Question

Your body makes NAD+ and FAD from two B vitamins, niacin and riboflavin. The recommended dietary allowance for niacin is 20 mg/day and for riboflavin, 1.7 mg/day. These amounts are thousands of times less than the amount of glucose your body needs each day to fuel its energy needs. Why is the daily requirement for these vitamins so small?

Answer 1

Ans. Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide (NAD+) and Flavin Adenine Dinucleotide (FAD) are coenzymes.These are involved in reversible oxidation-reduction reactions. These accept and store store electrons in their reduced form temporarily and donate these electons to generate ATP. They are regenerated back after they donate the electrons in their reduced form and again used for other round of reactions. Hence, the precursor of NAD+ and FAD i.e. Niacin and Ribloflavin vitamins are required in very small amount. Glucose is the source of enrgy for every living cell in the body and hence they are required in higher amount for normal body functioning.