Lesson 16: Vitamin B2

What is vitamin B2?

Vitamin B2, also known as riboflavin, is an essential component of the B vitamin complex. This vitamin helps you process energy, and it also promotes eye health, prevents headaches, and assists in the processing of iron and vitamin B12 to prevent anaemia.

Is vitamin B2 water-soluble or fat-soluble?

Like all the B vitamins, riboflavin is water-soluble. Therefore, your body processes this nutrient quickly, and it doesn’t build up in your system.

Where can vitamin B2 be found naturally? 

Non-animal sources of vitamin B2 include mushrooms, almonds, and quinoa. It's also highly concentrated in organ meats and dairy. 

5 foods/drinks containing vitamin B2

1. Beef liver 171% DV per 85g

2. Yoghurt 35% DV per 1 cup or 128g

3. Milk 29% DV per 1 cup or 128g

4. Mushrooms 18% DV per ½ cup or 64g

5. Almonds 18% DV per 28g

What is the recommended daily intake for vitamin B2?

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), adult men should consume 1.3mg of riboflavin per day, and adult women should consume 1.1mg. Pregnant women should consume 1.4mg, and lactating women should consume 1.6mg.

What to consume to get a full daily dose of vitamin B2?

Beef liver - approximately 56g

Yoghurt - approximately 3 cups or 384g

Milk - approximately 3 cups or 384g

Mushrooms - approximately 3 cups or 384g

Almonds - approximately 170g

Can you absorb enough of vitamin B2 from food?

People on meat-free diets may have trouble getting enough riboflavin from food. While this substance is present in most dairy products, plant-based sources of vitamin B2 don’t contain very much of this essential nutrient.

Why is vitamin B2 necessary for your body?

Riboflavin serves as the backbone of the B vitamin complex. It helps your body process the other B vitamins you consume, and it also assists in the breakdown of dietary iron. Plus, vitamin B2 serves critical roles in eye health, neurological well-being, and healthy pregnancy.

Functions of vitamin B2

Energy distribution: All the B vitamins play critical roles in converting nutrients into glucose, and vitamin B2 helps your body create this energy-providing substance that’s so essential for overall health and well-being.

Ocular health: Your body uses vitamin B2 to create glutathione, which helps prevent oxidative stress in your eyes. Riboflavin may even be able to prevent cataracts.

Migraine treatment: Supplementing with vitamin B2 may be able to reduce the frequency and severity of migraines and other types of headaches.

Reproductive functions: Riboflavin appears to prevent preeclampsia, which is a condition that causes heightened blood pressure during pregnancy.

Symptoms of vitamin B2 deficiency

Mouth Sores

Riboflavin deficiency causes a variety of conditions in or around your mouth. When you don’t consume enough vitamin B2, you might develop sores on your lips and at the corners of your mouth, and redness and swelling in your throat and mouth may also occur.

Dermatitis

Deficiency in riboflavin causes seborrheic dermatitis, which is characterised by moist, scaly rashes on your skin.

High Blood Pressure While Pregnant

Riboflavin deficiency during pregnancy can cause preeclampsia, which results in heightened blood pressure, swelling, and increased urine protein content.

How long do you need to take vitamin B2 to start experiencing its benefits if you’re deficient?

Since riboflavin is water-soluble, it usually doesn’t take long for your body to start healing from a deficiency in this essential nutrient. To speed the recovery process in cases of severe deficiency, intravenous administration of vitamin B2 may be warranted.

How long does it take for your body to digest/absorb vitamin B2?

According to scientific research, all forms of natural dietary riboflavin have equal absorption rates. Your body absorbs this nutrient very quickly, and in most cases, nearly 100% of ingested riboflavin is absorbed.

How long does vitamin B2 stay in your body after you take it?

Your body processes riboflavin and excretes this nutrient almost immediately.

Is vitamin B2 an antioxidant?

Since riboflavin is essential for the production of glutathione, it is an antioxidant, and some research indicates that this vitamin has antioxidant activity independent of the production of glutathione. Therefore, it helps your body fight back against free radicals and reduce oxidative stress and inflammation from multiple angles.

Can you overdose on vitamin B2? What are the effects?

Riboflavin toxicity is incredibly rare. Since your body processes this nutrient so quickly, it’s almost impossible to build up the riboflavin levels necessary to cause toxicity. Temporary symptoms of riboflavin overdose may include nausea, diarrhoea, and vomiting as your body attempts to return concentrations of this nutrient to normal levels.

Does vitamin B2 dissolve, flush out, or build up in the body?

Riboflavin does not build up in your body to any significant degree. Instead, it’s excreted rapidly.

Can you take vitamin B2 during a diet?

Consuming riboflavin in food or supplement form does not interfere with any dietary restrictions.

Are there synthetic forms of vitamin B2?

The riboflavin found in fortified foods is synthetic, and this type of vitamin B2 has lower absorption rates. Synthetic riboflavin is created by fermenting GMO bacteria, and your body flushes it out like a toxin.

Why might synthetic forms of vitamin B2 be better?

The only potential advantage of synthetic riboflavin would be reduced cost. The body does not process this nutrient as well as natural vitamin B2.

Absorption rate of synthetic vitamin B2

Synthetic vitamin B2 has a poor rate of absorption as compared to natural riboflavin.

Why might natural forms of vitamin B2 be better?

Your body reacts better to natural riboflavin, and it’s not clear whether artificial forms of this vitamin are safe.

How to take vitamin B2

You can either take this vitamin by consuming riboflavin-rich foods or by taking a multivitamin that contains riboflavin.

Vitamin B2 trends in medicine

A 2019 study supports riboflavin’s action as an antioxidant, and this research even suggests that vitamin B2 may be able to return reduced dopamine levels to their usual concentrations. In addition, scientists recently looked into the potential of riboflavin as a drug transporter; since this mineral already helps your body transport energy, researchers found this application worth looking into, and it turns out that vitamin B2 shows significant promise as a drug transportation agent. Riboflavin may, therefore, be able to replace dangerous or outdated drug transportation mechanisms.

Why everyone should be taking WeAreFeel supplements

Even if you consume animal products, B vitamins can be hard to source, and vegans and vegetarians historically have had a lot of trouble with getting enough B vitamins just from food. Anaemia is a common problem for people who don’t eat meat, and this condition only becomes exacerbated when you don’t consume enough vitamin B2 to provide adequate iron processing.

Here at WeAreFeel, we make things easy and provide you with the exact amount of riboflavin you need to stay healthy whether you don’t eat meat or you’re just too busy to sit down to three square meals per day. Instead of worrying about anaemia, dealing with fatigue, or suffering from migraines, supplement with Feel once per day to get all the vitamin B2 your body needs!