Coenzyme Vitamins
Vitamins are organic compounds that are essential for normal growth and nutrition. They are obtained in small quantities through diet because they cannot be synthesized within the body. In many cases vitamins act as cofactors that are needed for enzymes to perform their important work of facilitating metabolism. In this case vitamins are called coenzyme vitamins. Some examples of coenzyme vitamins include Vitamin B1 in the form of thiamin diphosphate (or cocarboxylase) and Vitamin B6 in the form of pyridoxal-5’-phosphate.
Coenzyme vitamins versus synthesized vitamins
Coenzyme vitamins, and direct precursors of coenzyme vitamins, are found in foods in relatively small but biologically significant amounts. In order to create supplements with larger amounts of vitamins, manufacturers began synthesizing vitamins that are similar to, but not the same as, coenzyme vitamins.
Examples of synthesized vitamins are Vitamin B1 as thiamin hydrochloride and vitamin B6 as pyridoxine hydrochloride. Most synthesized forms of vitamins tend to be stable and offer relatively low cost, however they require conversion in the body. This means they are not immediately available and that additional metabolic energy is required for the conversion.
The body cannot directly utilize synthesized vitamins, but must convert them by adding a phosphate group (usually from adenosine triphosphate, i.e., ATP) in order to become active coenzyme form vitamins. For most healthy people, the process of converting synthesized vitamins into coenzyme vitamins is not difficult. However, for individuals who are not healthy or who are nutritionally deficient, this conversion process can be significantly more difficult to carry out, and therefore can become problematic.
Why coenzyme vitamins?
It is precisely because synthetic vitamins must be converted in the body to coenzyme forms that manufacturers are increasingly producing stabilized forms of the active coenzyme vitamins. We call these active coenzyme forms“bio-identical” vitamins because they are identical to the coenzyme vitamins used in the body.
While “bio-identical” vitamins usually cost significantly more than the synthesized vitamins (up to 50 times more), they remain relatively affordable because they are required in such small amounts.The body requires minute amounts because there are no in vivo losses related to any conversion processes. We include coenzyme form vitamins in our supplement designs in quantities required by the body.
The inclusion of coenzyme forms of vitamins is a significant contributor towards making our supplements more effective than conventional non-coenzyme form vitamins. Coenzyme forms increase effectiveness while only minimally raising our costs. The benefits considerably outweigh the costs.
The available bio-identical coenzyme vitamins
The currently available “bio-identical” coenzyme vitamins include:
- Vitamin B1 in the form of thiamin diphosphate (or cocarboxylase)
- Vitamin B2 in the form of riboflavin 5’-phosphate sometimes called flavinmononucleotide (FMN)
- Vitamin B3 in the forms of forms of niacinamide (partial coenzyme), nicotinamide diphosphate (NAD), and nicotinamide diphosphatehydrate (NADH)
- Vitamin B5 in the form of panthetine
- Vitamin B6 in the form of pyridoxal 5’-phosphate
- Folate in the forms of folinic acid (5-formyl tetrahydrofolate) and methyltetrahydrofolate
- Vitamin B12 in the forms of methylcobalamin and adenosylcobalamin.
Health Products Distributor has been using these all of the above “bio-identical” coenzyme vitamins for many years. These forms provide significantly better results for individuals supplementing their diets with our nutritional supplement formulas.
An excellent article by Dr. Pangborn provides more in-depth logic for coenzyme vitamins – especially pyridoxal 5’-phosphate. See the following:
Vitamin B6 by Dr. Jon B. Pangborn (pdf)
An excellent discussion of the chemistry of Thiamin and itscoenzyme form can be found here: