Infini-B | A Deep Dive Into B-Vitamins & Their Synergistic Effects

Take an in depth tour of all the dedication, research, and B vitamins that went into Infini-B and why we chose each and every B vitamin included in this comprehensive stack.

Life Is Like A Box Of B-Vitamins. . .

I was having some trouble coming up with a fun and engaging way to start this blog, so I decided to have a chat with an old friend, Forrest Gump, since I was relatively sure he had some interesting things to say on the topic. Sure enough, he certainly did, and gave me the spark of inspiration needed to get this blog off to a great start! Below follows the short conversation we had:

Emiel: Hey Forrest, I’m having some trouble coming up with a fun and engaging way to start a blog about B-vitamins, can you tell me something interesting about them?

Forrest Gump: Well shucks, B vitamins are somethin' special, I tell ya! They're like a box of chocolates, ya never know what you're gonna get. But one thing's for sure, they're important for keepin' your body runnin' like a well-oiled machine.

Now, these B vitamins are a real powerhouse team, just like me and my good buddy Lieutenant Dan. They work together to help your body turn food into energy, keep your skin and hair healthy, and even support your nervous system. It's like they're runnin' a relay race inside your body, passin' the baton from one to the other, all workin' together towards the finish line.

And just like how Lieutenant Dan had his own unique strengths and abilities, each B vitamin has its own special role to play. There's vitamin B6, which helps with brain function and mood regulation, and vitamin B12, which is important for makin' red blood cells and keepin' your cardiovascular system healthy.

Now, I ain't no scientist, but I do know that gettin' enough B vitamins is important for feelin' good and stayin' healthy. So next time you're chowin' down on a plate of shrimp, just remember that you're gettin' a healthy dose of vitamin B12, just like I did on that boat with Bubba.

Emiel: Wow, you surprisingly know quite a bit about B-vitamins Forrest, color me impressed! B-vitamins often get overlooked, but like you mentioned, they are incredibly important for almost every bodily function. At Nootropics Depot, we are especially enamored with the nootropic benefits of the B-vitamins! You are right too, B-vitamins are indeed like a box of chocolates, they all have distinctly different effects, which is why we came out with a highly optimized B-vitamin stack called infini-B, which I’ll be exploring in this blog. Thanks again for the insights Forrest, it was a pleasure chatting!

Forrest Gump: You're welcome, Emiel. And remember, just keep writin' and keep movin' forward, and before you know it, you'll have a whole bunch of folks readin' what you got to say. Best of luck to ya, my friend.

Life Is Like A Box Of B-Vitamins. . .

Emiel: Hey Forrest, I’m having some trouble coming up with a fun and engaging way to start a blog about B-vitamins, can you tell me something interesting about them?

Forest Gump: You're welcome, Emiel. And remember, just keep writin' and keep movin' forward, and before you know it, you'll have a whole bunch of folks readin' what you got to say. Best of luck to ya, my friend.

What is Ashwagandha?

Ashwagandha is a herb that belongs to the night shade family of plants. The nightshade family of plants is a very interesting one and includes a lot of vegetables that make up large parts of many diets. Notable nightshade members are potatoes, tomatoes, chili peppers, goji berries and even tobacco! Another name for the nightshade family is Solanaceae. This is where Ashwagandha gets its Latin name from; Withania somnifera. Ashwagandha is a short perennial shrub, with a large root system that develops small deep orange fruits. The fruits resemble a small cherry and the leaves look frosty due to the many tiny hairs that are on them. This one of the reasons why Ashwagandha is also referred to as ‘winter cherry’. Traditionally, the Ashwagandha root is used, however new research has found high concentrations of key components in the leaves too. Various manufacturers have taken notice of this. One of the most notable being Natreon who produce a specialized extract of Ashwagandha called Sensoril. Sensoril is made from the leaves of Ashwagandha, giving it a unique chemical composition, which produces noticeable calming effects.

Shrimp indeed are relatively high in vitamin B12, packing on average about 1-2 micrograms of vitamin B12 per 100 grams. That’s not a lot compared to what we would normally supplement with, but still is a very significant portion of our recommended daily intake, which is set at 2.4 µg!

Figure 1

Well, that definitely gave me the spark of inspiration to get this blog off to an excellent start! This conversation was generated by Chat GPT, it’s quite incredible how far AI has come! While I haven’t found much use for it in terms of writing real meaningful content, it is quite spectacular for producing and transforming content into the voice of whoever you would like. This conversation, while obviously quite silly, actually hit on some pretty good points. One of those being that B-vitamins are essential for almost every bodily function, and certainly are important for “feelin' good and stayin' healthy”! Secondly, they are found in many different foods, and this is obviously where we get the majority of our B-vitamins from.

Figure 2

However, some of these foods are not incredibly common in our diet. For example, as the generated conversation revealed, vitamin B12 is indeed found in high concentrations in various types of shellfish, including shrimps. In fact, I was quite surprised to learn that clams perhaps contain the highest concentration of vitamin B12, with a 100 gram serving of clams delivering almost 100 µg of vitamin B12!

Clams are perhaps the richest source of vitamin B12, clocking in at almost 100 µg of vitamin B12 per 100 gram serving! That sounds like a great excuse to eat more delicious bowls of clam chowder. That all being said though, shrimps and clams are perhaps not featured heavily in most of our daily diets, unless you are living in coastal regions of the world. In fact, vitamin B12 is predominantly found in animal products, which obviously poses problems for vegans and vegetarians. Most vegans and vegetarians are actually low in vitamin B12, which is one of the reasons we decided to include it in our vegan version of OmegaTAU. Low vitamin B12 intake in these individuals can cause a slew of issues, mainly related to cognitive function, mood and energy levels, thus it is important to pay special attention to vitamin B12 intake if you follow a vegan or vegetarian diet.

