The Better Your Diet, The Less Vitamin B6 It Contains
TweetWhat is Vitamin B6?
Vitamin B6 is one of the water-soluble vitamins. This means you do not get the benefits of vitamin B6 functions unless you get the vitamin from food or supplements every day. Because vitamin B6 is soluble in water, your body can absorb a lot more than it needs. But the excess goes right out again in the urine and stool just a few hours later.
Most of us get enough vitamin B6 to avoid deficiency diseases. Most of us do not get enough vitamin B6 really to benefit from its ability to fight disease. Ironically, the more natural and organic your diet, the less likely you are to be getting enough B6. Here are three things every health-conscious consumer needs to know about this often-overlooked B vitamin.
1. Americans and Canadians get most of their vitamin B6 from white bread and baked goods made with fortified flour.
Milling grain to make white flour takes most of the vitamin B6 out, so American flour makers add pyridoxine to flour to put the B6 back in. If you eat three servings of mass-produced baked goods a day, you get enough vitamin B6 to prevent deficiency diseases, such as seborrhea (oily skin), intertrigo (rashes and ulcers in folds of skin), conjunctivitis (inflammation under the eye lids), chapped lips, daytime sleepiness, and, in extreme cases, seizures.
But if you don't eat vitamin-fortified white flour, you need to especially sure to eat enough whole foods to get your B6. For instance:
- One banana provides about 1/5 of a day's supply of B6 for an adult.
- Three ounces (84 grams) of cooked salmon or cooked white-meat turkey provides about 1/4 of a day's supply of B6 for an adult.
- A medium baked potato with skin provides about 1/3 of a day's supply of B6 for an adult
- A large spinach salad (about 3 cups, or 400 grams) provides just 1/5 of a day's supply of B6.
It's easy to miss getting your vitamin B6. And your body can't store B6 for days you don't eat all the foods you need to get enough of the vitamin.
2. You have to get vitamin B6 for other B vitamins to do their job.
Most of the B vitamins act as a co-factor for enzymes. They "plug in" to the enzyme so it can work.
But most enzymes just one control one step in a long chain of chemical reactions the body uses to make an end-product. If you don't have the co-factor for one step, you can't use the co-factors for all the other steps.
On the level of nutritional health, this means that:
- Not getting enough vitamin B6 cancels out the effects of folic acid on lowering homocysteine, which is a risk factor heart disease.
- Not getting enough vitamin B6 increases your body's need for vitamin B3, also known as niacin.
- Not getting enough vitamin B6 cancels out the benefits of vitamin B12 for fighting depression.
3. You can have enough vitamin B6 to avoid a deficiency disease without getting enough vitamin B6 to be truly healthy.
It just takes from 0.1 milligram (in infants) to 2.0 milligrams (in nursing mothers) of B6 every day to avoid the classical symptoms of vitamin B6 deficiency, which include chapped lips, sores in the folds of the skin, swelling and inflammation under the eye lids, daytime sleepiness, personality changes, and seizures. But it takes:
- 1.9 milligrams a day for women and 2.9 milligrams a day for men to help reduce immune deficiency,
- About 10 milligrams a day to reduce morning sickness,
- Up to 75 milligrams a day to boost mental function in people who have age-related cognitive decline, and
- Generally about 100 milligrams a day to help reduce formation of kidney stones and most other disease-related applications.
You don't need as much B6, however, if your supplement provides the active form of B6 known as pyridoxal 5-phosphate. And you won't have problems with overdosing if you keep below 100 milligrams per day, the US upper tolerable limit.
More Vitamin B6 Related Articles
Vitamin B6 Benefits - How Vitamin B6 benefits your body?Vitamin B6 Side Effects - If you think that all water soluble vitamins are safe to take at any amounts, then you must have heard it wrong. Read more about vitamin B6 side effects and find out why care must be taken in taking B6 supplements.
Pyridoxal Phosphate - Pyridoxal phosphate is the form of vitamin B6 that most supplement manufacturers use in vitamin B supplements. But they didn't start looking at this superior form of vitamin B6 until the FDA nearly put them out of the vitamin B business.
Pyridoxine - Pyridoxine is a common form of vitamin B6, which your body can use to fight depression, fatigue, and overweight. The way it works is a sweet story.
Pyridoxine Deficiency - Pyridoxine deficiency diseases are rare, even in the developing world, except for people taking certain medications. Pyridoxine supplementation opportunities, however, exist for nearly everyone.
