Compound Type
Vitamin or Cofactor
Last updated
A small nutrient molecule that an enzyme needs in order to work, or a precursor the body converts into one. Vitamins are the ones that must come from diet. Cofactors and coenzymes are the working forms that enzymes bind. The type exists here because several such molecules, the NAD precursors and B-vitamin derivatives especially, are sold and discussed alongside peptides and would otherwise be miscounted as them.
Why it matters here
These entries follow supplement conventions rather than pharmaceutical ones, so their quantity units, purity documentation and storage expectations are not directly comparable with the injectable records elsewhere on the site.
What it is not
Being a vitamin does not make a compound harmless, and being sold as a supplement is a regulatory status rather than a safety finding. A precursor is also not the cofactor itself: a molecule the body converts into NAD is not NAD, and the conversion step is where most of the argument about these compounds sits.
Also called
- vitamin
- cofactor
- coenzyme
- vitamin cofactor
Coenzyme is the specific term for a cofactor that is an organic molecule rather than a metal ion. In practice the aliases are used loosely and all resolve here.
Compounds carrying this term
None on file yet. This term is in the controlled vocabulary but no compound record currently uses it — which is a statement about our coverage, not about the term.