Glossary · B vitamins
Abbreviations on B-vitamin packaging
This is the only category in which one ranking cannot be built, because each of the eight vitamins has its own reference value and there are two units: milligrams and micrograms.
A product described as “B-complex” may contain three vitamins or eight, in doses differing a hundredfold. There is no common denominator by which they could be ranked — only individual vitamins can be compared with one another.
The second issue is active forms. Manufacturers increasingly state methylcobalamin instead of cyanocobalamin or methylfolate instead of folic acid and treat this as a sales argument. The label shows which form is inside — and that is all we record.
The terms one by one
- B-complexB-vitamin complex
- A product containing from several to eight B vitamins at once. The name itself says nothing about doses or which vitamins are missing, so the table must always be checked.
- Methylcobalaminactive form of vitamin B12
- A form stated instead of cyanocobalamin. It has a different molecular mass, so comparing milligrams makes sense only within the same form. The table still states the converted vitamin B12 content in micrograms.
- Cyanocobalaminsynthetic form of B12
- The cheapest and most stable form, still the most common in multivitamin products.
- Methylfolateactive form of folate
- Stated instead of folic acid. It may be described as 5-MTHF or by a raw-material trade name. It is still folate and that is how we count it.
- P-5-Ppyridoxal phosphate
- An active form of vitamin B6, common in more expensive complexes and in products with magnesium.
- Benfotiaminethiamine derivative
- A synthetic derivative of vitamin B1. The label usually gives the mass of benfotiamine itself, not the converted vitamin B1 content — these are two different numbers and cannot be directly compared with thiamine hydrochloride.
- Inositol and cholineingredients added to complexes
- They are sometimes listed among B vitamins, although formally they are not B vitamins and have no established nutrient reference value. They increase the number of items on the label.
Other groups of terms
Omega-3 Vitamin D Magnesium, zinc, iron Vitamin C Collagen Creatine Probiotics Label and calculations
How the numbers from a label turn into the cost of a day is shown in the omega-3 calculator — for now this is the only finished category. The rules by which we build the ranking are described in the How we rank section.