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The following is a summary of https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7019700/ in which the roles of vitamins on energy levels are depicted. The goal of this is to provide more insight on the usefulness of taking many vitamin supplements, as many people take them but are unsure of what they might do or if they actually need to. The justification is often summarized as “just in case” I might be missing something, or “what’s the harm”. Hopefully through the exploration of some of the mechanism of vitamins we are able to reach a better understanding of the importance of vitamins and then their supplementation.

There are known mechanisms in which vitamins are known to function e.g. vitamin A is a component of rhodopsin (pigment w/i eyes), their benefits are of no speculation. There are also many populations who are deficient like:

68% of Mexican women have folate (B9) intakes the suspected requirement.

B1 Deficiencies in turkish adults of both genders (they’re at 55%, estimated average requirement).

The nuance becomes a question are people in general in need of supplementation? Well in the two populations above the answer is clearly yes but for others who live in North America its not always so obvious.

The below paragraph is a quick overview of some of the areas vitamins and minerals play a role in and this is important to establish as its the basis for some takeaways. Keep in mind we don’t clearly understand the mechanism of action for all the vitamins or minerals but we do for the ones below so we can make claims about them.

We know vitamins and minerals are clearly important within Cellular energy production. Vitamins B1,B2,B3,B5 and C. B vitamins play a role in at least one of the steps of energy production. Vitamin C and Magnesium help produce energy within metabolism. Iron plays a role in 6 different heme proteins as well as 6 other iron-sulphur proteins located in the electron transport chain. Iron regulates Oxygen and about two thirds of our body’s iron is found in hemoglobin that is found within Red Blood Cells. Riboflavin, Vitamin C, Iron, Magnesium and Zinc and oxidative stress- Oxygen has a tendency to damage within tissues like muscle or brain where there is a need to consume a lot of oxygen. Vitamins can play a role as antioxidants, preventing this stress damage. Vitamin C plays a large role in taking free radicals, and they suspect that vitamin C plays a role in maintaining brain function due to the high levels of oxidative stress within brain tissues. A lack of magnesium leads to oxidative stress, though it is not an antioxidant. There is evidence for the anti-oxidant properties of Zinc. B1, B5 B9, Vitamin C, Iron and Zinc have been shown to be important within the growth and sustenance of the brain. Many of the neurotransmitters our brain uses to communicate/function require vitamins in order to be synthesized.

This is all to provide background and proposed mechanisms on how vitamins can increase energy levels, through the production of ATP eventually be it through the catalysis of the kreb’s cycle or providing oxygen for the brain. We do know if we don’t have adequate levels supplementation can lead to improved physiological outcomes (observable), but there is a suggestion that suboptimal levels of vitamins may lead to fatigue. There may be subclinical (not observable in a sense that you aren’t so tired that its manifested as anemia, as an example). The vast majority of research was done on patient’s with extremely low levels of the associated vitamin and mineral in which there is a clear increase in energy and an alleviation of symptoms. This real proposal of subclinical levels of fatigue gives us reason enough to eat a wide range of foods and take supplementation when we are choice restricted.

So what is the takeaway? Well we know vitamins help those who are deficient, but we have learned that there may be many of us who are on the border of being deficient. The research does state that for most people with access to a varied diet, like the majority of Canada, there is a low risk of being deficient or having suboptimal levels.