Riboflavin (Vitamin B2)

 

 

Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) is a vitamin that plays an integral role in the body working with other micronutrients helping to keep you feeling your best. It was the second of the B-complex family to be discovered by scientists. 

It is known to help your body in its resilience to physical and mental stress while being essential for energy production. Vitamin B2 and the other B vitamins help your body build red blood cells and support other cellular functions that give you energy, improve mood and the subjective quality of life.

As Vitamin B2 is so essential to energy production in the brain, as well as improved focus, thinking speed and enhanced mental workload we have used 200% of Australia's Recommended Dietary Intake of vitamin B2 in all Savvy products. 

  

Main benefits for Savvy:

• Improved resilience to stress
• Improved mood and quality of life
• Anti inflammatory properties
• Improvement of cognitive function
• Improves memory

 

To make it easy to identify all the different studies - we will highlight them for you!

We really hope you enjoy our many years of research when formulating Savvy...

Benefit 1: Improved resilience to stress

 

Stough, C, et al. ‘The effect of 90 day administration of a high dose vitamin B-complex on work stress.’ in Human Psychopharmacology. Volume 26, Issue 7, October 2011, pp 470-476. [Link]

 

“Sixty participants completed the 3-month, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial in which personality, work demands, mood, anxiety and strain were assessed. ...the vitamin B complex treatment groups reported significantly lower personal strain and a reduction in confusion and depressed/dejected mood after 12 weeks. The results of the study are consistent with two previous studies examining…supplementation of a B multivitamin.”

 

Peraza, Armando Valenzuela, et al. ‘Riboflavin and pyridoxine restore dopamine levels and reduce oxidative stress in brain of rats.’ BMC neuroscience. Volume 19. Issue 1. 2018. pp. 1-8 [Link]

 

The administration of Vitamin B2 and B6 showed a partial increase in antioxidant levels in the brain in various animal models. This was found when the ability of the vitamins to restore Dopamine levels and to reduce free radicals was identified.

 

França, Camille F., et al. ‘Riboflavin ameliorates the L-NAME induced brain injury A Riboflavina na melhora da lesão cerebral induzida por L-NAME.’  2020 [Link]

 

This research study shows that when male rats were tested for oxidative stress markers after the administration of Riboflavin, there was a lower value that signified the neuroprotective ability of the vitamin.

 

Ford, Talitha C., et al. ‘The effect of a high-dose vitamin B multivitamin supplement on the relationship between brain metabolism and blood biomarkers of oxidative stress: a randomized control trial.’ Nutrients. Volume 10. Issue 12. 2018. pp. 1860. [Link]

 

Riboflavin, along with other B vitamins reduced oxidative stress and inflammation through the promotion of myelination, cellular metabolism and energy storage.

 

Suwannasom, Nittiya, I. et al. ‘Riboflavin: the health benefits of a forgotten natural vitamin.’ International journal of molecular sciences. Volume 21. Issue 3. 2020. pp. 950. [Link]

 

Three weeks of Riboflavin supplementation (100mg) resulted in a reduction in systematic oxidative stress and inflammatory reactions in patients suffering from Crohn’s disease.

 

Lindschinger, Meinrad, et al. ‘A randomized pilot trial to evaluate the bioavailability of natural versus synthetic vitamin B complexes in healthy humans and their effects on homocysteine, oxidative stress, and antioxidant levels.’ Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity. Volume 2019. 2019 [Link]

 

This clinical double-blind study observed that the increase in Vitamin B complex levels, especially Riboflavin reduced oxidative stress.

 

Benefit 2: Improved mood and quality of life

 

Murajami, K, et al. ‘Dietary Folate, Riboflavin, Vitamin B-6, and Vitamin B-12 and Depressive Symptoms in Early Adolescence: The Ryukyus Child Health Study’ in Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine, Volume 72, Issue 9, October 2010, pp 763 - 768 [Link]

 

“This study suggests that higher intake of dietary B vitamins, particularly folate and vitamin B-6, is independently associated with a lower prevalence of depressive symptoms in early adolescence.”

