People who eat a lot of sugar and refined carbohydrates tend to be deficient in various B vitamins. Supplementation with B vitamins can help to at least partially address a number of problems. According to a study (“Dietary Folate and Vitamins B12, B6, and B2 Intake and the Risk of Postpartum Depression in Japan: The Osaka Maternal and Child Health Study,” Miyake Y, Sasaki S, et al, J Affect Disord., 2006 June 29), B vitamin intake may help to prevent postpartum depression. The subjects of the study were 865 Japanese women who filled out dietary data questionnaires during their pregnancy. Of the group, 121 developed depression between two and nine months postpartum (scored 9 or higher on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale). Women who had diets high in riboflavin (vitamin B2 were less likely to suffer from postpartum depression than those who had diets that were low in vitamin B2.
Having an adequate intake of B vitamins may lower the risk of heart disease and stroke. Research appearing in the Italian Heart Journal Supplement (2005; 6(1):1-16) shows an inverse correlation between atherosclerosis and a deficit of some of the B vitamins, most notably folic acid, B12 and B6. These vitamins are necessary to convert homocysteine to cysteine and taurine. Homocysteine is a toxic amino acid—linked to atherosclerosis and heart disease. It comes from methionine, but it is not a problem if the body has enough B vitamins to convert it to cysteine or taurine (amino acids that are useful to the body).
A study in the November 26, 2006 issue of the British Medical Journal says the evidence from cohort, genetic, and randomized controlled studies is strong enough to support the idea that folic acid can help to protect from heart disease. Once again, the lowering of homocysteine can help protect from atherosclerosis. While the British researchers describe the effect as modest and that better studies are needed, they point out that folic acid is inexpensive and harmless.
Research in the past has shown various B vitamins to reduce pain. Vitamins B1, B6 and B12 have been shown to reduce pain from nociceptors. Nociceptors are nerves that respond to damage in the body. Things like fractures, bruises, inflammation, burns etc. stimulate nociceptors. One study, presented to the American Physiological Society in April 2003, showed that sensory neurons in the spinal cord stimulated by nociceptors (carriers of noxious stimuli) were suppressed by certain B vitamins.
This recent study shows that the combination of vitamins B1, B6 and B12 can reduce pain that is triggered by an injury that involves actual damage to the nervous system (neuropathic pain). In mice, vitamins B1, B6 and B12 reduced the response to pain. The level of pain was determined by measuring foot withdrawal after heat stimulation to the rear paw. The inhibition of the pain paralleled to the amount of B vitamin given.
