These days, its seems that everywhere I turn I see some supplement or energy drink companies pushing B vitamins as the miracle cure for more energy. Are you tired after you eat lunch? Have you’ve been up all night cramming for your final or partying? Why don’t you drink some red bull, or how about an energy shot? or if you’re really brave (and really dumb) you can even get B-12 injections!
The truth is that B Vitamins do NOT give you energy. They do, however, assist in the metabolic process by helping convert the food we eat into adenosine triphosphate, more commonly known as ATP. ATP is the usable form of energy in the cell. So, the connection is made that the more B vitamins we consume, the more energy we will have, and the more we can work/study/party without ever having to rest. Yes! Well, this would only be true if one was actually deficient in B vitamins.
In reality, B vitamins -riboflavin (B2), thiamin (B1), B12, pyroxidine (B6), niacin, and folate are abundant in American’s diets. They are found in commonly consumed foods such as whole grains, cereals, tortillas, meats, poultry, milk, and vegetables- even potatoes! and I know that Americans love them some french fries! Many foods these days that aren’t even considered very “healthy” are loaded with B vitamins such as kids sugary cereals. These foods are generally “enriched” meaning the vitamins have been striped from the product during the processing and then put back in. Nonetheless, they are in there, and you are paying a lot less for 1 cup of that cereal than you are paying for “energy drinks.” The moral of the story is get your B vitamins from food, not drinks/ supplements.
So you may say, but Heather, I feel soo energetic after I drink my Go Girl! Well, let me tell you, that’s because along with the B vits in your drink their is a ton of caffeine. Most energy drinks have about the same amount of caffeine as coffee, if not more. Caffeine is a cardiac stimulant which may lead to increased heart rate and a feeling of alertness or more energy. So, if you absolutely need to stay up, I would reach for a cup of coffee before an energy drink; at least you’ll get some freaking antioxidants (I’ll discuss these later).
One last thing, a few years ago my college roommate (who I absolutely love) started taking a B vitamins supplement which gave you amounts of the vitamins which greatly exceeded the RDA or Recommended Daily Allowance. Then she said to me “Heather, my pee is neon green, it almost seems like its glowing.” Her urine was green because she was pissing out about $20 worth of B-vitamins that her body could not absorb because you cannot absorb vast quantities of vitamins at one time.
What are your thoughts on energy drinks? Have you ever peed green? If you have any supplement/ vitamin questions I would love to answer them!
For some trustworthy info on B- vitamins look here
Heath! You are so knowledgable I love it! I don’t like energy drinks. They taste like the smarties candies. Ew.
Jay, I know, I hate Energy drinks too, they are yuck-o. You are so right about them tasting like smarties! Except I actually kinda like smarties, but they taste like smarties in a gross way to me. lol.
I’ve peed neon green before and it was completely worth what I paid for the vitamins. I will say this though, my pee would be only neon green if I didn’t work out at the gym when I was taking my vitamins.
So my question is this. If you’re very energetic or expend a lot of energy, then does your body need more B vitamins? In other words, the more active you are does it follow that your body can absorb more B vitamins or needs more B vitamins in order to be that energetic in the first place?
Good question Wayne,
While athletes do have increased vitamin and mineral needs, they also have increased caloric needs. So, if the athlete is consuming enough calories to meet his or her energy needs he or she will also be consuming enough vitamins through food sources to meet their needs. Also, working out a few times a week or even every day for an hour is hardly considered “expending a lot of energy.” That is the average amount that is taken into consideration when formulating the recommended intakes.
Here it is from Montana State University
Is more better? Because B-vitamins participate in energy metabolism (releasing energy from nutrients), athletes with high energy expenditures have increased requirements for B vitamins. However, eating more food (energy intake that achieves energy expenditure) provides the extra B-vitamins that are needed. Beyond meeting RDA requirements, do athletes benefit from supplementation with vitamins and minerals in amounts greater than the RDA? Despite high vitamin/mineral supplement use among athletes, the answer appears to be no. While vitamin/mineral deficiencies impair physical performance, research indicates that supplementation of a nutritionally adequate sports diet does not improve physical work capacity, endurance, oxygen consumption, cardiovascular function, muscle strength, or resistance to fatigue.
That’s all well and good. I’m not saying that a well balanced and nutritious diet is the way to go. But what about those of us who do not have a well balanced diet, then doesn’t that make supplements a bit of a necessity? Also, if one is trying to lose weight, and thus limits caloric intake (I’m assuming – so I could be wrong – more calories burned than taken in leads to healthy weight loss) is it advisable that the person meet basic nutritional needs with a supplement? Again, eating healthy is the right course but I hate veggies. So there.
If you are on a very calorically restricted diet and make poor food choices then it is probably a good idea to take a multi vitamin. However, B- vitamins are found in many “junk” foods such as frozen waffles, cup of noodles, pop tarts, hot pockets, and most cookies because they are made with enriched flour. B-vitamins are also abundant in meat and rice.
Trying to stay away from the junk food. But let’s say I’ve got a friend of a friend of a cousin of an uncle of a sis-in-law of a dog, who has a bowl of cereal w/milk for breakfast, a granola bar late morning, a sandwich for lunch (minus the mayo), another granola bar as a mid-day snack, and what is hopefully a sensible dinner. Say that person also works out everyday, except on God’s day, alternating between cardio and strength training. Oh yeah, that person also takes protein shakes post-workout, before bedtime, and maybe once more during the day. Should that person take a supplement?
that sounds like a very reasonable diet, except for the fact that there is no fruit in it. Why don’t you try replacing one granola bar a day with a banana, apple, or whatever fruit you can manage to choke down. It also may be lacking in vegetables depending on what you’re eating for dinner. You are also over working your kidneys by consuming those protein shakes but I’m not going to get into that right now. Overall, unless you integrate fruit into your diet somehow I think it may be a good idea to take a vitamin C supplement or a multi because you are cutting out a whole food group and that is never advisable.
of course, other sites will tell you different things. Especially sites or sources selling the products or body building websites, or personal trainers. But believe me, I have talked to ALOT of nutrition professors and I have never met one that pushed supplements for generally healthy individuals.
Great post! That tiny 5-hour energy bottle always freaks me out…it’s just so small and filled with god knows what! It’s great that you mentioned how people overdo it on the vitamins, especially Vitamin C (Emergen-C packs, etc.), which claim to give you loads of Vit C that will help protect you from getting sick, but in the end it’s all water soluble and ends up getting flushed out (literally). Keep the posts comin’!