While a vegan diet is accompanied by lots of benefits, there are also some downsides to it. One of the main downsides being that vegans more often than not, have very low vitamin B12 intake. Thus, special attention should be taken for optimizing vitamin B12 intake if you are a vegan or vegetarian.

Figure 3

Throughout human history, we’ve actually seen major B vitamin deficiencies pop up here and there, rearing their heads in fairly dramatic ways. These B vitamin deficiencies are almost always due to major changes in our diet. For example, due to technological advancements, we progressively started to refine the rice grain, by polishing it. The whole rice grain, which we commonly refer to as ‘brown rice’ is a significant source of vitamin B1 (thiamin). The thiamin is contained within the outer layer of the rice grain, and thus, during the polishing process used to make ‘white rice’, the thiamin containing layer is removed. In many Asian countries, diets primarily consist of rice, and thus, once polished rice became more common, so did thiamin deficiencies. This was first discovered in 1883 when Takaki Kanehiro, a Japanese physician, noted that sailors on a 9 month long training mission for the Japanese Imperial Navy were contracting an odd illness. Out of the 376 sailors on board, 169 sailors contracted this mysterious illness. At first, it was thought that this illness was infectious, but Takaki Kanehiro noted that similar issues were not occuring on ships from Western navies, and the higher ranking officers on the Japanese ship seemed to be immune. Takaki Kanehiro noted that polished white rice was provided for free on this ship, and thus, the majority of the sailors were practically only eating rice. The higher ranking officers, on the other hand, consumed a much more varied diet, as did sailors on ships from Western navies. Takaki Kanehiro devised a plan for the next voyage in 1884, to provide a much more varied diet, which included whole grains. On this voyage, only 16 sailors out of a crew of 333 sailors, contracted the then mysterious illness.

More than ten years later, in 1897, Christiaan Eijkman, a Dutch physician, discovered that chickens fed polished rice developed a strange illness, and this was ameliorated by switching the polished rice to unpolished rice. At the time, we didn’t have a concept of what vitamins were, and thus, a lot of research was conducted on this subject. This eventually led to Christiaan Eijkman and Frederick Gowland Hopkins discovering vitamins, and they were both awarded the Nobel prize in physiology or medicine in 1929. Unfortunately, the Polish-American biochemist, Casimir Funk, is oftentimes somewhat unfairly left out of this story. We actually have Casimir Funk to thank for the name ‘vitamin’, which he initially called ‘vital amine’, which he then shortened to ‘vitamine’. Later it was discovered that vitamins did not have to be nitrogen containing amines, and thus the ‘e’ was dropped, and we were left with the name ‘vitamin’!

The humble rice grain, one of the most commonly consumed foods on the planet, and also the grain that led to the discovery of vitamins! The brown rice grain on the left, contains a fairly high concentration of vitamin B1 (thiamin) while the polished rice grain on the right has been stripped of most of its thiamin, since it is contained in the outer layer that is polished off.

Figure 4

B-Vitamins | The Drivers Of Cellular Excellence

As we just discovered, B-vitamins are clearly quite important to our overall well being, but there are quite a few of them, eight to be exact! Each one has a different function in the body, and each B-vitamin has its own unique dietary source. Some B-vitamins are relatively easy to acquire in adequate amounts from common dietary sources, such as vitamin B1 (thiamin) from rice, whilst others can be much harder to obtain, for example vitamin B12 (cobalamin), which is mostly consumed via animal proteins and seafood. Some B-vitamin forms need to be dosed at low levels, since high levels of these vitamins can cause issues, whereas other B-vitamins actually benefit from being dosed way above their recommended daily intake values. During our research for Infini-B we quickly came to the realization that achieving the recommended daily intake values is only really enough to prevent issues associated with deficiency, however, dosing certain B-vitamins higher and in particular forms, can do a great job at optimizing various aspects of our health and cognitive function. With that in mind, we set out to develop Infini-B as a highly balanced yet impactful B-vitamin supplement which you can clearly feel.

It can be hard to understand what each B-vitamin is doing, and thus, the rest of this blog will be structured in a manner by which we highlight each individual B-vitamin and its role in our body/brain. This will then also help us to more accurately explain the decisions we made in the development of Infini-B and may help shed some light on why exactly Infini-B is such a subjectively noticeable B-complex! Without further ado, let’s get into it!

Vitamin B1 | Thiamin | Energy Metabolism, Cognition & Mood

Dietary food sources for thiamin are relatively diverse, but the largest contributor to vitamin B1 intake is likely whole grains. As we already mentioned, refined grains have much lower thiamin content, and since grains are a staple food source for most of the world, this can cause major issues. Due to this, when grains are refined these days, they are usually also fortified with vitamin B1 in order to circumvent any potential deficiencies.

Figure 5

Whole, unrefined grains are one of the most important sources for dietary thiamin. Other major sources include beans, fish and pork. Thiamin is an incredibly important B-vitamin, and humans are very sensitive to deficiencies.

In recent years, thiamin has been gaining more and more attention, with a particular emphasis being put on achieving much higher levels of thiamin then were previously thought to be adequate. In fact, even mega dosing protocols are becoming popular, due to their effects on energy levels and mood. The rising popularity of thiamin for this purpose makes a lot of sense when we look at the effects it has on energy metabolism.

