review · Nutrients
Vitamin B complex requirements change significantly across the human lifespan, from fertility and pregnancy through to old age, with distinct variations between sexes. Specific nutrients, including thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pyridoxine, and folic acid, are vital for maternal and foetal health. In infancy and childhood, B vitamins support physical and psychological growth, laying the foundation for long-term health in adolescence and adulthood. For older adults, higher intakes help prevent certain age-related conditions, particularly those connected to inflammation. Because the eight B vitamins interact closely, understanding their combined mechanisms is essential for determining appropriate daily intakes. However, supplementation requires careful monitoring to prevent toxicity and hypervitaminosis. Further investigation is needed to address nutritional disparities across life stages, taking into account cultural habits and individual lifestyles.
Human nutritional needs are not uniform throughout life, and biological sex creates further differences in daily dietary requirements. Understanding how the full group of B vitamins functions together enables better public health advice, targeted dietary guidelines, and safer supplementation practices. This helps individuals avoid both chronic deficiencies and the potential toxicities associated with excessive intake at different life stages.
This review provides foundational evidence that could inform the formulation of stage-specific and sex-tailored dietary supplements, fortified foods, or clinical nutrition programmes. Potential users include nutraceutical manufacturers and healthcare providers designing targeted nutritional products. Because the work is a broad scientific review of mechanisms and requirements rather than a tested intervention, it represents early-stage insights that require further nutritional formulation and validation before reaching the market.
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The importance of B complex vitamins starts early in the human life cycle and continues across its different stages. At the same time, numerous reports have emphasized the critical role of adequate B complex intake. Most studies examined such issues concerning a specific vitamin B or life stage, with the majority reporting the effect of either excess or deficiency. Deep insight into the orchestration of the eight different B vitamins requirements is reviewed across the human life cycle, beginning from fertility and pregnancy and reaching adulthood and senility, emphasizing interactions among them and underlying action mechanisms. The effect of sex is also reviewed for each vitamin at each life stage to highlight the different daily requirements and/or outcomes. Thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pyridoxine, and folic acid are crucial for maternal and fetal health. During infancy and childhood, B vitamins are integrated with physical and psychological development that have a pivotal impact on one's overall health in adolescence and adulthood. A higher intake of B vitamins in the elderly is also associated with preventing some aging problems, especially those related to inflammation. All supplementation should be carefully monitored to avoid toxicity and hypervitaminosis. More research should be invested in studying each vitamin individually concerning nutritional disparities in each life stage, with extensive attention paid to cultural differences and lifestyles.
This page summarises published work. The authoritative version sits with the publisher.
DOI: 10.3390/nu14193940
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