Pyridoxine Hydrochloride - Pyridoxine hydrochloride, also known as pyridoxine HCl, is an especially stable form of vitamin B6 used in many supplements. It's not as quickly active in your body as pyridoxine 5-phosphate, but it can help you recover from literally dozens of health conditions.
Pyridoxine Side Effects - Pyridoxine is essential to human health. It's really hard to take too much, but in very rare instances, a few people have experienced pyridoxine side effects. Here's what to look for.
Vitamin B6 and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome - Vitamin B6 is not a complete cure for carpal tunnel syndrome. But for four of the most troubling symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome, it performs as well as any drug.
Vitamin B6 and Depression - Pharmaceutical relief from depression comes at a high price, and not just because of how much antidepressants cost at the drugstore. Vitamin B6 supplementation can play an important part in relieving mild to moderate depression without side effects.
Vitamin B6 and Fertility - Vitamin B6 plays an important role in correcting some cases of infertility in women. When both partners know they are fertile and they are having sex at the right time to take advantage of ovulation, then vitamin B6 may extend give the fertilized egg a chance to be implanted and grow.
Vitamin B6 and Magnesium - Vitamin B6 and magnesium are a low-cost and side effect-free treatment for children with autism. Getting the dosage right, however, may take trial and error.
Vitamin B6 and Neuropathy - Neuropathy is one of the most insidious complications of diabetes, causing advanced damage to nerves before it is even suspected. Vitamin B6 is an important part of treating, preventing, and reversing the effects of this all-too-common complication of poorly controlled blood sugars.
Vitamin B6 and Pms - Women seeking natural remedies for PMS should focus on calcium and magnesium. Vitamin B6, however, is an important addition to these treatments.
Vitamin B6 and Pregnancy - Vitamin B6 can be the missing nutrient for women trying to conceive. And it can also help make the first trimester of pregnancy a lot more pleasant.
Vitamin B6 and Weight Loss - You wouldn't think that overweight and obese people are at special risk for vitamin deficiency. But, especially when it comes to vitamin B6, they are.
Vitamin B6 Deficiency - Vitamin B6 deficiency is a rare but serious nutritional condition. And making up a vitamin B6 deficiency is not always as simple as just taking a supplement.
Vitamin B6 Dosage - How much vitamin B6 is the right amount of vitamin B6 in your supplement? This quick guide gives you the numbers you need.
Vitamin B6 Foods - If you are trying to correct a health problem with the help of vitamin B6, you simply will not be able to get all the B6 you need from foods. Even if you are just seeking to avoid vitamin B6 deficiency symptoms, getting enough B6 from food alone requires careful planning, especially if you are a vegan.
Vitamin B6 for Acne - Vitamin B6 has a very specialized application for treating acne in women in their teens and twenties who get acne during just part of their menstrual cycle. But for these women, vitamin B6 can do things that scrubs, cleansers, exfoliants, and antibiotics cannot.
Vitamin B6 for Children - Thanks to Lucky Charms, Frankenberry, Cocoa Puffs, and Cheerios, all made with vitamin-fortified white flour, supplemental vitamin B6 for children usually is not critical. Two types of children, however, definitely need additional vitamin B6.
Vitamin B6 for Hair - If taking a vitamin pill could grow back long-lost hair to bald scalps, we have to admit, you would have already heard about it. What vitamin B6 can help some women do to keep the hair they still have on on their heads longer, maybe even permanently.
Vitamin B6 for Morning Sickness - Vitamin B6 is best described as half of an effective natural treatment for morning sickness. B6 is better for preventing nausea than vomiting, and another natural remedy is better for preventing vomiting than nausea. Taking both offers maximum benefit - and there's an acupuncture remedy that can be used in a pinch, too.
Vitamin B6 Injections - Injectable vitamin B6 has distinct advantages over taking B6 pills, tablets, and gel caps. If you have a true vitamin B6 deficiency, it is often the best way to take the vitamin.
Vitamin B6 Overdose - You have to try pretty hard to get an overdose of vitamin B6, but it sometimes happens. Here is what to look for if you take more than 500 milligrams of vitamin B6 per day.
Zinc and Vitamin B6 - Zinc, vitamin B6, and magnesium are often the overlooked ingredients in men's nutritional health. Inexpensive, safe, and effective, these three supplements have a lot of to do with libido, muscle mass, and erectile strength.
What is Pyridoxine - You may have already heard of pyridoxine, one of the important B vitamins that our body needs. Learn more about pyridoxine and find out why people take additional supplements of this vitamin.
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