Expand To Learn More About Vitamin B1, Thiamin

Thiamin is crucial for the conversion of dietary carbohydrates to usable energy, primarily in the form of ATP. Without adequate amounts of thiamin, various key enzymes involved in turning glucose into ATP, don’t function properly. This is because thiamin, by converting to thiamin pyrophosphate, acts as a cofactor for these enzymes. If you are unfamiliar with the concept of cofactors, you can think of it like car-keys. Imagine that the enzyme is a car, and that the cofactor is the key for that car. The car itself has lots of potential to get you to where you need to be, quickly, but only if you have the key to start the car. Thiamin pyrophosphate works as a cofactor for two very crucial enzymes in the citric acid cycle (also known as the kreb’s cycle). The citric acid cycle converts a compound called pyruvate, into ATP. Pyruvate is generated from glucose, through a process called glycolysis, and enters the citric acid cycle after being converted to acetyl-CoA by the enzyme pyruvate dehydrogenase. Pyruvate dehydrogenase uses thiamin pyrophosphate, as a cofactor, thus, without thiamin, we wouldn’t be able to generate the main input for the citric acid cycle. A little bit further into the citric acid cycle, another crucial conversion takes place which relies on thiamin pyrophosphate. This time a compound called alpha-ketoglutarate is converted to succinyl-CoA by the enzyme alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase. Alpha ketoglutarate dehydrogenase once again uses thiamin pyrophosphate as a cofactor. Thus, without adequate levels of thiamin, two very crucial parts of the citric acid cycle don’t function which makes it practically impossible to convert dietary carbohydrates into usable energy.

When we consider that the brain is a major consumer of glucose, this means that the citric acid cycle is highly involved in our brain’s energy metabolism. Since our brain is one of the most energy consuming organs in the human body, it becomes quite clear why deficiencies in thiamin usually manifest with fairly dramatic neurological effects. On the flip side, it also makes sense that supplementing with thiamin beyond the recommended daily intake appears to increase energy levels in many individuals. In fact, thiamin is regularly used to help stave off fatigue. In essence, we can think of thiamin helping us to get the most out of the carbohydrates that we eat.

Another interesting aspect of thiamin, is its involvement with acetylcholine synthesis. As we just discussed, thiamin pyrophosphate is very important for generating acetyl-CoA from pyruvate, by acting as a cofactor for pyruvate dehydrogenase. Acetyl-CoA is necessary for the synthesis of acetylcholine, and thus, without adequate supply of acetyl-CoA, acetylcholine synthesis would be decreased. Keep in mind of course that thiamin only participates in the generation of acetyl-CoA from glucose, and acetyl-CoA can also be generated via beta-oxidation of fatty acids. However, the glucose pathway is a very significant source of acetyl-CoA, and decreases in acetylcholine synthesis have been noted with low thiamin levels.

Overall, if we had to sum up the effects of thiamin, we can say that it helps generate cellular energy in the form of ATP, and is crucial to acetylcholine production. During our R&D phase of Infini-B we noticed that modifying the thiamin portion of the formulation had a fairly noticeable impact on subjective energy levels. When we dosed thiamin on the lower end of the spectrum, the overall effects of Infini-B were somewhat underwhelming. When we increased the level of thiamin, the effects got more energizing and interesting. When we eventually included benfotiamine, a much higher bioavailability form of thiamin, the effects of Infini-B became quite a bit more apparent. The benfotiamine is definitely part of the “secret sauce” of the subjective effects of Infini-B!

In terms of the thiamin forms we decided to include in Infini-B, we went for a blend of two different forms. The first being a fairly basic form of thiamin, thiamin HCL. This form of thiamin works quite well for enhancing overall thiamin status, and thus is a nice base to work off of. On top of the thiamin HCL, we added in benfotiamine, which is a highly specialized form of thiamin. This form of thiamin is especially good at crossing the blood brain barrier, and thus was chosen in order to capitalize on the nootropic effects of thiamin!

Vitamin B2 | Riboflavin | ATP Synthesis, Methylation & Mood

The dietary sources for riboflavin are also relatively diverse, but appear to be highest in meat and dairy products. Specifically, riboflavin is high in organ meats like liver and heart, however, these are not commonly included in our diets. This does make it somewhat challenging for vegans to consume enough riboflavin, but luckily there are also some plant based sources for riboflavin such as spinach, almonds, mushrooms and avocados. Yeast extracts also appear to be relatively high in riboflavin, perhaps this is why those cheesy tasting nutritional yeast flakes look so yellow!

Figure 6

Riboflavin is present in a wide variety of foods, but our main dietary sources are meats and dairy products, with some minor content in nuts, legumes and green vegetables. Riboflavin is likely a B-vitamin many of us are already intimately familiar with, albeit somewhat unknowingly.

Have you ever poured an energy drink into a glass, and noticed that it looks like a mix of highlighters and urine? This weird color is due to the frequent addition of riboflavin, which has an incredibly bright yellow color. In fact, many foods even contain added riboflavin as a coloring agent! For those of you who have experimented with riboflavin supplements, especially in high doses, you will have probably noticed that your urine turns an almost fluorescent color of yellow. This is due to the fact that riboflavin, like most of the other B-vitamins, is highly water soluble and generally is used immediately in the body and not stored. Thus, due to its very strong coloring properties, riboflavin can quite readily color our urine a bright yellow color. However, we obviously don’t take riboflavin just for the novelty of making our pee glow in the dark, so what is it good for?

