What Does Vitamin B2 Do?
Vitamin B2 is necessary for the human body to ensure a healthy skin, nails, hair, red blood cell and antibody formation, and for proper respiration, growth and reproduction. Moreover, vitamin B2 can be used to treat skin conditions such as acne, or assist in healing injuries or burns, as well as headaches and arthritis. In addition to these roles vitamin B2, sometimes called “riboflavin”, controls the thyroid, the endocrine gland located in the neck which regulates metabolism. Also, riboflavin promotes your body’s energy by converting carbohydrates, processing amino acids, fats, activating vitamin B6 and folic acid, and in some cases behaving as an antioxidant. Thus, it is obvious vitamin B2 is incredibly important for ensuring we remain internally and externally beautiful.
How Much Vitamin B2 Do I Need?
As with all other vitamins, the recommended daily intake of vitamin B2 is reliant upon age, gender, pregnancy and lactation, but may also depend upon an individual’s energetic needs. Typically, men require 1.7mg of riboflavin per day and women require .5mg less per day, unless they are pregnant or breastfeeding, in which case they will necessitate 1.6mg per day or 1.8mg per day, respectively. However, if you would like to know precisely how much vitamin B2 you need to maximize your own personal health, seeking advice from your personal doctor is always encouraged.
Vitamin B2 can be found in a number of food sources, however, it is important to note that exposure to light will decrease the amount of active riboflavin in food. Interestingly, there is little information pertaining to how quickly riboflavin may lessen in intensity for either specific types of food or food in general, thus is it advised that you store food containing riboflavin in cupboards or in the fridge in order to make certain you actually eat the amount of riboflavin listed under that food’s nutritional facts.
Generally, you won’t need to buy food specifically for it’s riboflavin. Rather, you’ll usually buy foods which are rich sources of other nutrients but also have riboflavin as well. For instance, vitamin B2 is in a number of meats, for example, 3 ounces of cooked beef liver, organic beef, roasted organic dark chicken meat, or broiled salmon will deliver 1.71mg, .19mg, .18mg, and .13mg of riboflavin, respectively. Vitamin B2 may also be found in vegetables and dairy products, as one cup of cookies mushrooms, raw and unpasteurized milk, raw mushrooms, boiled or steamed broccoli, or spinach will give .47mg, .34mg, .29mg, .18mg, .18mg, and .13mg respectively. Furthermore, eggs contain .27mg of vitamin B2 on average and almonds provide a notable source, as well.
Vitamin B2 Deficiencies and Overdose
If one consumes less than the daily recommended amount of vitamin B2 for a prolonged amount of time, they may develop Ariboflavinosis, the disease specific to vitamin B2 deficiency. Symptoms related to this deficiency resemble that of common illnesses, such a cold or flu, as the victim’s throat may become sore, eyes may become bloodshot, throat swelling, irritation around the mouth, tongue degeneration and discoloration, scaly skin resembling signs of syphilis and anemia.
These deficiencies are a sign of weakness and quite dangerous for your body so you need to be careful during consumption and do console a doctor so that he may decide the dose for you and then with the discount vitamin store owner as they too have a fair bit of knowledge about it.
Unlike some other vitamins, vitamin B2cannot be consumed in quantities large enough to damage the body. Perhaps because people typically never ingest alarmingly large amounts of riboflavin, or maybe simply because riboflavin cannot be ingested in amounts which reach toxic levels, there are no negative consequences associated with consuming any amount of vitamin B2 over the recommended daily amount.