What is Riboflavin?: A Requirement For Life!

What is Riboflavin?

Riboflavin (a.k.a. vitamin B2) is an integral piece to a few essential coenzymes required for life to continue. These coenzymes are called flavin mononucleotide (FMN) and Flavin dinucleotide (FAD); they're used for many oxidation/reduction reactions throughout the body, most importantly involved in carbohydrate and fat metabolism. In short, you need it for energy!

Who Might Benefit from Riboflavin Supplements?

- Diabetics

- Alcoholics

Smokers (benefit from increased glutathione (GSH) activity)

- Vegetarians or individuals on a very low calorie diet (tisk-tisk)

- Those under more stress than normal (mentally and physically)

- Women on birth control

- Individuals with migraine headaches

Just as a side note, riboflavin is destroyed by fluorescent lights, even when it's inside your body (such as in your skin). For example, doctors must supplement newborn infants with riboflavin when they're placed under fluorescent lights in the ICU. This is a method of treatment used to treat neonatal jaundice, a condition in which a deficient enzyme (G6P Dehydrogenase) results in a build up of bilirubin in the blood. Bilirubin is required for the digestion of dietary fat.

Bilirubin is broken down by fluorescent light, but the light also breaks down riboflavin!

Recommended Daily Allowance

The recommended intake of vitamin B2 varies with gender, body type and age, but I'll lay out a few generals in a table...

Recommended Riboflavin Intake (mg)
Infants	0.4-0.5
Kids	0.8-1.4
Adult Male	1.4-1.8
Adult Female	1.2-1.4
Lactating/Pregnant	1.6-1.8

It's not necessary to go out of your way to get more riboflavin simply because you get plenty in the diet. Speaking of which, let's look at some foods sources of riboflavin...

Sources of Riboflavin
Poultry	Beef
Lamb	Grains/Cereals
Green Vegetables	Dairy Products
Liver

Based on this table, it's easy to see that vegetarians may have a hard time getting enough riboflavin. It might be necessary to take a multivitamin in this case.

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