Foods with the highest content of B vitamins

Vit­a­mins and vit­a­min-like sub­stances that make up group B can be obtained from func­tion­al foods of ani­mal and veg­etable ori­gin, which are quite acces­si­ble to Rus­sians. All of them work not only indi­vid­u­al­ly, but also col­lec­tive­ly, pro­vid­ing impor­tant func­tions of the body, includ­ing the process­es of releas­ing ener­gy from essen­tial nutri­ents.

Some foods are par­tic­u­lar­ly valu­able sources of only one ele­ment of this group, while oth­ers con­tain all or many of the B vit­a­mins. For­tu­nate­ly, they are part of fair­ly com­mon foods that make up the usu­al diet of peo­ple. So, if a per­son eats a var­ied, bal­anced diet that includes foods from all food groups, then most like­ly they are not defi­cient in these nutri­ents.

Find out which foods are high in B vit­a­mins.

Where is thiamine (vitamin B1) hidden?

It has sev­er­al impor­tant fea­tures, includ­ing:

• togeth­er with oth­er vit­a­mins of this group, it pro­vides the process­es of con­vert­ing and releas­ing ener­gy from food, pro­vid­ing, first of all, pro­tein metab­o­lism;
• sup­ports the health of the ner­vous sys­tem;
• involved in the trans­fer of genet­ic infor­ma­tion.

Good sources of this nutri­ent are:

• green peas;
• pecan;
• lentils;
• almond;
• dark green leafy veg­eta­bles;
• eggs;
• wheat germ oil;
• whole grain breads;
• pork;
• buck­wheat, oat­meal and some oth­er whole grains;
• liv­er.

Thi­amine can­not be stored in the human body, so it must be includ­ed in the diet every day. A small amount is pro­duced by bac­te­ria that make up the gut micro­bio­me. The rec­om­mend­ed dai­ly dose, which must be obtained with food, for adults in Rus­sia is about 1.7 mg.

What foods contain riboflavin (B2)?

Among the main func­tions of this nutri­ent:

• par­tic­i­pa­tion in the syn­the­sis of red blood cells;
• main­tain­ing the health of the skin;
• pre­ven­tion of visu­al impair­ment;
• strength­en­ing the ner­vous sys­tem;
• ensur­ing the syn­the­sis of red blood cells;
• reg­u­la­tion of blood pres­sure;
• par­tic­i­pa­tion in the release of ener­gy from food.

Good food sources of riboflavin are:

• milk, cheese, yogurt and oth­er dairy prod­ucts;
• White cab­bage;
• broc­coli;
• spinach, aspara­gus, and oth­er dark green leafy veg­eta­bles;
• fish;
• eggs;
• chick­en;
• rice;
• kid­neys;
• mush­rooms;
• buck­wheat;
• liv­er, etc.

UV radi­a­tion can destroy riboflavin, so ide­al­ly all foods that make up the diet should be stored away from direct sun­light. Although this sub­stance is par­tial­ly syn­the­sized by the microflo­ra of the large intes­tine, it does not accu­mu­late in the body, there­fore, accord­ing to the rec­om­men­da­tions of Russ­ian doc­tors, about 2 mg of riboflavin should be present in the diet of adults every day.

Where can I find niacin (B3, nicotinic acid or vitamin PP)?

Nico­tinic acid has sev­er­al impor­tant func­tions, includ­ing:

• pro­vides over 50 fer­men­ta­tion reac­tions;
• helps release ener­gy from food;
• par­tic­i­pates in the pro­duc­tion of hor­mones;
• serves to pre­vent car­diopatholo­gies;
• main­tains the health of the ner­vous sys­tem;
• main­tains good skin con­di­tion.

Valu­able food sources of niacin are:

• turkey, chick­en, oth­er types of meat;
• salmon, tuna and oth­er fish;
• peanut;
• buck­wheat;
• legumes;
• mush­rooms;
• eggs;
• milk.

Although B3 is par­tial­ly syn­the­sized by the human body from tryp­to­phan, it also does not accu­mu­late, so adults are rec­om­mend­ed to con­sume about 20 mg of niacin dai­ly. Defi­cien­cy is com­mon in patients with:

• pep­tic ulcer of the stom­ach;
• gas­tri­tis;
• patholo­gies of the liv­er;
• dis­or­ders in the thy­roid gland;
• chole­cys­ti­tis, etc.

You should not get car­ried away with nutri­tion­al sup­ple­ments with nico­tinic acid, as long-term over­dose can lead to skin and liv­er dam­age. There­fore, it is prefer­able to obtain niacin from the nor­mal diet.

What is pantothenic acid (panthenol or B5)?

This nutri­ent has sev­er­al func­tions in the human body:

• it helps to release and con­vert ener­gy from food;
• par­tic­i­pates in the syn­the­sis of coen­zyme A;
• pro­motes regen­er­a­tion;
• pro­vides pro­duc­tion of anti­bod­ies;
• nec­es­sary for the pro­duc­tion of acetyl­choline, indis­pens­able for the well-being of the ner­vous sys­tem;
• pro­tects against the effects of stress by reg­u­lat­ing the pro­duc­tion of cor­ti­sone;
• required for the pro­duc­tion of red blood cells.

Pan­tothenic acid is found in almost all meat and veg­etable prod­ucts, includ­ing:

• chick­en
• beef;
• pota­toes;
• toma­toes;
• aspara­gus;
• kid­neys;
• eggs;
• broc­coli, etc.

Pan­thenol con­tains legumes and whole grains such as:

• brown rice;
• whole­meal bread;
• kinoa, etc.

Although the micro­bio­me pro­duces some pan­thenol, a per­son should con­sume about 5 mg of this sub­stance with a dai­ly diet.

How to enrich the diet with vitamin B6 or pyridoxine?

