Everybody – or at least every woman – is familiar with biotin and folic acid and especially vegans and vegetarians don’t get around cobalamin, better known as Vitamin B12. What many people don’t know is that they all belong to the same group of essential vitamins: The B vitamins. The B vitamin group is basically a happy family of eight water-soluble vitamins – namely thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), pantothenic acid (B5), pyridoxine (B6), biotin (B7), folate (B9) and cobalamin (B12) - that work hand in hand to regulate and support a variety of essential bodily functions. They keep our brains running properly, are crucial for healthy skin and hair, regulate hormonal activities, boost blood cell formation, and are tightly linked to our energy-yielding metabolism which prevents us from falling asleep in the middle of the day. In summary, they keep every cell in our body happy.
Of course, such a tightly linked family can only function properly when all members are present which is why it’s important to consume sufficient amounts of foods that cover all of the eight vitamins. Luckily, there are plenty of food sources that provide a variety of B vitamins: green leafy vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and seeds, as well as meat, dairy products, fish, and eggs. However, since B vitamins are water-soluble and cannot be stored in the body over a long period of time (except for B12), eating a cup of brown rice, lentils or some greens every few days doesn’t really cut it.
Vitamin supplements may be a good option to maintain balanced vitamin B levels and prevent a B vitamin deficiency or an imbalance. Unfortunately, the oversaturated supplement market offers a lot of highly dosed mono-vitamin supplements that can actually be harmful rather than helpful with regards to maintaining a balanced B vitamin metabolism. Apart from that, such products as well as many supplements that do cover the entire B vitamin group are synthetically derived and often loaded with unnecessary and potentially harmful additives. That doesn’t sound very appealing to anybody. Which is why we decided to steer towards a safer, more natural direction.
All-in-one: B-Vitamins From Germinated Quinoa
On our quest to finding a natural alternative to synthetic vitamins, we stumbled across the patented high-quality raw material PANMOL® B-Complex produced in Austria. The basis for this material is a germinated raw quinoa seed extract, derived through a very gentle production process that basically resembles the germination process many of us know from growing sprouts at home.
The benefits of this raw material are broad, including an enriched antioxidant content and overall nutritional value [1,2]. Plus, it comprises all of the eight B vitamins as organically bound forms which tend to be far more bioavailable than their synthetic counterparts [3]. Another advantage of the quinoa extract is that it contains not one but several different biologically active forms of the individual B vitamins (e.g. the B12 forms cyano-, adenosyl- and methylcobalamin) making it easy for the body to utilize them.
Our product is standardized to provide 85% of the recommended dose of each B vitamin in just one capsule, which ensures that one will not end up with metabolic imbalances as explained above. Why did we not put in more like other manufacturers do? As also mentioned before, a lot of natural foods provide B vitamins and – due to the water-soluble nature of those vitamins – an excess is excreted in any case. Therefore, there is no need to overdose as it would basically be a waste of resources and money.
A Little Goes A Long Way
B vitamins are water-soluble, essential nutrients that have a variety of synergistic functions. A supplement that covers all eight B vitamins is therefore favourable to circumvent any metabolic imbalances. As we’ve discussed, overdosed, synthetic products are beyond recommendable for the daily consumption. Since natural B vitamins are more efficiently taken up and utilized by the body and are marked by many other health benefits, our high-quality quinoa sprout extract offers a much safer option that provides sufficient amounts of the entire B vitamin group for the daily intake.
Sources
[1] Carciochi et al., Effect of germination and fermentation process on the antioxidant compounds of quinoa seeds. Plant Foods Hum Nutr. (2016)
[2] Pitzschke et al., Antioxidative responses during germination in quinoa grown in vitamin B-rich medium. Food Sci Nutr. (2015)
[3] Thiel, Natural vitamins may be superior to synthetic ones. Medical Hypotheses (2000)