Expand To Learn More About Vitamin B2, Riboflavin

One of the most fascinating aspects of riboflavin is its involvement with methylation. Methylation has been a very popular topic in recent years, especially after the widespread availability of genetic testing which has highlighted anomalies in the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) enzyme, of many individuals. MTHFR is an enzyme which is crucial for the generation of S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAMe), a universal methyl donor, and for the clearance of homocysteine. Certain individuals have a gene, which leads to low MTHFR activity, which has been linked to issues with overall methylation. Recent research has indicated that this low MTHFR activity may actually be strongly linked to riboflavin status. Riboflavin is the precursor to a compound called flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), and FAD acts as a cofactor for MTHFR. Thus, without FAD, MTHFR cannot function properly. In individuals with the MTHFR C667T genotype which produces the methylation issues, the MTHFR enzyme becomes much less sensitive to its cofactor, FAD. This means that much higher levels of riboflavin are required to then activate MTHFR, in order to properly drive DNA methylation and other related processes. This discovery is quite interesting, especially considering that two other B-vitamins, vitamin B9 and vitamin B12 are also quite famous for their effects on methylation!

As we mentioned above, the MTHFR enzyme produces SAMe. This compound has also been linked to mood, with low levels of SAMe being linked to low mood. Thus, due to the fact that riboflavin is necessary for proper MTHFR functioning, there is also a mood component to riboflavin, with higher intake of riboflavin seeming to help boost mood.

Most importantly perhaps, riboflavin also plays a major role in energy metabolism. Similar to thiamin, riboflavins derivative, FAD, acts as a cofactor for an enzyme in the citric acid cycle, called succinate dehydrogenase. This enzyme is crucial in the citric acid cycle, but even more fascinating, is that it is the only enzyme which participates both in the citric acid cycle and the electron transport chain. Within the citric acid cycle, succinate dehydrogenase converts succinate to fumarate. This process is coupled to another process, by which ubiquinone is concurrently converted to ubiquinol, and this process is highly dependent on the cofactor FAD. Now in the electron transport chain, this gets even more interesting. Here, FAD converts to FADH₂ which can then convert to a large quantity of ATP. The effects of riboflavin in both the citric acid cycle and the electron transport chain, give some interesting insights into riboflavins energizing effects. This is perhaps why it is included in many energy drinks. This is also why we included a relatively high dose of riboflavin in Infini-B in order to optimize the energizing effects profile!

In terms of the form of riboflavin that we chose to include in Infini-B, we ended up going for riboflavin 5′-phosphate. This is one of the active forms of riboflavin, and is also known as flavin mononucleotide (FMN), which also plays a prominent role in the electron transport chain! The reason we chose riboflavin 5′-phosphate, is due to it already being in one of the active forms, and because it has a high bioavailability. Riboflavin 5′-phosphate is also readily converted to FAD, which is one of the primary compounds we are looking to increase with riboflavin supplementation!

Vitamin B3 | Niacin | NAD+ synthesis, Neuroprotection & Mood

Niacin is present in lots of different foods, and has something very unique going for it too, it can be synthesized from L-tryptophan. L-tryptophan is an amino acid which is found in protein-containing food, and 60 mg of L-tryptophan converts to about 1 mg of niacin. This means that eating practically any protein containing food will be a good source of niacin. Lots of other foods contain free niacin too, as per usual with the B-vitamins, high levels can be found in meats, but niacin is also present in lots of different vegetables, nuts and legumes. Thus, getting niacin from your diet, in general, is quite easy!

Figure 7

Due to our bodies ability to convert the amino acid L-tryptophan, which is abundantly present in protein-containing foods, to niacin, makes it quite easy to obtain niacin through our diet! A lot of us are probably quite familiar with niacin, because it is a pretty infamous B-vitamin. If you take too much niacin, you will oftentimes experience an intense flushing sensation.

This effect has been dubbed the “niacin flush”. This flush is caused by a rapid and transient release of histamine in the skin, which causes a very pronounced vasodilatory effect. For many, this is quite an uncomfortable sensation, but others actually enjoy this effect.

Expand To Learn More About Vitamin B3, Niacin

With this in mind, let’s immediately touch on the forms of niacin we decided to include in Infini-B. While the niacin flush certainly is novel, it is an effect not many people enjoy, thus we avoided including niacin because we wanted to achieve a somewhat high dosage of vitamin B3. This led to us selecting niacinamide and inositol hexanicotinate. Both of these forms are commonly referred to as “no-flush niacin”. Niacinamide is very similar in overall bioavailability as niacin, but lacks the flushing effect. Niacinamide also appears to be more involved in the central nervous system, than niacin, and thus niacinamide seems to be more specialized for nootropic purposes. Inositol hexanicotinate is a little fancier, and has the benefit of slowly releasing niacin, thus leading to a sustained release of niacin over many hours. Niacin and niacinamide both have different effects in the body, and thus a combination of a niacin source in the form of inositol hexanictinate, and a niacinamide source, provides the most comprehensive vitamin B3 supply.

Vitamin B3 is quite an interesting B-vitamin, because it acts as a precursor to NAD+, which has been all the rage in recent years. For good reason too, because NAD+ has some fantastic effects on healthy aging and energy metabolism! Niacin is a precursor to NAD+ via the Preiss-Handler pathway, while niacinamide is a precursor to NAD+ via the salvage pathway. This means that with a combination of both niacin and niacinamide, we can feed two separate NAD+ synthesizing pathways! That all being said, nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) and nicotinamide riboside (NR), which are vitamin B3 derivatives, are going to be much more efficient at raising NAD+ levels. However, vitamin B3 still plays a very important role in keeping our NAD+ pools topped up. Additionally, niacinamide has a special trick up its sleeve, by acting as an inhibitor of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). PARP is a protein which can actually degrade NAD+, and lower ATP levels. Thus, by inhibiting the activity of PARP with nicotinamide, we can ensure less degradation of NAD+ is occurring, and as an added bonus, ATP levels may be increased too!

