

And B Vitamins have some antioxidant properties as a bonus!

The different B vitamins are also helpful in many other aspects of your biochemistry: nature is smart, and makes good use of nutrients in many ways. They have different names, but most of them also have a number that they are more commonly known by:

B1: Thiamin​​​​

B2: Riboflavin

B3: Niacin

B5: Pantothenic acid

B6: Pyridoxin

B7: Biotin

B9: Folate

B12: Cyanocobalamin or methylcobalamin*

Folate is the natural and preferred form of synthetic folic acid. And if you take the methylfolate form you have the advantage of the methyl component of the molecule being a supporter of one of your detox pathways.

It wasn’t until the 20th century that we realized that deficiency of B vitamins was the cause of some diseases:

• Beri-beri, with low energy and nerve problems, is caused by Vitamin B1 deficiency

• Pellagra, due to B3 deficiency, can cause confusion and delusion as well as affecting skin and digestion

• Aplastic anemia, where the bone marrow cannot make red blood cells, is caused by Vitamin B12 deficiency.

You may have noticed B vitamins are often added to processed foods: this is called “enriched” on the label, for example on Wonderbread! But these added vitamins were made in the lab. While they may be similar in structure, they are synthetic and the cheapest form is usually used. It makes sense to us to consume vitamins in their natural state, in combination with other nutrients, as nature intended.

Bright neon yellow urine is nothing to be concerned about if you are taking B vitamins. It is due to the presence of B2, or riboflavin. If your urine is not that colour, it can remind you that you haven’t taken your B vitamins or your multivitamin today!

B vitamins come out in your urine because they are water-soluble. The disadvantage to this is that a little extra can’t be stored for future use. The advantage is that this means they don’t store up in your fat cells and cause problems, the way that some fat-soluble vitamins can.

Let’s bust the myth that vitamins just make expensive urine. That implies they don’t do you any good before they come out, or may not go in at all! But if you think about it, in order to be expelled in urine, those vitamins must have been absorbed from the gut, circulated in your bloodstream, utilized by your body, and then any excess is excreted via the kidneys and bladder. So when you see or smell B vitamins in your urine, it means they may be a bit surplus to your needs, but your current requirements have been met.

B vitamins provide far more benefits, both individually and when taken as a B complex, than we can condense into this short health post. But if taken individually in high doses, and without proper medical supervision, they can disrupt the balance of B vitamins in your body. So if you are taking B vitamins as general support for your mood, stress resilience and energy production, it is best to take them in a B complex that provides all of them.

Learn more about Vitamin B12 here:

• B12: Understanding an Essential Nutrient