The 6 Best Vitamins for Energy

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Dr. Jennifer Hughes, MD
Medical Reviewer

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B vitamins may hog the spotlight when it comes to the best vitamins for energy, but the supporting cast (including some minerals) is more involved than you may think.

Vitamin C, magnesium, and ironโ€”each with their unique mechanismsโ€”are more than a little important when it comes to keeping energy production up at the cellular level and beyond.

As such, our list of the 6 best vitamins and minerals for energy sheds light on all four of these essential nutrients while keeping overall formulation quality, absorbability, etc. top of mind as always.

In this article, weโ€™ll show you which nutrients to prioritize for an energy boost, which products provide these nutrients in their most effective forms and combinations, and more.

Best Overall: Garden of Life Vitamin Code RAW B-Complex
  • Description:

    Made with all 8 B vitamins, a 23-ingredient organic fruit and vegetable brand, and 500 million CFU of probiotics (plus enzymes), Vitamin Code RAW B-Complex is one of the most complete energy supplements on the market.

Best for Energy + Weight Loss: Hi-Health Metabolic Fusion
  • Description:

    A consciously curated selection of plant-based extracts, calming amino acids, and other natural ingredients pair with caffeine for a weight-loss-promoting energy boost in Hi-Health Metabolic Fusion.

6 Best Vitamins for Energy

ProductKey FeaturesPrice*
Garden of Life Vitamin Code RAW B-ComplexCapsules; 8 B vitamins in every 2-capsule serving; 23-ingredient organic fruit & vegetable blend; 500 million CFU probiotic and enzyme blend$40.99 ($0.68/serving)
Hi-Health Metabolic FusionVegan-friendly capsules; plant-based metabolism enhancers and antioxidants; adaptogens, ketones, and more$39.99 ($1.33/serving)
Bricker Labs B-12 Blast MethylcobalaminLiquid form (drops); 1,000 mcg of vitamin B12 (methylcobalamin) per one-milliliter serving; 400mg of folic acid included to regulate homocysteine levles; natural raspberry flavor$16.95 ($0.29/serving)
Solaray Magnesium Glycinate 350mgCapsules; highly bioavailable magnesium glycinate; 350mg magnesium per  (4-capsule) serving; black pepper boosts magnesium uptake in the body$34.99 ($0.58 per serving)
Ancient Nutrition IronCapsules; herbal blend featuring ancient Chinese adaptogens for stress; collagen from bone broth; vitamin C boosts iron uptake$29.95 ($1.00 per serving)
California Natural Lyposomal Vitamin C Capsules; proprietary liposomal delivery system enhances vitamin C uptake; fat-soluble form of vitamin C further improves absorption$29.99 ($0.33/serving)
*Prices are accurate at time of publication, based on suggested retail price, and subject to change.

Best Overall: Garden of Life Vitamin Code RAW B-Complex

Garden of Life Vitamin Code RAW B-Complex
  • Pros
  • All 8 B vitamins, derived from digestion-promoting brewerโ€™s yeast
  • Just under 3 dozen organic fruits/veg, probiotics, and enzymes
  • Cons
  • Pricier than most standard B-complexes

Best for: Anyone who needs the most gut-friendly vitamin B complex possible; those who prefer a nutritionally well-rounded, whole-food-based supplement.

Garden of Life Vitamin Code tops yet another one our โ€œbest ofโ€ lists with their Raw B-Complex, a highly potent blend of all 8 B vitamins, 23 organic fruits and vegetables, and about a dozen probiotics and enzymes.

The B vitamins are all sourced from S. cerevisiae, or brewerโ€™s yeast, which adds protective benefits for the benevolent bacteria in your gut while preventing diarrheal infections, per this University of Sialkot (Pakistan) study.

Garden of Life keeps the gut-friendly theme going with the Raw Probiotic (500 Million CFU) & Enzyme Blend, which aids digestion, immunity, and even mental healthโ€”that 100-trillion-strong colony of bacteria in the gut can work wonders if you treat it well.

Finally, the 23-ingredient fruit and vegetable blend provides a slew of plant-based antioxidants, metabolism-boosters, and other compounds that collectively provide a huge range of potential benefits. 

We recommend Garden of Life Vitamin Code RAW B-Complex to anyone looking for an energy supplement that goes way above the norm with the supporting ingredients.

Best for Energy + Weight Loss: Hi-Health Metabolic Fusion

Hi-Health Metabolic Fusion
  • Pros
  • Loaded with plant-based extracts/adaptogens
  • Vegan friendly
  • Black pepper enhances absorption
  • Cons
  • Premium price
  • Multi-capsule serving size

Best for: Anyone looking for a naturally derived energy supplement with an emphasis on weight loss.

Sugar and/or caffeine will do the trick on their own if a cheap rush is your only aim, but to do so without the crashโ€”and with added weight loss/stress-fighting benefits to bootโ€”requires a much more nuanced approach like that of Hi-Health Metabolic Fusion.

