As you start the journey towards a healthy weight, you want to do all you can to support your body in the days ahead. Vitamin supplementation can help your weight loss efforts, but what is the best vitamin for weight loss?
Here is a closer look at how you can use vitamins on your weight loss journey, and how you can avoid claims that are not true.
Do Vitamins Help With Weight Loss?
Vitamins and overall health and wellness can help you achieve better results on your weight loss journey. Still, can vitamins specifically help with weight loss?
The best way to lose weight is to reduce caloric intake while increasing calorie expenditure. However, if the body is not healthy, to begin with, this process will not achieve the desired results.
Caloric restriction alone without a healthy foundation will make it a lot more complicated for you to lose weight.
That said, vitamins alone cannot cause weight loss. They can help support the healthy eating and activities that you need to do to lose weight, but alone a vitamin cannot cause you to lose weight.
Any supplement that offers promises of weight loss without dietary changes is making false claims.
That said, there are certain vitamins that overweight people seem to lack. For example, one report from the University of Hawaii indicates overweight people lack fat-soluble vitamins, like vitamin A, D, E, and K, because of their higher body fat levels. Increasing intake of these vitamins can support healthy eating and exercise changes.
So can vitamins help with weight loss? Yes, as part of an overall lifestyle change, vitamins can support a healthier weight.
They are not a weight-loss miracle, but here is a closer look at how specific vitamins may help your weight loss goals.
1. Does Vitamin B Help With Weight Loss?
The vitamin B complex is a group of eight different vitamins that support healthy lifestyles. They support the conversion of food into glucose, which in turn helps it get energy from the food.
Vitamin B complex also supports the metabolism of fats and proteins. Thus, adequate vitamin B levels are helpful in weight loss.
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2. Does Vitamin B12 Help With Weight Loss?
Vitamin B12 is one of the B complex vitamins. In 2013, researchers found that overweight and obese people had low levels of this vitamin.
B12 is found in meat products. That means that if you are a vegetarian or vegan, you may have lower levels of vitamin B12.
Some plant-based foods that contain B12 are nutritional yeast, fortified milk, seaweed, tempeh, and mushrooms.
According to the Mayo Clinic, people who are deficient in B12 can benefit from injections and other supplements to help them lose weight.
However, if you are not low in B12, supplementation will not harm you, but it may not help you achieve your weight loss goals either.
3. Does Vitamin B6 Help With Weight Loss?
Vitamin B6 is another B complex vitamin that seems to be connected to weight. In one study, women who lost weight by following a strict calorie intake found improved B6 levels at the end of the study after losing weight.
The study also found that maintaining B6 levels were directly connected to maintaining a better weight. So B6 may not help you lose weight, but it may help you keep it off after successfully losing the weight.
4. Does Vitamin B100 Help With Weight Loss?
Vitamin B100 is not an actual B complex vitamin. Rather, it is a combination of B vitamins in one pill. The combination of vitamins can vary from one product to the next.
B100 may be a good supplement to add to your routine as you strive to lose weight. However, there is no known direct correlation between this supplement and weight loss.
5. Does Vitamin C Help With Weight Loss?
Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that helps improve health and boost immunity. It is also water-soluble, which means you can’t take too much of it.
If you have more vitamin C in your body than you need, it will simply get flushed out when you use the restroom.
But can vitamin C help with weight loss? According to one study, people who had insufficient levels of vitamin C found that they held on to fat and were resistant to fat loss efforts.
Those with adequate vitamin C levels oxidized 30% more fat when exercising than those with low vitamin C levels.
Thus, supporting your body’s vitamin C levels is vital to supporting your weight loss efforts.
6. Does Vitamin D Help With Weight Loss?
The sun is the most accessible natural way to boost vitamin D levels. However, the average American is deficient in this vital supplement.
In particular, overweight individuals have been shown clinically to have vitamin D deficiencies. The reason for this is not yet known.
Some studies have shown that high doses of vitamin D can reduce body mass index.
In one study, a double-blind clinical trial followed 50 overweight and obese women. One group received 50,000 IU of vitamin D weekly for six weeks, while the other received a placebo.
At the end of the study, the patients who received vitamin D had significantly lower BMI levels than those in the control group.
7. Does Vitamin D3 Help With Weight Loss?
Yes, vitamin D, which is usually given in the form of vitamin D3, has been shown to help overweight people lower their BMIs if given in high doses.
Since many people in the world are deficient in vitamin D, vitamin D3 supplementation is part of creating a foundation of health before tackling weight loss.
8. Does Vitamin E Help With Weight Loss?
Metabolic syndrome reduces the body’s ability to absorb and utilize vitamin E. Obese individuals with metabolic syndrome are often deficient in vitamin E.
When attempting to lose weight, they often limit their intake of nuts, seeds, oils, and other high-fat foods high in calories. Therefore also limiting their vitamin E intake.
Thus, people may achieve better results if they supplement their diets with this fat-soluble vitamin.
9. Do Cinnamon Vitamins Help With Weight Loss?
If you spend much time searching for “what is the best vitamin for weight loss,” you will likely come across some products that contain cinnamon.
Though cinnamon is not technically a vitamin, the spice is widely claimed as a weight loss supplement.
Cinnamon, specifically, has a positive effect on blood glucose levels. It also has anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties.
Combined, these effects help you process food effectively while reducing the harmful effects of eating unhealthy foods.
A vitamin containing cinnamon will not create long-term weight loss. It can, however, support your weight loss goals.
Conclusion
So what is the best vitamin for weight loss? The best vitamin for weight loss is the one your body is deficient in.
A body with adequate vitamin levels will respond to weight loss efforts more effectively than one that has deficiencies.
Vitamins may help with weight loss, but they can’t do the work for you. Having said that, vitamin B, C, D, and E are the ones that studies have shown that your body should not be deficient on to work properly when you are on a weight-loss journey.
Besides providing your body with the right vitamins, if you want to lose weight, then it is important that you find a healthy diet (with enough calories) and exercise routine that works best for your body.
Lily
Hi, I'm Lily! Like you, I have struggled with my weight. It was not an easy journey but I was able to lose 40 pounds and have kept it off for 14 years. My goal is to share with you all the research, tips, and tricks that I have learned over the years to help you lose weight also.Download this cheat sheet to learn the secrets to go from busy and out-of-shape to energetic and fit!