Vitamin B2 is a water-soluble vitamin, so it dissolves in water. All vitamins are either water soluble or fat soluble.
Riboflavin is important for body growth. It helps in red blood cell production. It also aids in the release of energy from proteins.
Riboflavin is essential to the formation of two major coenzymes, flavin mononucleotide (FMN) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD). Vitamin B-2 helps human body break down the three macronutrients -- protein, carbohydrate, and fat. Riboflavin, in the form of FAD, helps body break down fats and carbohydrates into fuel by contributing to the electron transport chain, a series of chemical reactions that give off usable energy for body cells.
Without an adequate amount of riboflavin, macronutrients like carbohydrates, fats, and proteins cannot be digested and maintain the body. With a healthy digestive system, the body can absorb most of the nutrients from the diet, so it is important to get most of the riboflavin from dietary sources.
Riboflavin also helps convert tryptophan to niacin, which activates vitamin B6. The conversion of vitamin B6 to the coenzyme pyridoxal 5'-phosphate requires FMN. Vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine) is important for normal brain development and for keeping the nervous system and immune system healthy.
Riboflavin (as FAD or FMN) is required for the metabolism of iron. It also plays an essential role in folate and related one-carbon metabolism, where FAD is required as a cofactor for methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), a key folate-metabolizing enzyme.
Riboflavin also serves an antioxidant function due to its ability to activate antioxidant enzymes. Antioxidants protect body cells from damage caused by harmful chemicals called reactive oxygen species, or ROS.
Physiological Importance of riboflavin
