Pathology

Breakspear Pharmacy can provide nutritional supplements which are free from unnecessary additives and allergens for sensitive patients.

B Vitamins

Functional assessment of vitamin status is useful to monitor the progress of vitamin supplementation, while absolute values are useful for checking absorption.

Levels of vitamins thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2) and pyridoxine (B6) can be measured either by absolute concentration in the plasma or by a functional method. Functional measurement of a B vitamin is achieved by measuring the activation of a red cell enzyme that is dependent upon an adequate concentration of a particular vitamin for full activity. There is a different enzyme for each of the B1, B2 and B6 vitamins. The assay relies on normal metabolism of the vitamin to its native form and the presence of other non-vitamin cofactors.