B vitamins have long been known to have many rejuvenating properties, and this is the case for people of ANY age. Whether you suffer from fatigue due to aging or from some other cause, B vitamins can make a huge difference. In this blog post from our bioidentical hormone clinic in Baton Rouge, we’d like to explore how B vitamins can be part of your anti-aging routine.
About B Vitamins
A vitamin is an organic compound that meets two qualifying criteria. First, it is essential for life, and second, it is not manufactured by the body. Here is a list of the B vitamins.
- B1 – Thiamine
- B2 – Riboflavin
- B3 – Niacin
- B5 – Pantothenic Acid
- B6 – Pyridoxine
- B7 – Biotin
- B9 – Folic Acid
- B12 – Cobalamin
The Fascinating Role That B Vitamins Play
B vitamins play a role as cofactors in metabolism. But what does that even mean?
Your metabolism does two things: It breaks down components from your food to release energy, and it builds raw materials into the pieces of machinery that your cells need to operate.
If your metabolism grinds to a halt, you won’t have energy, and your cells won’t have the components they need to do their jobs. Metabolism is essentially a fine-tuned series of chemical reactions. However, these chemical reactions don’t always happen spontaneously, or they happen too slowly to make a meaningful impact.
In order to stimulate the chemical reactions in your metabolism, you need enzymes. Enzymes are incredible little workers in your cells. They are proteins that act as catalysts to speed up or facilitate the chemical reaction that needs to take place. Enzymes do their jobs by having a very specific shape that fits like a lock-and-key to either bond two molecules together or break them apart.
But even enzymes need help. Not all enzymes are automatically in an “active” state. Many enzymes need a cofactor, a molecule that bonds to the enzyme to switch it on or off.
This is where the B vitamins come in. The presence of sufficient B vitamins in a cell means that all the enzymes will have the needed cofactor to be switched “ON” when they need to be on. Without the cofactor, the whole series of chemical reactions can get stuck, waiting on that one type of enzyme to get switched on before the next step can happen. If the enzyme never gets its cofactor, the part your cell was trying to manufacture may never get built, and therefore it won’t be available to do its job.
Your cells and biological systems are so interrelated that the absence of just one component can have noticeable consequences to your health. Don’t let your metabolic processes grind to a halt due to an enzyme never being switched on, due to the lack of a cofactor, due to insufficient B vitamins in your diet!
How to Get B Vitamins
There are many ways to get B vitamins. For thousands of years, the only source of B vitamins was from our diet. Now you can get B vitamins as supplements that you swallow. However, there is an even better, more direct route. That is to receive these B vitamins directly into your bloodstream, where they’ll get delivered straight to the cells that need them.
The reason why this is a good idea is that it doesn’t depend on your gut to absorb them. Older people tend to experience a deficiency of vitamin B12 in particular because they have a lower ability to absorb it through the gut from dietary sources. Therefore, intravenous intake of vitamin B12 can be a significantly better option for getting the correct amount of B12 delivered to your cells.
Rejuvime Medical is proud to offer IV Nutrient Therapy that includes IV infusions of the Myers’ “Wellness” Cocktail that includes B vitamins and other nutrients. Schedule a consultation today.
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