Product verdict
Newflower Farmers Markets B-Complex 50
22 ingredients on the label. 2 uses hold up once you check the amounts against the research.
What it’s good for
- Chronic FatigueStrongfrom Vitamin B1 (Thiamine)
- Brain FogSolidfrom Vitamin B1 (Thiamine)
Supplement Facts
Serving Size 1 Capsule(s)
† Daily Value not established, or not stated on this label.
Worth knowing about this bottle
Folate (5-MTHF) with Vitamin B12 (Methylcobalamin)
High-dose folate can correct the anaemia caused by a B12 deficiency while doing nothing about the nerve damage that deficiency also causes. The blood count comes back normal and the neurological injury carries on unnoticed.
What to do: If you take high-dose folate or folic acid and are older, vegan, or on long-term metformin or acid-reducers, have B12 measured directly. A normal blood count does not rule a deficiency out.
Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid) with Biotin in theory only
Pantothenic acid and biotin are absorbed by the same intestinal transporter, so very large amounts of one can, in theory, reduce uptake of the other. This has been shown in cell studies, not confirmed as a real-world problem in humans at normal supplement doses.
What to do: Not a concern at typical supplement doses. Worth noting only for people taking very high doses of one of these vitamins for extended periods; there is no established human clinical syndrome from this competition alone (deficiency in practice is driven by genetic transporter defects, not by this competition).
Folate (5-MTHF) and Vitamin B12 (Methylcobalamin) work better together
Folate and B12 work synergistically in one-carbon metabolism, DNA synthesis, and homocysteine reduction.
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) and Vitamin B3 (Niacin) work better together
Riboflavin is needed for the enzyme that helps convert dietary tryptophan into niacin in the body. Low riboflavin status can reduce how much niacin the body makes on its own.
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) and Folate (5-MTHF) work better together
Riboflavin helps folate do its job of lowering homocysteine, an amino acid linked to cardiovascular risk when elevated. This effect is strongest in people with a common genetic variant (MTHFR 677TT) that makes their folate-processing enzyme depend more heavily on riboflavin.
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) and Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine HCl) work better together
Vitamin B6 does not work until the body converts it to pyridoxal 5’-phosphate, and that conversion needs a riboflavin-derived cofactor. Low riboflavin means B6 you have taken stays in a form the body cannot use.
Vitamin B3 (Niacin) and Vitamin B6 work better together
The body can make a small amount of its own niacin from the amino acid tryptophan, but that process needs vitamin B6. If someone is low in B6, they convert less tryptophan into niacin, so their niacin status depends partly on B6 status.
1 under the amount that was tested
Not tested and failed — untested. Nobody ran those trials at this amount.
- Supports low mood — dose is 50% short of the 800–1000 mcg tested.
5 present in trace amounts
Far under everything studied. No trial speaks to what this much does.
- Supports headaches/migraines — dose is 75% short of the 200–400 mg tested.
- Supports high blood pressure — dose is 90% short of the 500–2000 mg tested.
- Some evidence for low mood — dose is 95% short of the 1000–2000 mcg tested.
- Some evidence for headaches/migraines — dose is 95% short of the 1000 mcg tested.
- Some evidence for eye strain — dose is 95% short of the 1000 mcg tested.
- Some evidence for poor memory — dose is 95% short of the 1000–2000 mcg tested.
- Some evidence for brittle nails — dose is 98% short of the 2500–5000 mcg tested.
- Some evidence for acne — dose is 95% short of the 1000–2500 mg tested.
Label read from the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database. Formulations change — check the panel on the bottle in your hand. Check a different product.