Just encase you thought we knew everything

One of the fascinating parts of bio-chemistry nutrition is that people are always finding out more things that vitamins do in our bodies.

It has always stuck me as odd that people (in general thinking about doctors, dietitians and medical folk) as so certain that the RDI's are acceptable. Yet scientists working on the cutting edge are continually uncovering new things that vitamins are involved in. How can one be certain about what level to taken, when we don't even know all the things that they do.

Such is the case with riboflavin (B2). They have just found a new human transporter of riboflavin. This transporter is located in the brain and saliva glands. They believe that this transporter may control the levels of riboflavin in the brain.

Even though we know so much, we really know very little about how the body really operates, hence I try and have an open mind about nutritional topics.

Reference: Yoshiaki Yao, Atsushi Yonezawa, Hiroki Yoshimatsu, Satohiro Masuda, Toshiya Katsura and Ken-ichi Inui Identification and Comparative Functional Characterization of a New Human Riboflavin Transporter hRFT3 Expressed in the Brain. Journal of Nutrition, doi:10.3945/jn.110.122911 Vol. 140, No. 7, 1220-1226, July 2010