A B Complex supplement may or may not be a healthy way of adding some of the benefits of B vitamins to your diet. Some doctors are opposed to taking most vitamins as long as you eat a complete diet that provides plenty of vitamin sources for you. There is a big exception with Vitamin B9, also called folic acid. All women intending to get pregnant should be on this supplement because it has been shown to reduce the risk of certain birth defects. Most doctors recommend starting folic acid before you even try to get pregnant, as this will further reduce risk of some birth defects that can occur very early in fetal development.

While it would be ideal if we all ate perfectly healthy diets, the truth is plenty of us don’t always eat the most balanced things. For this reason, there are many doctors in support of taking a B Complex supplement, because there are a number of benefits to taking B vitamins. Insufficiency of certain vitamins (usually eight of them in a B Complex supplement) can lead to some very difficult conditions, though most people get, if not total, than at least adequate, amounts through diet. Good food sources of various B vitamins include lentils, liver, bananas, potatoes, turkey, brewer’s yeast, molasses, and tuna.

Some people claim a lot of benefit from taking a B Complex supplement, and all are soluble in water, so they don’t need to be taken with fats. Any excess in small amounts is excreted from the body and tends not to cause harm. Some potential benefits of a B Complex supplement may include raising metabolism, which can help with weight loss. A B complex supplement can also help with maintaining skin and muscle tissue, and help people better fight off illnesses by boosting the immune system.

There’s been much talk about how B Complex supplements may help promote calmer mood, make you more capable of handling stress, and may slightly reduce the risk of heart disease, possibly due to the complex’s ability to affect mood and stress. People who suffer from mood disorders or premenstrual dysmorphic disorder, may benefit from adding a B complex supplement to their diets in combination with medication and therapy to treat these conditions.

One benefit of B vitamins is that they may lower the risk of pancreatic cancer. However, you have to eat foods rich in the B group to get this benefit. Studies have shown that adding a supplement alone does not reduce risk. Yet research does show that there may be significant benefit to taking a B complex supplement, especially if your diet isn’t perfect, and particularly if you have mood disorders or a high degree of stress in your life. In all cases, check with a doctor before you start taking any kind of nutritional supplement to be certain that it will not affect any pre-existing medical conditions or conflict with any medications you may be taking.