Vanadium as Vanadium Citrate in Nutraceuticals
Vanadium is a mineral element named after Vanadis, the Norse goddess of beauty, due to its vibrant range of colors. It is a light transition metal—not a heavy metal—and is classified as an ultra-trace element, found broadly in nature. While no human deficiency has been identified, vanadium has been researched for its potential role in supporting weight management by influencing glucose metabolism. Vanadium’s primary role in the body is in enzyme function and metabolism.
Vanadium plays an essential role in cellular growth and differentiation and can enhance athletic performance. It also contributes significantly to cellular redox balance, helping to regulate the production of free radicals and their removal by antioxidant enzymes. In the body, the pentavalent form (VO₃⁻) is most common in extracellular fluids, while the quadrivalent form (VO²⁺) predominates within cells.
The widespread presence of vanadium in biological systems has recently sparked extensive research aimed at understanding its biochemical roles and mechanisms within a broad array of biocatalytic processes. As a prevalent transition metal, vanadium is now recognized in alternative nitrogenase metalloenzyme systems that fix nitrogen, in halo peroxidases that oxidize halides incorporated into organic compounds, among other functions.
Additionally, vanadium is known to participate in biological processes with effects on cell growth, enzyme inhibition, or the activation of numerous metabolic pathways. It interacts with various enzymes, including phosphoglucomutases, demonstrating its diverse biological significance.
One of the most notable properties of vanadium is its insulin-mimetic effect, which is particularly relevant to diabetes management. This has led to substantial research into the element’s biochemistry in biological fluids and its interactions with macromolecules, which are thought to contribute to its insulin-like action. To better understand vanadium’s chemistry, a variety of ligands have been studied across different solvent systems and oxidation states, especially V(IV) and V(V). As Citric acid, a key tricarboxylic acid found in biological fluids (at approximately 0.1 mm), plays critical roles in catalytic processes such as the Krebs cycle and nitrogen fixation it becomes imperatively important to use vanadium citrate as a nutraceutical supplement along with established mineral & vitamin combinations. Increasingly the vanadium salts are being used for weight management.
Vanadium is mainly obtained from natural foods, particularly seafood and mushrooms.
