When it comes to the
B vitamins, you are probably most familiar with vitamin
B12, which helps prevent anemia and maintain bone health, and B9 (folic acid),
which is necessary for a healthy pregnancy.
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But vitamin B6, in some ways, is “the forgotten
vitamin,” said Dr Reem Malouf, a neurologist at the
University of Oxford who
has studied B6’s effect on cognition. As with the other B vitamins, like B12
and B9, it is an essential nutrient, yet scientists do not fully understand how
it affects mental health, and it is less well known than the others.
That does not make it any less crucial for the
body’s functioning, said Katherine Tucker, a nutritional epidemiologist at
UMass Lowell. Vitamin B6 is involved in a number of chemical reactions that are
important for nervous system and brain function, including the synthesis of
proteins, amino acids, and chemical messengers of the brain, as well as proper
functioning of the immune system.
It’s also critical for pregnancy and postnatal care
— helping to relieve morning sickness and necessary for fetal and infant brain
development. And deficiencies in vitamin B6 have been linked to several
neuropsychiatric conditions, including seizures, migraine, anxiety, depression,
and impaired memory.
So, what role does vitamin B6 play in mental health?
“Vitamin B6 affecting mental health is not a new
concept,” said Jess Eastwood, a doctoral student in nutritional psychology at
the University of Reading in Britain. In one study of nearly 500 university
students published in July, for instance, Eastwood and her colleagues found
that those who took high doses of vitamin B6 — 100 milligrams per day for about
a month — reported feeling less anxious than those who took a placebo. Their
findings also suggested that B6 might play a role in tamping down the increased
brain activity that can occur with certain mood disorders.
But this study’s sample size was small, and there
has not been much research in general on how B6, whether supplemental or
dietary, causes changes in mental health, Eastwood added. The conclusions of
such studies, including this one, are often limited and do not prove causation.
It can also be difficult to study what effect, if
any, supplemental B6 has on mental health, in part because it’s challenging to
measure how well vitamins are absorbed into the bloodstream.
Does this mean we should all be rushing out to buy
B6 supplements?
Probably not, the experts said. For most healthy
adults, the recommended daily intake of vitamin B6 is 1.3 to 1.7 milligrams.
As with the other essential vitamins, the body
cannot produce B6 on its own, so you can get it only from foods or supplements.
However, most healthy adults get more than enough vitamin B6 from their diets
alone, Tucker said.
“It’s widely available in whole foods,” she said,
like tuna, salmon, fortified cereals, chickpeas, poultry, dark leafy greens,
bananas, oranges, cantaloupe, and nuts.
One cup of canned chickpeas, for instance, provides
1.1 milligrams of vitamin B6, while three ounces of roasted chicken breast
supplies 0.5 milligrams.
Heavy drinkers, smokers, and those who are taking certain medications should be much more mindful of their B6 levels.
Most dietary supplements also tend to contain more
than what you need in a day; for some B6 supplements on the market, for
example, it can be about 20 to 200 times as much. Taking such high doses of B6
supplements probably will not cause any negative side effects in the short
term, Tucker said, but the
National Institutes of Health recommends that adults
take no more than 100 milligrams per day.
Taking much more than that, about 1,000 milligrams
or more each day for long periods of time, could cause weakness, numbness, and
pain in the hands and feet; loss of muscle control; and nausea, though most
symptoms subside once you stop taking such high doses.
Experts say that if you are concerned you are not
getting enough vitamin B6 in your diet, ask your doctor for a blood test. If
you are borderline or mildly deficient, you may have only minor symptoms, or
none at all, and no complications. But if the deficiency becomes severe or
prolonged, that could lead to more serious conditions, like microcytic anemia,
depression, confusion, fatigue, and weakened immunity, which can clear up after
B6 levels are restored.
Certain medications or lifestyle habits may also
contribute to a B6 deficiency.
“The diabetes medication metformin, some
hypertension medications, certainly alcohol, tend to cause loss of B6 in the
body so that you end up retaining less B6 than you need,” Tucker said.
Heavy drinkers, smokers, and those who are taking
certain medications should be much more mindful of their B6 levels, she added.
People with kidney or malabsorption syndromes like chronic kidney disease,
celiac disease, ulcerative colitis, or Crohn’s disease may also be prone to B6
deficiency.
Keep in mind that those who are deficient in B6 also
tend to be deficient in other B vitamins, Tucker said, so if you need to
supplement your diet, you may be better served by taking a B-complex
supplement, which usually contains all eight of the B vitamins in one dose.
But if you are not deficient, Tucker added, you
probably don’t need to take a supplement.
Eastwood agreed.
“I would always endorse a food-first approach,”
Eastwood said. “If you are perhaps feeling more fatigued, you don’t feel quite
yourself, and you’re aware that you maybe don’t eat a lot of food that contains
B6,” then that might indicate you need to turn to more B6-rich foods.
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