Included in this metabolism-boosting supplement is a variety of plant-based extracts, including:

  • Green Tea Extract
  • Green Coffee Bean Extract
  • Raspberry Ketone
  • Olive Leaf Extract
  • Caffeine Anhydrous Powder
  • Bacopa Extract
  • CLA Oil Powder 
  • L-theanine
  • Forskolin Root Extract
  • BioPerine Black Pepper Extract

The 50mg of L-theanine and 150mg of caffeine per serving combine to create a more focused increase in energy, a pairing demonstrated by this Unilever Research and Development study to improve both speed and accuracy on โ€œattention-switching tasksโ€ and โ€œreduce susceptibility to distracting information in the memory task.โ€

Together, the green tea and coffee bean extracts kick in a ton of antioxidants, some of which (epigallocatechin gallate in green tea) have been suggested to exert metabolism-boosting effects

The remaining ingredients in Hi-Health Metabolic Fusion follow suit with various plant-based compounds that serve these and similar effects, combining to create a potent metabolism-boosting supplement.

Best Liquid B-12 for Energy: Bricker Labs B-12 Blast Methylcobalamin

Bricker Labs B-12 Blast Methylcobalamin
  • Pros
  • Naturally derived flavoring
  • Sublingual delivery improves absorption
  • Competitively priced
  • Cons
  • More limited B vitamin profile (2 out of 8)
  • No supporting ingredients

Best for: People who want a straightforward supplement that supports energy (via B vitamins) with high folic acid (B9) content for improved heart benefits.

Hereโ€™s the short answer on why we chose Bricker Labs B-12 Blast Methylcobalamin for our list of the best vitamins for energy: itโ€™s potent, clean, and highly absorbable, thanks to sublingual delivery.

The slightly longer answer involves the role of folic acidโ€”B-12 Blast contains 400mg of folic acid per serving (and 1,000mcg of B-12)โ€”in supporting cardiovascular health.

Keeping the biochemistry as general as possible, folic acid is the most important nutrient we consume when it comes to keeping the amino acid homocysteine at optimal levels within the body.

Because folic acid helps break homocysteine down into different chemical compounds, a deficiency in folic acid will cause a surplus of homocysteine, which in turn can significantly increase your risk for a heart attack or stroke. 

This academic article from the New England Journal of Medicine explains the relationship between folic acid and homocysteine in much greater depth.

And if youโ€™re wondering why weโ€™re talking about heart health in an article about the best vitamins for energy, ask someone with cardiovascular disease what their doc thinks about them downing standard energy drinks. Yikes.

Even if youโ€™re not dealing with any cardiovascular health issues, Bricker Labs B-12 Blast Methylcobalamin offers a simple, strong shot of energy-boosting B vitamins.

Best Magnesium Supplement: Solaray Magnesium Glycinate 350mg

Solaray Magnesium Glycinate 350mg
  • Pros
  • Highly absorbable form of magnesium (glycinate)
  • Superior value for the quality
  • Cons
  • Lack of supporting ingredients (other than pepper extract)
  • Non-vegan softgels

Best for: Anyone looking for a high-value magnesium supplement with superior absorption capabilities.

Solaray Magnesium Glycinate models the key differences between an absorption-optimized supplement and the vast majority that simply list โ€œx milligrams of ingredient yโ€ and move on.

In this case, those differences include Solarayโ€™s use of the amino acid glycine (as in, magnesium glycinate) as well as the addition of BioPerine, a black pepper extract.

While the absorption percentage of magnesium disglycinate only beat magnesium oxide in this University of Chicago study by a small margin (about 0.7%), the researchers noted that this difference was substantially increased among those who showed the greatest impairment of magnesium absorption (magnesium disglycinate outperformed magnesium oxide 23.5% to 11.8%). 

And in all cases, the glycinated form was tolerated better.

Compounding this effect considerably is the black pepper extract. 

Piperineโ€”an active component of black pepperโ€”has been shown by this University of Valladolid (Soria, Spain) study to prime the cells lining the small intestine for improved nutrient uptake.

Overall, Solaray Magnesium Glycinate is one of our top picks for energyโ€”and our very top pick for magnesiumโ€”for its practical, clean formulation.

Best Iron Supplement for Energy: Ancient Nutrition Iron

Ancient Nutrition Iron
  • Pros
  • Ancient nutrients blend complements B/C vitamins and iron
  • Hormone- and antibiotic-free meat sources
  • Cons
  • Lower per-serving iron content

Best for: Anyone looking for a multi-fronted and nutritionally dense approach to increasing iron/energy levels, managing stress, and more.

Hitting three of the major energy-boosting nutrientsโ€”B vitamins, C vitamins, and ironโ€”is enough to enter the upper tier of iron supplements, but Ancient Nutrition Iron goes a couple of steps beyond with a broad collection of herbal ingredients.

