DEAR DR. GOTT:
How much vitamin B can a person take each day? My doctor can’t even answer this question. I’m taking Centrum Silver each day and recently bought a vegetarian product at a health store that contains 10 mg or 333% DV of vitamin B.
DEAR READER:
B vitamins are essential to help release energy from carbohydrates, fat and protein. I can understand why your physician cannot give an explicit answer to your question because the human body stores several years worth of B12, so a deficiency is quite rare unless a condition such as pernicious anemia or a strict vegetarian or vegan diet leads to a deficient state. B12 is also harmless in larger quantities (up to 1000+ mcgs) and is given as an energy boost to some individuals, (working more as a placebo). B6 is obtained from diet or through supplements. The recommended daily allowance is 1.5 mg per day. You don’t indicate if your have dietary restrictions, although you purchased a vegetarian supplement. Without knowing this, I cannot determine if you even need supplements or if you are obtaining adequate amounts through your diet.
I can only recommend that when taking complete B complex vitamins or any other supplement, be guided by the recommendations on the label since packaging by different manufacturers can vary. Centrum Silver has 100% of the daily recommended value of thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, 125% of folic acid, 150% of B6 and 417% of B12 in each tablet.
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