Is Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) Safe with Oral contraceptives?
Free · No account · based on published sources including NIH ODS, FDA drug labels, and peer-reviewed literature
Consider supplementing with 10–25 mg of riboflavin daily during long-term OC use. Riboflavin is water-soluble and generally well tolerated. Adequate B2 is also important for metabolizing other B vitamins depleted by oral contraceptives.
Why this interaction occurs
Oral contraceptives alter riboflavin metabolism, reducing erythrocyte glutathione reductase activity — a functional marker of riboflavin status. Riboflavin is a critical cofactor for energy metabolism, antioxidant defense (glutathione recycling), and activation of B6 and folate. Its depletion can amplify deficiencies of other B vitamins also depleted by OCs.
Evidence
Evidence level: moderate.
Reported safety data
The FDA’s adverse event reporting system (FAERS) has received 22,854 reports mentioning Oral contraceptives. This reflects reported cases involving the medication in general — not confirmed causation, and not specific to the Oral contraceptives + supplement combination on this page.
FAERS reports are voluntary and cannot prove that a drug caused an event. Do not use report counts to assess the safety of this specific drug-supplement pair.
Frequently asked questions
Related interactions
All Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) interactions → · All Oral contraceptives interactions →
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Educational only — not medical advice.
Always confirm with your doctor or pharmacist.