They call it the Ancient Nutrients TCM (Traditional Chinese Method) Blend, which contains the following ingredients:

Bovine Liver, Beef Bone Broth, Chicken Bone Broth, Organic Chinese Peony Root Extract, Organic Bai-Zhu Atractylodes Root Extract, Organic Codonopsis Root Extract, Organic Astragalus Root Extract, Organic Reishi Mushroom Extract, Wild Hake Roe.

Together, these herbal extracts and other naturally sourced ingredients contribute ample amounts of collagen, immune-boosting compounds (check out codonopsis root), stress-regulating adaptogens, and much more.

The vitamin C enhances absorption of the iron, the B vitamins boost metabolism, and the herbal blend adds an entirely new set of benefitsโ€”Ancient Nutrition Iron gets our vote for the best iron supplement for energy.

Best Vitamin C: California Natural Lyposomal Vitamin C Formula

California Natural Lyposomal Vitamin C Formula
  • Pros
  • Liposomal delivery significantly enhances absorption
  • Competitively priced
  • Cons
  • Multi-capsule serving
  • No supporting ingredients

Best for: Anyone who wants a highly absorbable vitamin C supplement for energy, collagen uptake, immunity, and more.

Little preamble is needed for one of the most successfully marketed vitamins in the worldโ€”especially when it comes to immunityโ€”but did you know that vitamin C can provide an energy bump by keeping the mitochondria (cellular engine of sorts) healthy?

Along that vein, vitamin C also transports fatty acids, which in turn help to produce energy (ATP) at the cellular level and beyond.

Speaking of fat, the reason we are calling attention to  California Natural Lyposomal Vitamin C Formula is in the nameโ€”liposomes.

A liposome is a microscopic fat bubble that mimics our own cells to a limited degree (both liposomes and regular cells have phospholipid bilayer, itโ€™s a thing).

By using vitamin C prepared in liposomal form, as many drugs are also prepared, California Natural Lyposomal Vitamin C enhances the bodyโ€™s ability to transport the key nutrient to places it would otherwise not be able to reachโ€”hereโ€™s an interesting review on all things liposomal delivery. 

Even when non-liposomal competitors jack up the concentration of vitamin C to account for the dip in absorption, they still canโ€™t deliver the nutrient to the tissues and structures that liposomal vitamin C can.

Aside from the proprietary vitamin C complex, California Naturals Lyposomal Vitamin C Formula simply contains one other ingredient (vegetable cellulose). 

Supporting ingredients (herbal immunity boosters?) would make this a more complete formulation, but if itโ€™s vitamin C youโ€™re after, this supplement gets our vote. 

Vitamins for Energy FAQ

What is the best vitamin for energy?

This answer will vary based on a number of personal factors, including your dieting patterns and/or any iron deficiencies (or B12, etc.), medical history, and much more.

However, vitamin B12 and the rest of the B vitamin family are generally considered to be the best vitamin(s) for energy, as they are instrumental in converting carbs into usable fuel for your body.

This is why we put Garden of Life Vitamin Code RAW B-Complex at the top of our list.

What vitamins can I take for fatigue?

We highlight B vitamins, magnesium, iron, and vitamin C in this article as reliable nutrients that can boost your energy, but there are several other ingredients you can useโ€”especially if you branch out into herbal options and other nutrients. 

For example, vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids, ashwagandha, and melatonin all have energy-boosting potential as well.

Does B12 give you energy right away?

The body stores excess B12, so even if your intake dips down for a while, you may not be deficient, which means even a high-dose B12 supplement will likely not address your fatigue effectively. 

However, if you do have a B12 deficiency (especially with associated anemia), B12 can stimulate red blood cell production, helping with energy. 

This process may take at least 2-3 weeks, according to this NHS fact sheet on B12.

What vitamin deficiency causes fatigue?

B, C, and D vitamins can all cause fatigue when the body is deficient. If you include other nutrients in this equation, iron and magnesium are common culprits as well. 

What do I eat for tiredness?

Aside from supplementation with the above nutrients, eating a balanced diet rich in plant sources, lean meat (red meat for b12), nuts/seeds, fruit, vegetables, and more will provide plenty of iron, magnesium, B/C/D vitamins, and everything else you need to combat fatigue.

As always, environmental and other personal factors may still affect energy levels, but a well-balanced diet is one key defense against fatigue.

Key Takeaways

Before reaching for the sugary, over-caffeinated energy product, consider that your fatigue may be caused by a lack of key nutrients like vitamin B, C, magnesium, iron, and/or others

That said, caffeine is not the boogeyman when included alongside high-quality ingredients.

When browsing for the best vitamins for energy, look for keywords and phrases like sublingual or liposomal, which signal a greater bioavailability (absorption capacity) of the product.

Depending on the cause of the fatigue and your level of deficiency, dietary supplements can take weeks or even longer to start noticeably improving fatigue.

Make sure your supplement comes from a reputable brand that follows industry-leading standards of sourcing, manufacturing, and testing.



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