The PARP inhibiting effects of niacinamide also can produce robust neuroprotective effects, and this is why niacinamide plays a particularly important role in the central nervous system. Additionally, niacinamide can produce prominent antioxidant and inflammation regulating effects in the brain. Together with its PARP inhibiting effects, this can produce a very comprehensive neuroprotective effect. Additionally, niacinamide has been shown to have an effect on serotonin levels. Higher levels of niacinamide appear to slow down the degradation of serotonin, and may shift more dietary L-tryptophan to serotonin synthesis. Thus, when considering the neuroprotective and serotonin elevating effects of niacinamide, it is clear to see why it has mood elevating properties!

"Research has shown that magnesium levels are decreasing in most foods... With the magnesium content decreasing in crops and the increase in the consumption of processed foods, magnesium deficiencies in the population are becoming more prevalent."

Vitamin B5 | Pantothenic Acid | Coenzyme A Synthesis, Cognition & Skin Health

Pantothenic acid is found in almost all foods in significant levels. Interestingly, pantothenic acid's name is derived from the ancient Greek word pantos which translates to “all” or “everywhere”, which is in reference to pantothenic acid being abundantly present in the foods we eat. Thus, obtaining enough pantothenic acid through our diets is not particularly hard, even for vegans and vegetarians. In fact, one of the richest pantothenic acid sources is shiitake mushrooms! As per usual with the B-vitamins, pantothenic acid is also found abundantly in meat and dairy products.

Figure 8

Shiitake mushrooms are one of the richest sources of vitamin B5, containing more than 100% of our daily value of vitamin B5 in a 100 gram portion of cooked shiitake mushrooms! Vitamin B5 is an incredibly important B-vitamin, for one particular reason, it is required for the synthesis of coenzyme A (CoA). CoA is used in practically every process which transforms the food we eat into usable energy.

It is particularly important in the citric acid cycle, which is a cycle we have now talked about multiple times already in this blog. When we discussed vitamin B1, we highlighted its importance in the first step of the citric acid cycle, which converts pyruvate to acetyl-CoA. Vitamin B1 is involved here because it acts as a cofactor for the enzyme pyruvate dehydrogenase which carries out this reaction. However, for this reaction to occur, we also need CoA, which we need vitamin B5 for. Thus, without vitamin B5, vitamin B1 can’t even complete its cofactor function with pyruvate dehydrogenase! CoA is also required at other stages of the citric acid cycle, and thus, the whole citric acid cycle is quite dependent on vitamin B5. This means that inadequate levels of vitamin B5 would drastically impact the way in which we convert food to usable energy.

Expand To Learn More About Vitamin B5, Pantothenic Acid

The most important aspect of vitamin B5 in the context of CoA, is that the CoA is necessary for generating acetyl-CoA. One way in which acetyl-CoA is synthesized, is during the first step of the citric acid cycle, where pyruvate is converted to acetyl-CoA. This again means that without both vitamin B5 and vitamin B1, we cannot produce acetyl-CoA in the context of the citric acid cycle. However, acetyl-CoA can also be generated from lipid, and amino acid breakdown. Without vitamin B5 though, we would not have the necessary CoA to even generate acetyl-CoA from these alternate pathways. This means that when we are talking about acetyl-CoA, vitamin B5 is an incredibly essential component!

Acetyl-CoA is used for lots of different processes throughout the body and brain. As we already discussed in the vitamin B1 section, acetyl-CoA provides the acetyl groups that are required by the enzyme choline acetyltransferase to synthesize the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Furthermore, acetyl-CoA also feeds the mevalonate pathway, which synthesizes the cholesterol necessary for all steroid hormone synthesis. The mevalonate pathway is also responsible for producing lots of other important compounds, such as coenzyme Q10 and vitamin K. Thus, it clearly cannot be understated just how important vitamin B5 is for providing that incredibly ubiquitous CoA!

Pantothenic acid also plays an important role in skin health. Through various mechanisms, pantothenic acid can help enhance skin hydration and healing. This is a great combination of effects when it comes to promoting skin health, and thus it is no surprise that vitamin B5 is often best known for its skin benefits. In fact, it is often included in topical skin care products. However, even oral supplementation of pantothenic acid can have positive benefits on our skin!

Similar to vitamin B1, we felt that vitamin B5 is a major contributor to the energizing effects and nootropic effects of a B-complex. With this in mind, we dosed the vitamin B5 at a fairly high level. This has the benefit of both maximizing the energizing effects of infini-B, in addition to providing a very nice effect on our skin! In terms of the form of vitamin B5 we decided to go for, we went for D-calcium pantothenate. This form of vitamin B5 is very stable, and has great absorption.

Vitamin B6 | Pyridoxine | Neurotransmitter Synthesis, Mood & Cognition

Vitamin B6 is once again quite abundantly present throughout our diet. A unique attribute of vitamin B6, is that it is particularly high in various fruits, which is somewhat unique because not a lot of the other B-vitamins are found in fruits. When we think of fruits, we more often than not just think that they are a great source of vitamin C. Bananas are a particularly rich source of vitamin B6 though, so George Bluth Sr. was right when he said “there is always B6 in the banana stand!” or was that money? We forget, we haven’t watched ‘Arrested Development’ in a little while, so our memory is fuzzy! As is pretty much always the case with B-vitamins, vitamin B6 is also found abundantly in meats, particularly poultry and fish.