Among the impor­tant func­tions of this sub­stance in the human body:

• par­tic­i­pa­tion in the trans­for­ma­tion and accu­mu­la­tion of ener­gy;
• pro­duc­tion of hemo­glo­bin;
• it is nec­es­sary for the syn­the­sis of prostaglandins, indis­pens­able for the well-being of the cir­cu­la­to­ry sys­tem;
• impor­tant for immu­ni­ty, as it is involved in the pro­duc­tion of anti­bod­ies;
• with­out it, it is impos­si­ble to pro­duce dopamine, sero­tonin, noa­d­ren­a­line, which are nec­es­sary for the func­tion­ing of the cen­tral ner­vous sys­tem and the per­for­mance of cog­ni­tive func­tions, etc.

Good food sources of B6:

• pork;
• poul­try meat (for exam­ple, chick­en or turkey);
• fish;
• whole wheat bread;
• wheat germ, oat­meal, quinoa, brown rice and oth­er whole grains;
• eggs;
• bananas;
• seafood;
• spinach and oth­er dark green leafy veg­eta­bles;
• soya beans;
• peanut;
• milk;
• pota­to.

Like oth­er vit­a­mins of this group, pyri­dox­ine is par­tial­ly syn­the­sized in the human body with the help of bac­te­ria, but is not stored by the body for future use, so about 2 mg should be con­sumed dai­ly with food. You should con­sult your doc­tor before tak­ing pyri­dox­ine sup­ple­ments, as pro­longed over­dose can lead to loss of sen­sa­tion in the arms and legs (periph­er­al neu­ropa­thy). Typ­i­cal­ly, symp­toms are reversible and dis­ap­pear when a per­son stops tak­ing B6 sup­ple­ments.

What foods are rich in biotin (vitamin B7 or H)?

It is essen­tial for the body:

• is an acti­va­tor of diges­tive enzymes;
• serves as a key fac­tor in the suc­cess­ful metab­o­lism of fats;
• pro­vides pre­ven­tion of dia­betes mel­li­tus (1 and 2 types);
• pro­tects the health of the skin and its appendages.

Bac­te­ria that inhab­it the human intestines are capa­ble of pro­duc­ing biotin, but it is rec­om­mend­ed to take up to 50 mg of B7 with food dai­ly.

Biotin occurs nat­u­ral­ly in a wide range of foods, but is at very low lev­els com­pared to oth­er water-sol­u­ble vit­a­mins. The best sources of this nutri­ent are:

• Brew­er’s yeast;
• kid­neys;
• peanut;
• liv­er;
• nuts;
• cau­li­flower;
• mush­rooms;
• eggs, etc.

What contains folate (folic acid, folacin, vitamin B9 or M)?

Folic acid is one of the B‑group vit­a­mins par­tial­ly syn­the­sized by the micro­bio­me. But unlike oth­er nutri­ents in this group, B9 is deposit­ed in the liv­er cells.

Folic acid has sev­er­al impor­tant func­tions:

• works togeth­er with vit­a­min B12 to form healthy red blood cells;
• par­tic­i­pates in pro­tein metab­o­lism;
• helps reduce the risk of defects in the cen­tral ner­vous sys­tem in the fetus;
• ensures the pro­duc­tion of leuko­cytes;
• nec­es­sary for the pro­duc­tion of sero­tonin, dopamine and the func­tion­ing of the cen­tral ner­vous sys­tem.

A lack of folic acid can lead to a type of mega­loblas­tic ane­mia, folic acid defi­cien­cy.

Folic acid is found in small amounts in many foods. Good sources of folate are:

• broc­coli;
• Brus­sels sprouts;
• liv­er;
• spinach;
• aspara­gus;
• peas;
• chick­peas;
• whole grain breads, etc.

Dos­es may vary.

• Adults should con­sume about 0.4 mg of folic acid per day.
• Preg­nant women are advised to take an addi­tion­al 0.4 mg of folic acid until the 12th week of preg­nan­cy. This should help pre­vent birth defects of the baby’s cen­tral ner­vous sys­tem, such as spina bifi­da.
• If there is a fam­i­ly his­to­ry of con­di­tions such as spina bifi­da, neur­al tube defects, a doc­tor may rec­om­mend tak­ing a high­er dose, up to 5 mg of folic acid each day, until the 12th week of preg­nan­cy.
• Women with dia­betes and those tak­ing antiepilep­tic drugs should seek med­ical advice before tak­ing folic acid.
• A large dose of vit­a­min B9 may be required for old­er peo­ple, as the abil­i­ty to syn­the­size and absorb this nutri­ent decreas­es with age.

How to prevent deficiency of cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12)?

It per­forms sev­er­al impor­tant func­tions:

• involved in the pro­duc­tion of red blood cells;
• sup­ports the health of the ner­vous sys­tem, being a build­ing mate­r­i­al for the pro­duc­tion of myelin;
• reg­u­lates cho­les­terol;
• pro­tects the liv­er;
• is involved in the release of ener­gy from food, being respon­si­ble for fat and pro­tein metab­o­lism.

Lack of vit­a­min B12, which is main­ly con­cen­trat­ed in the liv­er, can lead to ane­mia. Most often, veg­ans and veg­e­tar­i­ans suf­fer from its defi­cien­cy, since ani­mal prod­ucts are the only nat­ur­al source of this nutri­ent. These include:

• beef and oth­er types of meat;
• salmon;
• shell­fish;
• cod;
• mus­sels;
• milk;
• cheese;
• crabs;
• eggs.

Today, cere­als, break­fast cere­als and some oth­er plant foods for­ti­fied with vit­a­min B12 are pro­duced, espe­cial­ly use­ful for those who exclude ani­mal prod­ucts from the diet.