VITAMIN B2 (RIBOFLAVIN)

Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) is a water-soluble vitamin and is heat stable. It is especially found in foods such as milk, offal (mostly calf liver), eggs, fish, nuts, some fruits and legumes, wild rice, mushrooms, dark green leafy vegetables, yeast, and beer. It is phosphorylated intracellularly to flavin mononucleotide (FMN) and further metabolized to flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD). Both FMN and FAD play an important role as cofactors in energy metabolism and are required for co-enzyme function in numerous oxidation and reduction reactions in all aerobic life forms (Suwannasom, N. et al., 2020).

 

Vitamin B2 and MTHFR Gene Relationship

Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) is an enzyme required to catalyze the conversion of 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate to 5-methyltetrahydrofolate, a key process in folate metabolism and the remethylation of homocysteine to methionine, and its cofactor is riboflavin (Candrasatria RM. et al., 2020).

VITAMIN B2
Genes	rs	Minor Allel	Minor Allel Description	Reference
MTHFR	rs1801133	T	Increased relative risk for hyperhomocysteinemia and increased riboflavin requirements risk	(Candrasatria RM. et al., 2020)

The table above contains the genes and their polymorphisms that play a role in riboflavin metabolism. In individuals with the rs1801133 TT allele, MTHFR enzymatic activity is reduced, and the reduced activity of the MTHFR enzyme is associated with a decrease in the concentration of its cofactor riboflavin or vitamin B2 (Candrasatria RM. et al., 2020).

 

 

REFERENCES

Candrasatria RM, Adiarto S, Sukmawan R. Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase C677T Gene Polymorphism as a Risk Factor for Hypertension in a Rural Population. Int J Hypertens. 2020 Feb 13;2020:4267246. doi: 10.1155/2020/4267246. PMID: 32411440; PMCID: PMC7204170.

Suwannasom, N., Kao, I., Pruß, A., Georgieva, R., & Bäumler, H. (2020). Riboflavin: The Health Benefits of a Forgotten Natural Vitamin. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21(3). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21030950