Figure 9

Vitamin B6 is found in relatively high levels in bananas, which is unique because the B-vitamins are not often found in significant amounts in fruits! Vitamin B6 is one of our favorite nootropic B-vitamins, because it acts as a cofactor in the production of various different neurotransmitters.

This is due to the fact that the enzyme, aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase (AADC), requires the active form of vitamin B6, pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (P5P) as a cofactor. AADC is the enzyme that is responsible for the final stage in both serotonin and dopamine synthesis. Serotonin synthesis starts from a dietary amino acid called L-tryptophan, an amino acid which we also discussed in the vitamin B3 section, because L-tryptophan is also a precursor to niacin.

Expand To Learn More About Vitamin B6, Pyridoxine

L-tryptophan is converted to 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HTP) by the enzyme tryptophan hydroxylase, and 5-HTP is then converted to serotonin by AADC. Serotonin is then eventually further converted to the important circadian hormone, melatonin. This means that without vitamin B6, serotonin and by extension, melatonin could not be synthesized! Dopamine follows a similar pathway, by which the dietary amino acid L-tyrosine is converted to L-dopa by tyrosine hydroxylase. This L-dopa is then converted to dopamine by AADC. Dopamine is then eventually further converted to norepinephrine. This means that without vitamin B6, both dopamine and norepinephrine could not be synthesized!

Vitamin B6, via its active form, P5P, also acts as a cofactor for another important neurotransmitter synthesizing enzyme called glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD). GAD catalyzes the conversion of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate to the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA. Perhaps most importantly here, is that GAD acts as a way to get rid of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate, thus, without vitamin B6, our balance of excitatory glutamate to inhibitory GABA would be way off. This would result in negative effects on mood, and the general health of our brains.

Vitamin B6 also plays a major role in energy metabolism, most notably as a cofactor for the enzyme, glycogen phosphorylase. This enzyme breaks down glycogen, which is a compound that is used by the body to store energy. Glycogen is most notably stored in our muscles, and when we need a quick burst of energy production, glycogen is rapidly broken down into glucose, which can then eventually turn into usable energy. Since glycogen phosphorylase is necessary for this process, it means that vitamin B6 is crucial for utilizing glycogen stores. This is one of the reasons why vitamin B6 is quite popular for athletes. This will especially be true in the context of some of the other B-vitamins in Infini-B which help turn glucose into energy, like vitamin B1 and B5!

Considering vitamin B6’s effects on neurotransmitter synthesis and glycogen utilization, it is one of the more noticeable B-vitamins. Due to this, we wanted to include a solid dose of vitamin B6, in order to make infini-B feel as palpable as possible. However, the one issue with dosing vitamin B6 higher, is that it is one of the B vitamins which can have negative effects in higher doses. This is especially true for the basic form of vitamin B6 most often found in supplements, called pyridoxine HCL. Due to the bioavailability and safety issues with pyridoxine HCL, we skipped this form of vitamin B6. Instead, we went for the active form of vitamin B6, P5P, which can actually be supplemented orally! P5P can be supplemented at much higher doses, yet caution should still be taken. Due to this, we included a very solid, yet reasonable dose of P5P in Infini-B.

Vitamin B7 | Biotin | Hair, Skin & Nail Health

Vitamin B7, is again present in many different foods, and we only need very small amounts of it to satisfy our daily recommended intake. Thus, biotin is fairly easy to get from our diet, with avocados, sweet potatoes, nuts and of course, meats, being great sources of vitamin B7. Eggs are another great source of vitamin B7, but with a caveat. Raw eggs contain a protein called avidin, which strongly binds to biotin, and can actually lower biotin levels. It has been found that consumption of high levels of raw eggs for this reason can actually deplete biotin. This protein is mostly denatured during cooking though, which means that cooked eggs are a good source of biotin. So with that in mind, don’t try to be a tough guy like Rocky Balboa, by starting your day off by chugging freshly cracked raw eggs, because you may just be depleting your biotin with that trick!

Figure 10

Eggs are a rich source of vitamin B7, providing about 10 micrograms of biotin per egg. Just make sure to properly cook your eggs in order to denature the biotin binding avidin protein! Biotin is perhaps most famous for its skin and hair effects. In fact, biotin actually used to be called vitamin H, in reference to the German word “haar und haut” which translates to hair and skin.

It was discovered, due to investigations into the negative effects of consuming raw egg whites, with one of the first symptoms being thinning hair, and skin rashes. As we mentioned earlier, raw egg whites contain a protein called avidin, which strongly binds to biotin, leading to gradually declining levels of biotin. At the time when this was being investigated, in the 1930’s, we did not know what biotin was, but we certainly knew that consuming raw egg whites caused a slew of negative effects. Since some of the first symptoms of raw egg white consumption are visually noticeable on our hair and skin, it is no surprise that this vitamin was first called vitamin H by the Hungarian biochemist Paul György. We haven’t mentioned this name yet in this blog, but Paul György was actually very important to the field of B-vitamin research and was also behind the discovery of vitamin B2 and B6!

