Riboflavin

Vitamin B2, often called riboflavin, is a food-based vitamin that can also be taken as a nutritional supplement. The body needs it for cellular respiration. Milk, green vegetables, eggs, and certain other dairy products, mushrooms,  meat, and almonds are all good sources of protein. Certain countries demand that it be added to cereals.

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It is used as a supplement to avoid and cure riboflavin deficiency. Riboflavin vitamin, in doses far exceeding what is required to meet dietary requirements as a vitamin, may help to avoid migraines. Riboflavin can be taken orally or intravenously. It is almost usually tolerated. Normal dosages are safe to take while pregnant. Vitamin b2 riboflavin had first been synthesised in 1935 after being found in 1920 and isolated in 1933. It is listed as an essential medicine by the World Health Organization.

Coenzyme of riboflavin: Flavin mononucleotide (FMN; also known as riboflavin-5'-phosphate) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) are the two major Coenzyme of riboflavin.

Signs and Symptoms

In impoverished countries and refugee camps, mild riboflavin deficiency may affect up to 50% of the population. In the United States and other nations with cornmeal, wheat flour, pasta, bread, or rice enrichment rules, deficiency is rare. Since the 1940s, maize meal, flour, and rice in the United States were being fortified with B vitamins to replace a few of the nutrients lost during bleaching, milling, as well as other processing. The average daily intake from food and beverages for individuals aged 20 and above is 1.8 mg per day for females and 2.5 mg per day for males. 

An approximated 23% use a riboflavin-containing dietary supplement with an average dose of 10 mg. Every two years, the United States Department of Health and Human Services conducts the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and publishes the findings in a series of studies titled "What We Eat In America." According to estimates from the NHANES 2011–2012, 8% of females and 3% of males consumed much less than RDA.

Stomatitis, which includes a and sore throat painful red tongue, chapped and fissured lips (cheilosis), and inflammation of the corners of the mouth (angular stomatitis), is caused by riboflavin insufficiency (also known as ariboflavinosis). The scrotum, philtrum of the lip, vulva, and nasolabial folds can also develop oily scaly skin rashes. Itchy, bloodshot, watery, and light-sensitive eyes can occur. Even mild and moderate riboflavin insufficiency leads in anaemia with normal cell size and haemoglobin content due to issues with iron absorption (that is, normochromic normocytic anemia).

Causes

When food intake is inadequate, riboflavin is regularly eliminated in the urine of healthy people, rendering shortage very prevalent. Vitamin b2 riboflavin shortage is frequently associated with other dietary deficits, especially those involving water-soluble vitamins. A riboflavin shortage can be primary (due to a lack of vitamin sources in one's daily diet) or secondary (due to disorders that limit intestinal absorption, the body's inability to absorb the vitamin, or an elevation in riboflavin excretion). Because enriched wheat flour and wheat items (pasta, bread, cereals, etc.) make a substantial dietary contributor to overall riboflavin consumption, a gluten-free diet might be deficient in riboflavin (as well as other nutrients), according to the Celiac Disease Foundation.

Diagnosis

Overt clinical indications are uncommon among people in industrialised countries. The determination of riboflavin level is necessary for verifying reports of alleged riboflavin insufficiency with vague symptoms. 

• The primary flavoprotein in erythrocytes is glutathione reductase, which is a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) and FAD-dependent enzyme. The ideal method for determining riboflavin availability is to evaluate the activity coefficient of erythrocyte glutathione reductase (EGR). It determines tissue saturation and riboflavin level over time. Both with and without the inclusion of FAD to the medium, in vitro enzyme activity, is measured in terms of activity coefficients (AC). The proportion of the enzyme's activity with FAD to the enzyme's activity without FAD is represented by ACs.

• According to experimental balance studies, urinary riboflavin excretion rates grow slowly as intake levels rise until they reach 1.0 mg/d, at which point tissue saturation occurs. The rate of excretion typically increases with greater intakes.

Treatment

Dietary pills containing multivitamins frequently include 100 percent of the U.S. Riboflavin has a Daily Value of 1.3 mg and could be taken by people who are concerned regarding their diet. In the United States, over-the-counter dietary supplements containing doses as high as 100 mg are accessible, however, there is no proof that these high doses provide any further advantage to healthy people.

Riboflavin Use

Corneal ectasia is a gradual flattening of the cornea, with keratoconus being the most prevalent form. Collagen cross-linking is a technique for slowing the evolution of corneal ectasia by strengthening corneal tissue by administering riboflavin topically and then putting UV light on it. 

