Vitamin B2: Health Benefits, Source, And Dosage

Vitamin B2: Health Benefits, Source, And Dosage. Vitamins are essential to healthy body functions. Its deficiency results to disease or death. Vitamins work together with chemical catalysts called enzymes, thus their being called as “co-enzymes”. Among the important vitamins needed by the body is the vitamin B complex. This is a group of a dozen or so vitamins that are needful for the proper functioning of the body, specially the nervous system. One of these B complex is vitamin B2 or riboflavin. This vitamin aids in the carbohydrate metabolism. It is needed for growth, good eyes, nails, skin, and hair. Riboflavin helps prevent cataracts, and is very important during pregnancy. It is crucial in the production of energy. Vitamin B2 is used to treat cataracts, sickle-cell anemia, and migraine headaches. Patients with cataract should take not more than 10 mg of vitamin B2 daily. Richest sources of vitamin B2 are almonds, brewer’s yeast, torula yeast, wheat germ, whole grains, soybeans, sunflower seeds, and leafy vegetables. The vitamin B2 deficiency symptoms include eye problems, itching, burning, sensitivity to light, bloodshot, mouth sores, cracking of the lips and corners of the mouth, inflamed tongue, burning and itching of the mouth, oily or dull hair, oily skin, premature wrinkles on face and arms, split nails, cataract formation, loss of visual acuity, disorders of the mucous membranes, seborrheic dermatitis, severe anemia, and certain esophageal cancers. Vitamin B2 is needed in the assimation of vitamin C and other vitamin B complex. Vitamin B2 is destroyed by light, but not by cooking. It has no toxicity or side effects, except for cataract treatment which should not exceed more that 10 mg daily. Dosage: RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) is 1.6 mg. ODA (Optimum Daily Amount) is 50 mg. TDA (Therapeutic Daily Allowance) is 200-500 mg. Recommended is 5-10 mg daily. These dosages are for adults. Dosage for children 12-17 years old is 3/4 of the recommended amount, and for those 6-12 years old, use 1/2 of the recommended dose. Body cannot absorb more than 20 mg in a single dose.