Expand To Learn More About Vitamin B7, Biotin

Biotin is a cofactor for five different carboxylase enzymes, these enzymes are:

1. Acetyl-CoA carboxylase alpha

2. Acetyl-CoA carboxylase beta

3. Pyruvate carboxylase

4. Methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase

5. Propionyl-CoA carboxylase

These enzymes are very important to the synthesis of long chain fatty acids and glucose, in addition to the metabolism of pyruvate and propionyl-CoA. The fatty acid synthesizing activity of these enzymes, likely underlies the majority of biotin’s effects on our skin. Our skin needs a constant supply of fatty acids to maintain skin barrier function, in addition to aiding in skin hydration. Thus, it is no surprise that deficiencies in biotin oftentimes first present themselves as skin dryness and rashes. However, herein lies also the double-edged sword of biotin. Our sebaceous glands have quite a bit of acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) enzyme activity, which we need biotin for as a cofactor. ACC produces the fatty acids which later become incorporated in the structure of sebum. The right amount of sebum is incredibly important to skin health, however, larger amounts of sebum can result in acne. Due to this, it is perhaps not surprising that excessive intake of biotin can cause breakouts. In fact, research has actually looked at inhibiting ACC in order to benefit skin aesthetics. Thus, there is a fine balance in the level of biotin we want in our bodies.

With the double-edged sword activity of biotin on our skin in mind, we spent quite a bit of time trying to get the biotin dosage right. We found that lots of B-vitamin formulations which are currently on the market, likely provided much too high a dose of biotin. In fact, we found a lot of anecdotal reports around the web, which indicated various B-complex vitamins causing skin issues. Considering that we get plenty of biotin from our diets, it seemed best to be as prudent as possible with our biotin dosing. We still wanted to include biotin, because it is clearly very important for our body, skin, hair and nails, so we went with a mere 30 microgram dose. This is 100% of the biotin RDI, thus providing plenty of biotin, yet not enough to cause skin issues. This may seem like a very small dose of biotin, when other brands are including doses that are more than ten times as high, but based on our R&D effort, we determined this dose would slot the best into our B-complex because skin health is very important to us! In terms of the dosing form, we went for plain old D-biotin. This form appears to absorb just fine, and with the potential negative skin effects associated with high biotin levels, we decided it wasn’t logical to chase down biotin forms with highly enhanced absorption.

Vitamin B9 | Folate | Methylation, Homocysteine Metabolism, Mood

Vegans and vegetarians rejoice, because vitamin B9 is found predominantly in vegetables! In fact, research has shown that on average, vegans and vegetarians have amongst the best vitamin B9 status. In addition to this, vitamin B9 is also routinely added to common foods, such as grain based products. In fact, in 1998 the FDA made it mandatory for folate to be added to enriched cereal grain products. With this in mind, if you eat a well-balanced diet which includes lots of vegetables and fortified grain products, you are more than likely getting plenty of vitamin B9! In fact, vitamin B9’s abundant presence in vegetables, and particularly leafly greens, also earned it its name folate/folic acid, based on the latin name “folium” which means leaf!

Figure 11

Edamame beans are not only very fun to eat, but are one of the richest sources of vitamin B9, that’s a win-win in our books! Vitamin B9 is perhaps the most well known for its effects on methylation and RNA/DNA synthesis. Vitamin B9 plays a few key roles here, first and foremost, it helps transport single carbon groups which are necessary for DNA synthesis, these include methylene, methyl, and formyl groups.

Most importantly, vitamin B9 is required for the synthesis of one of the main building blocks of DNA, thymidine. Additionally, vitamin B9 plays an important role in the repair of DNA, through its ability to transport methyl groups.

Vitamin B9 is also crucial for metabolizing homocysteine. This compound can cause a slew of negative health effects when its levels go unchecked, most notably producing cardiovascular and neurological abnormalities. Vitamin B9 helps metabolize homocysteine, which then yields L-methionine. This compound is crucial for the synthesis of the universal methyl donor S-adenosylmethionine. For this reaction however, another B-vitamin, vitamin B12 is required, thus, vitamin B9 and B12 have a highly synergistic effect!

Expand To Learn More About Vitamin B9, Folate

Vitamin B9 also has a significant effect on neurotransmitter synthesis, due to its role in helping to synthesize and recycle tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4). BH4 is a cofactor that is used by various neurotransmitter synthesizing enzymes. For example, the enzyme which turns dietary L-tryptophan into 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HTP) in the first step of serotonin synthesis, tryptophan hydroxylase, requires BH4 as a cofactor. Similarly, the tyrosine hydroxylase enzyme, which catalyzes the first step in dopamine synthesis, also requires BH4 as a cofactor. As you may remember, from the vitamin B6 section, the second step in serotonin and dopamine synthesis, is catalyzed by aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase which requires vitamin B6 as a cofactor. This means that neurotransmitter synthesis is highly dependent on the synergistic action of B-vitamins! Vitamin B9 helps synthesize BH4 by acting as a cofactor for the enzyme dihydrofolate reductase. This enzyme converts the inactive dihydrobiopterin (BH2), to the active BH4 form. When BH4 is being used as a cofactor for tyrosine and tryptophan hydroxylase enzymes, BH4 turns into BH2. Thus, vitamin B9’s role in converting BH2 back to BH4, has a very positive effect on neurotransmitter synthesis. With this in mind, it is no surprise that low vitamin B9 levels have also been linked to low mood! BH4 is also an important cofactor in the synthesis of nitric oxide from L-arginine. Due to this, vitamin B9 has a two pronged effect on cardiovascular function, by reducing homocysteine levels and aiding in the synthesis of nitric oxide!