 

Lewis, J, E. et al. ‘The Effect of Methylated Vitamin B Complex on Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms and Quality of Life in Adults with Depression’ in Journal of International Scholarly Research Notices Psychiatry, Volume 2013, Article ID 621453, pp 1-7. [Link]

 

“B1,2,3,6,12 combination formula showed modest improvements in mood and mental health...dietary supplement may offer an opportunity for adults with depression to improve mood symptoms and quality of life.”

 

Kennedy, David O. et al. ‘Effects of high-dose B vitamin complex with vitamin C and minerals on subjective mood and performance in healthy males’ in Journal of psychopharmacology. Volume 211, Issue 1, July 2010, pp 55-68 [Link]

 

“Healthy members of the general population may benefit from augmented levels of vitamins/minerals via direct dietary supplementation. Specifically, supplementation led to improved ratings of stress, mental health and vigour and improved cognitive performance during intense mental processing.”

 

Bell, IR, et al. ‘Brief communication. Vitamin B1, B2, and B6 augmentation of tricyclic antidepressant treatment in geriatric depression with cognitive dysfunction.’ in Journal of the American College of Nutrition. Volume 11, Issue 2, April 1992, pp 159-163. [Link]

 

“This was a 4-week randomized placebo-controlled double-blind study to assess augmentation of open tricyclic antidepressant treatment with 10 mg each of vitamins B1, B2, and B6 in 14 geriatric inpatients with depression. The active vitamin group demonstrated significantly better B2 and B6 status on enzyme activity coefficients and trends toward greater improvement in scores on ratings of depression and cognitive function”

 

Miyake, Y, et al. ‘Dietary folate and vitamins B12, B6, and B2 intake and the risk of postpartum depression in Japan: the Osaka Maternal and Child Health Study.’ in Journal of affective disorders, Volume 96, Issue 1 and 2, November 2006, pp 133 - 138. [Link]

 

“Our results suggest that moderate consumption of riboflavin may be protective against postpartum depression.”

 

Benefit 3: Anti inflammatory properties

 

 

Bertollo, CM, et al. ‘Characterization of the antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities of riboflavin in different experimental models.’ in European journal of pharmacology, Volume 547, Issues 1-3, October 2006, pp 184-191 [Link]

 

“Riboflavin, similar to other vitamins of the B complex, presents anti-inflammatory activity”

 

Mazur-Bialy A and Pochec, E. ‘HMGB1 Inhibition During Zymosan-Induced Inflammation: The Potential Therapeutic Action of Riboflavin.’ in Archivum immunologiae et therapiae experimentalis. Volume 64, Issue 2, April 2016, pp 171 - 176. [Link]

 

“One of the factors responsible for the excessive intensification of the inflammatory response in the course of inflammation is high-mobility group protein B1 (HMGB1)...The research showed that riboflavin significantly reduces both the expression and the release of HMGB1”

 

Benefit 4: Improvement of cognitive function

 

 

Gewa, CA, et al. ‘Dietary micronutrients are associated with higher cognitive function gains among primary school children in rural Kenya.’ in The British journal of nutrition, Volume 101, Issue 9, May 2009, pp 1378-1387 [Link]

 

“...vitamin B12 and riboflavin showed significant relationships with improved cognitive test scores, after controlling for confounders such as energy intake, school, socio-economic status and morbidity….vitamin B12 and riboflavin intakes were each associated with significantly higher gains in digit span-forward test scores over time. This analysis demonstrates the influence of improved dietary micronutrient status on school children's cognitive function.”