According to a 2017 review, riboflavin taken every day in amounts ranging from 200 to 400 times the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) might help in preventing migraines in adult people, but clinical trials in children and adolescents seemed to have mixed results. Riboflavin use may help mitochondrial energy production, according to one theory.

Riboflavin for mouth ulcer: If a person does have mouth ulcers regularly, it might be an indication of a vitamin B12 shortage. This vitamin is required to maintain the health of the neurological system, to produce red blood cells, and to release energy from meals.

Side Effects

Excessive riboflavin b2 intake does not induce toxicity in humans, in part as it has a lesser water solubility than that of other B vitamins, absorption is becoming less efficient as levels rise, and what is not absorbed is eliminated through the kidneys into the urine. There have been no short-term negative effects observed when 400 mg of riboflavin per day was administered orally to patients in one trial for three months to explore the efficacy of riboflavin in the avoidance of migraine headaches. Oversupply at nutritionally relevant dosages is eliminated in the urine, which takes on a bright yellow colour when present in significant amounts. The little data on riboflavin's negative effects does not rule out the possibility of negative effects from large intakes, and the Food and Nutrition Board advises consumers to avoid ingesting too much riboflavin.

Function

A number of flavoprotein enzyme processes require the cofactors flavin mononucleotide (FMN) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD).

• FMN in Complex I and FAD in Complex II are electron transport chain flavoproteins.

• Pyridoxine 5'-phosphate oxidase requires FAD to produce pyridoxic acid from pyridoxal (vitamin B6).

• In fatty acid oxidation, Fatty acyl CoA dehydrogenase is required.

• FMN is required for the major coenzyme form of vitamin B6 (pyridoxal phosphate).

• FAD in the shared E3 part of their corresponding dehydrogenase complexes is required for the oxidation of -ketoglutarate, pyruvate, and branched-chain amino acids.

• FAD is essential for cytosolic retinal dehydrogenase to convert retinol (vitamin A) to retinoic acid.

• FAD is required for glutathione reductase to convert the oxidised form of glutathione (GSSG) to the reduced form (GSH).

• Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase requires FADH2 to produce an active form of folate (5-methyltetrahydrofolate) from 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate.

• Kynurenine 3-monooxygenase requires FAD to convert tryptophan to niacin (vitamin B3).

Sources

Milk, mushrooms, eggs, liver, legumes, cheese, kidneys, lean meats, leaf vegetables, and almonds are foods and beverages that naturally contain riboflavin.

Because milling of grains resulted in a significant loss of vitamin B2 (approximately 60%), white flour is supplemented in some countries by adding the vitamin. The addition of vitamin B2 to bread and ready-to-eat breakfast cereals greatly increases the nutritional intake of this vitamin. Because the vitamin's yellow tint would render the rice visually unappealing to the majority of rice-consuming populations, polished rice is rarely enhanced. 

When entire brown rice is cooked (parboiled) before milling, the majority of the flavin content is maintained. The flavins in the germ and aleurone layers are driven into the endosperm by this mechanism. Foods naturally contain free riboflavin, as well as protein-bound FMN and FAD. Bovine milk is mostly made up of free riboflavin, with some FMN and FAD thrown in for good measure. 14 percent of flavins in whole milk are noncovalently linked to particular proteins. Milk and yoghurt have some of the highest levels of riboflavin.

Thiamine Riboflavin

Thiamine, sometimes called thiamine or vitamin B1, is a vitamin that can be found in foods and is also available as a dietary supplement and prescription. Whole grains, beans, and several meats and seafood are all good sources of thiamine. Because grain processing loses a large portion of the thiamine content, thiamine is added to cereals and flours throughout many nations.

Thiamine deficiency and the illnesses that follow from it, such as Wernicke encephalopathy and beriberi, can be treated and prevented with supplements and drugs. Treatment of maple syrup urine illness and Leigh syndrome are two further applications. They're usually taken by mouth, however they can also be injected intravenously or intramuscularly. Supplements containing thiamine are safe and well-tolerated. When repeated doses are administered by injection, allergic responses, including anaphylaxis, might develop. 

Thiamine belongs to the B complex of vitamins. It is a micronutrient that the body cannot produce on its own. Thiamine is necessary for the metabolism of amino acids, glucose, and lipids. Thiamine was identified in 1897, isolated in 1926, and manufactured for the first time in 1936. It is listed as an essential medicine by the World Health Organization. Thiamine is accessible as a prescription and over-the-counter medicine.