B vitamins are water soluble so your body does not retain them in your fat stores like minerals and other vitamins. So although you might get more than enough B vitamins one day you might be low the next day, depending on your diet.

When your body is stressed or working hard (or over working) it uses a greater amount of B vitamins. Alcohol, sugar and caffeine also deplete the B vitamins from your body.

All B vitamins are sensitive to heat, light, processing, milling, preservatives and cooking. These processes, so common in the manufacturing and preparation of our modern western foods, means less of these essential vitamins are available than if consuming whole, fresh, raw food.

When do I need a B vitamin top up?

• In times of stress or tension

• When feeling low in energy

• When needing extra energy especially for sports

• When overworked or doing heavy physical labour

As with all vitamins, ideally we should get them from a healthy balanced diet. That can be difficult these days even with the best of intentions. If a person’s diet is lacking in B vitamins, or they are simply unsure if they are consuming enough, then usually a good multivitamin like CAA will top up B vitamin levels.

CAA provides 50% of your recommended daily B vitamin needs (with the other 50% coming from the average NZ diet).  However there are times when the recommended daily intake might not be enough or there is a benefit from a higher intake of B vitamins.