Posted by Larry Hoover on February 14, 2005, at 16:34:32
In reply to Re: Can you take b vitamins without a b-complex? » jujube, posted by Questionmark on January 31, 2005, at 21:45:04
> i could be missing something. Or is the only/main reason that we aren't advised to take individual B vitamins seperately but still all during the same day simply because of the time/difficulty and inconvenience factors?
I don't think the issue is uptake competition. It's an issue of utilization. When you increase your intake of a B-vitamin, you increase the efficiency of any enzyme that requires that B as a cofactor. That will change the relative concentrations of other substances that are either raw materials or products of that particular enzyme. With those changes in concentration, other enzymes increase their own demand for their own particular B vitamin cofactors. It's like a group of people holding hands. If one runs, they all must run, or the chain must break. Supplementation of a single B vitamin can directly cause a deficiency in another, unless the intake of the other is increased as well. To circumvent that problem, B-complex formulations were developed.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:445287
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20050131/msgs/457767.html