Vitamin B Complex is...?

The last post was the introductory Vitamin B Complex, where I simply introduced this Vitamin B Complex blog to the world! This post will give that all-important information as to what exactly vitamin B complex actually is!

The B vitamins are basically 8 water-soluble vitamins, each of which plays an important role in our body's cell metabolism. In the days when they were not so well understood, the vitamin B complex vitamins were believed to be a single vitamin. It was therefore referred to as vitamin B (similar to how we refer to other vitamins like vitamin C or vitamin D).

Subsequent research proved that they are each chemically distinct vitamins and that they often coexist in the same foods, hence the early lack of distinction. Supplements containing all of the eight vitamins are now referred to as "Vitamin B Complex." Individual B vitamin supplements are still availabble, of course, but are referred to by their specific names (for example: B1, B2, B3... etc).

• Vitamin B₁ - thiamine
• Vitamin B₂ - riboflavin
• Vitamin B₃ - niacin (includes nicotinic acid and nicotinamide)
• Vitamin B₅ - pantothenic acid
• Vitamin B₆ - pyridoxine
• Vitamin B₇ - biotin (also known as vitamin H)
• Vitamin B₉ - folic acid (also known as vitamin M and vitamin B-c)
• Vitamin B₁₂ - cobalamin

There was also a vitamin B8 (myo-inositol), but that is no longer classified as a vitamin since it is synthesized by the human body.

So now you know what vitamin B complex is!

Vitamin B Complex