 

La Rue A, et al. ‘Nutritional status and cognitive functioning in a normally aging sample: a 6-y reassessment.’ in The American journal of clinical nutrition, Volume 65, Issue 1, January 1997 pp 20-29 [Link]

 

“Several significant associations (P < 0.05) were observed between cognition and concurrent vitamin status, including better abstraction performance with higher biochemical status and dietary intake of thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and folate (rs = 0.19-0.29) and better visuospatial performance...Higher past intake of vitamins E, A, B-6, and B-12 was related to better performance on visuospatial recall and/or abstraction tests (rs = 0.19-0.28). Use of self-selected vitamin supplements was associated with better performance on a difficult visuospatial test and an abstraction test.”

 

Zwilling, Christopher E. et al. ‘Nutrient biomarker patterns, cognitive function, and fMRI measures of network efficiency in the aging brain.’ NeuroImage. Volume 188. 2019. pp. 239-251 [Link]

 

This research study explains that Riboflavin is associated with enhanced brain function, thereby improving cognition. The research study also explains that other B Vitamins like Folate and B12 and Vitamin D provide similar results.

 

Peechakara, Basil V., and Mohit Gupta. ‘Vitamin B2 (riboflavin).’ StatPearls [Internet]. 2020. [Link]

 

“Riboflavin deficiency includes…depression,...and poor cognition.”

 

Moore, Katie, et al. ‘Diet, nutrition and the ageing brain: current evidence and new directions.’ Proceedings of the nutrition society. Volume 77. Issue 2. 2018. pp. 152-163. [Link]

 

“Metabolically related B vitamins (B12, B6 and B2) in slowing the progression of cognitive decline and possibly reducing the risk of depression in ageing.”

 

Plantone, Domenico, et al. ‘Riboflavin in Neurological Diseases: A Narrative Review.’ Clinical Drug Investigation. 2021. Pp. 1-15 [Link]

 

“B vitamins enhance cognitive development through their impact on structural brain development via enhancement of myelination, dendritic arborization and synaptic connectivity. “

Benefit 5: Improved memory

 

 

Tao, Lingwei, et al.  ‘Dietary intake of riboflavin and unsaturated fatty acid can improve the multi-domain cognitive function in middle-aged and elderly populations: A 2-year prospective cohort study.’ Frontiers in ageing neuroscience. Volume 11. 2019. pp. 226 [Link]

 

This research study signifies the importance of Riboflavin in protecting cognitive function by enhancing memory, especially in middle-aged and elderly people. Intake of Riboflavin improved cognitive function and verbal memory domain of the brain, while these results were significant with many sensitivity analysis models.

 

Goldberg, Elle et al. ‘Working memory and inadequate micronutrient consumption in healthy seniors.’ Journal of nutrition in gerontology and geriatrics. Volume 38. Issue 3. 2019. pp. 247-261 [Link]

 

Inadequate intake of micronutrients, especially Vitamin B2 is associated to cause reduced memory performance in women.

 

Zhao, Rong et al. ‘Vitamin B2 blocks development of Alzheimer’s disease in APP/PS1 transgenic mice via anti-oxidative mechanism.’ Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research. Volume 17. Issue. 6. 2018.  pp. 1049-1054 [Link]

 

Administration of Vitamin B2 to Alzheimer’s disease affected mice conferred protective action by reducing ROS-induced damage, impaired cognition and memory. This is due to the antioxidant action of the vitamin and activation of the Nrf2 pathway, thereby helping in managing Alzheimer’s disease.

 

Key, Mickeal N., et al. ‘Essential Amino Acids, Vitamins, and Minerals Moderate the Relationship between the Right Frontal Pole and Measures of Memory.’ Molecular nutrition & food research. Volume 63. Issue 15. 2019. pp. 1801048 [Link]

 

Riboflavin is one of the essential vitamins among the distinct nutrients pattern that is noted to have a positive effect on memory and healthy cognitive ageing.

 

Tardy, Anne-Laure, et al. ‘Vitamins and minerals for energy, fatigue and cognition: a narrative review of the biochemical and clinical evidence.’ Nutrients. Volume 12. Issue 1. 2020. pp. 228 [Link]

 

“higher riboflavin intake was correlated with better cognitive performance on several tests.”