When it comes to dosing vitamin B9, we do have to be careful. Adequate amounts of vitamin B9 are required to power some of the most important functions in our body, however, higher doses of vitamin B9 can actually backfire and start to cause negative effects on our DNA. This is one of the reasons why we purposefully dosed vitamin B9 on the lower side of the spectrum, in order to maximize its benefits. Another strategy we employed to get the most out of vitamin B9, was to use its already methylated active form, called L-5 methyltetrahydrofolate (L-5-MTHF). This form of vitamin B9, in stark contrast to the commonly used folic acid, does not need to be methylated in order for it to become active. This means that L-5-MTHF is one of the best forms of vitamin B9 when it comes to enhancing our bodies' methylation ability!

Vitamin B12 | Cobalamin | Methylation, Energy & Cognition

As we mentioned earlier in the blog, vitamin B12 is abundantly present in shellfish and other types of seafood, with clams being one of the richest sources of vitamin B12. That being said, plant sources of vitamin B12 are few and far between, and due to this, low vitamin B12 status is incredibly common amongst vegans and vegetarians. One interesting thing to note about vitamin B12 however, is that it is predominantly produced by bacteria, which includes bacteria that are commonly found in fermented foods. In fact, it appears that kombucha, a tea based beverage produced via bacterial and yeast fermentation, is a very rich source of vitamin B12! This does mean that vegans and vegetarians may be able to consume enough vitamin B12 by consuming fermented foods, yet in many western countries, this is not commonly done.

Figure 12

A fermenting jar of kombucha, which is a surprisingly rich source of vitamin B12. Bacteria, such as those contained in the kombucha bacterial culture, have the ability to synthesize vitamin B12. This makes fermented foods a very interesting vegan source of vitamin B12! Vitamin B12 is perhaps one of the most well-known and hyped up B-vitamins in existence.

We can’t deny it, we are big fans of vitamin B12 too! In fact, we’ve carried a vitamin B12 supplement since day 1, called super B12. Pinpointing exactly what causes this energizing effect is somewhat hard, but it likely results from a combination of vitamin B12’s effect on the citric acid cycle, methylation and myelination. As we have become intimately familiar with during the course of this blog, the B-vitamins are incredibly important for turning food into energy. Vitamin B12 is no different, and pulls this trick off by acting as a cofactor for the enzyme methylmalonyl-CoA mutase, which converts methylmalonyl-CoA to succinyl-CoA, an important input of the citric acid cycle.

Expand To Learn More About Vitamin B12, Cobalamin

As we mentioned already in the vitamin B9 section, vitamin B12 is also incredibly important for the process of methylation. Vitamin B12, similarly to vitamin B9, helps shuttle methyl groups around the body. Most importantly, it works hand in hand with vitamin B9 to methylate homocysteine, thereby converting it to methionine, which can then be used to synthesize S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe), one of the most important methyl donors. The methylation of homocysteine is carried out by an enzyme called methionine synthase, of which two forms exist. One of the forms uses vitamin B12, in the form of methylcobalamin, as a cofactor. With vitamin B12’s methylation effects in mind, it is of course no surprise that it is also very important for DNA synthesis and repair!

One of the most important effects of vitamin B12 is likely its effects on myelin. Myelin is a primarily lipid based compound, which forms an electrically insulating layer around the axons of our neurons. This myelin covering of the axons, is commonly referred to as the myelin sheath. Within this myelin sheath, there are small gaps, called the ‘nodes of ranvier’, which help accelerate signals through the axons of our neurons. If this myelin sheath starts to degrade, electrical signals can less readily pass through our neurons, and thus, we would experience drastically decreased neurological function. Since vitamin B-12 plays a critical role in the maintenance of the myelin sheath, this is more than likely its most important function and part of the reason why B-12 is so popular amongst nootropic enthusiasts!

The benefits of vitamin B-12 are most pronounced if it is being supplemented far beyond its recommended daily intake value. What’s nice about B-12, is that even in these very high doses, it is safe, and thus we can boost the level of B-12 quite significantly in order to optimize the cognitive effects of Infini-B. Vitamin B12 can also be supplemented in multiple different forms. The most common form seen on the market is cyanocobalamin, however, this form has fairly poor bioavailability. One of the most popular forms of vitamin B-12 is methylcobalamin, due to its high bioavailability, and because it is one of the active forms of vitamin B-12. However, it is often incorrectly thought that because methylcobalamin is methylated, that this form of vitamin B-12 is the best for methylation. This is not entirely true, because it appears that the methyl group of supplemented methylcobalamin does not actually participate in any methylation reactions. What appears to be most important for vitamin B-12 supplementation, is that the vitamin B-12 is readily absorbed and retained. Methylcobalamin has these two attributes, and so does hydroxocobalamin. Both of these forms may absorb through slightly different pathways, and due to this, we decided on a 50/50 split of both methylcobalamin and hydroxocobalamin for our vitamin B-12 component. This is the exact blend many of you have come to love over the years in our super B-12 formulation!

A Synergistic Powerhouse

While this blog mainly focused on each individual B-vitamin, and its specific role in our brain and body, it may have also become obvious that all of the B-vitamins rely pretty heavily on each other. For example, the citric acid cycle would not work if it wasn’t for the simultaneous presence of vitamin B1, B2, B3 and B5. Similarly, methylation is only possible due to the interplay of vitamin B2, B9 and B12. With this in mind, we meticulously crafted our infini-B formulation in order to keep a focus on all of the synergistic effects, because it became quite clear during our R&D phase that when all of the B-vitamins worked together, they produced the best overall effects!

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✔ Increase Mental Clarity

✔ Enhance Hair, Skin, & Nails

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