The water-soluble vitamins are the B group and vitamin C. These are essential micro nutrients that we need in our diet for good health. All of these vitamins except Vitamin B-12 are not stored by the body but must be consumed every day to maintain good health.

Unlike the fat-soluble vitamins these vitamins are easily destroyed by food processing, meaning that food have to be eaten as fresh and unprocessed as possible for us to gain maximum benefits. Vitamins that are unused are excreted in the urine.

The B group of vitamins is made of several different things, collectively known as B-complex vitamins. These are Vitamin B1 (Thiamine), B2 (Riboflavin), B3 (Niacin), B6 (Pyridoxine), B12 9 cobalamin), Folic acid, biotin and pantothenic acid. The group as a whole has effects throughout the body.

They play an important part in energy release in the cells of the body, in blood cell production, nerve health, and the manufacture of neurotransmitters, the health of skin and eyes and the stimulation of appetite.

We normally get a more than adequate supply of B vitamins from our diets. They are found in unprocessed grains, nuts, leafy green vegetables and unprocessed rice. The modern stripping of husks from grains before their use as food has led to some deficiencies being identified. In the early 1900's pellagra was common amongst the poorer classes in the United States, and similar outbreaks of beriberi have occurred in the past.

Deficiencies are much les common these days, with public health measures leading to enriched cereals and a more varied diet being available to most people, Deficiencies these days are more likely to be due excessive or exclusive diets by the consumer. Beriberi (thiamine deficiency) is for instance found in alcoholics, who replace food with alcohol

Deficiencies may also occur due to inadequate absorption of nutrients. This is usually found where bowel has been surgically removed, but may be a consequence of vomiting, such as in hyperemesis gravidarum, or aging.

Individual symptoms are related to deficiency of each of the group.

Thiamine: Beriberi, muscle wasting, edema, confusion.
Riboflavin: Cracks at corners of the mouth and nasal fold, dermatitis and sensitivity to light.
Niacin: pellagra, diarrhea, confusion, dermatitis, weakness and irritability.
Pyridoxine: Mood swings, irritability, cracks at corners of the mouth, irritability, cracks at corners of the mouth, dermatitis, kidney stones, nausea and a smooth tongue.

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