Health Benefits of Vitamin B6

By: Dr Magdy Badran

Vitamin B6 is one of eight B vitamins. Also known as pyridoxine, vitamin B6 is a water-soluble vitamin, which means it dissolves in water.

The body does not store vitamin B6 and releases any excess in urine, so people need to get enough vitamin B6 every day.

Vitamin B6 has many functions in the body, and it plays a role in over 100 enzyme reactions. One of its main roles is in helping the body metabolize proteins, fats, and carbohydrates for energy.

Immune System Function

Vitamin B6 has a close relationship with the immune system. Vitamin B6 is vital to supporting biochemical reactions in the immune system. The body needs B6 in order to absorb vitamin B12 and to make red blood cells and cells of the immune system.

It helps produce new immune cells, helps process antibodies, and helps immune cells to communicate.

Vitamin B6 has been shown to have a protective impact against several chronic illnesses including heart disease and diabetes. It may reduce oxidative and suppress inflammation.

Deficiencies in vitamin B6 have also been connected to reductions in the function of the immune system and increased susceptibility to viral infections.

Viral infections can sometimes overactivate the immune system and lead to a critical health condition known as a cytokine storm, increasing oxidative stress and causing severe inflammation in the lungs.

Blood clotting or thrombosis is also known to be one aspect of serious cases of COVID-19.

Besides a potential counteractive impact on oxidative stress, vitamin B6 is known to have an anti-clotting effect.

Its levels always drop in people under chronic inflammation such as obesity, diabetes and heart diseases.

Vitamin B6 helps control levels of homocysteine in the blood. Homocysteine is a common amino acid.

Higher level of homocysteine is associated with heart diseases like Acute Coronary Syndrome and cardiovascular death, collectively called athero-thrombosis.

Vitamin B6 deficiency reduces the lymphocyte growth and proliferation, antibody formation, the production of white blood cells. Additionally, vitamin B6 helps the body make a protein called interleukin-2, which helps direct the actions of white blood cells

People with the lowest levels of vitamin B6 in their blood had the highest levels of chronic inflammation, based on a wide variety of indicators.

Those with the most vitamin B6 circulating in the bloodstream were also the least likely to have indicators of inflammation.

Mental Function

Vitamin B6 , is involved in the regulation of mental function and mood. Getting enough vitamin B6 during pregnancy is important for the baby's brain development and immune function.

Elevated homocysteine in pregnancy it is associated with anaemia, pre-eclampsia, preterm birth, and low birthweight. Vitamin B6 deficiency can also affect foetal brain development, as well as weight gain and linear growth in infancy.

Taking vitamin B6 may help reduce nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. Homocysteine is a risk factor for cerebrovascular disease and may also have directly toxic effects on neurons of the central nervous system.

Neuropsychiatric disorders including seizures, migraine, chronic pain and depression have been linked to vitamin B6 deficiency.

A low level of vitamin B6 might theoretically cause depression as vitamin B6 is a cofactor in the tryptophan-serotonin pathway. Vitamin B-6 deficiency leads to a decrease in the concentrations of most amino acids. The essential amino acids decreased more than the nonessentials in vitamin B-6 deficiency. Brain amino acids most commonly reported to be affected by deficiency are serotonin, dopamine and γ-amino-butyric acid.

Autism

Vitamin B6 helps to create

neurotransmitters, which are important chemical messengers in the brain. It also helps regulate energy use in the brain.

Many factors are reported to be involved in the complex pathophysiological processes of autism, suggesting that there is considerable variability in the manifestations of this disease. Several interventions are used to treat this disorder.

Among them, vitamin B6 is widely used to treat the symptoms observed in autism.

Vitamin B6 is beneficial for about half of autistic inpiduals in decreasing behavioural problems. However, until now, it remains unknown why vitamin B6 is effective for this disease. Although the exact pathogenesis is not defined, it is evident that certain neurotransmitter systems are impaired in the brains of autistic patients, causing the symptoms observed in the disease. In fact, impairment of many neurotransmitter systems has been reported, including GABA, serotonin, dopamine, and noradrenalin.

Vitamin B6 is important for the synthesis of many neurotransmitters, including GABA, serotonin, dopamine, noradrenalin, histamine, glycine, and d-serine, indicating that vitamin B6 supplementation may enhance many neurotransmitter systems.

Thus, vitamin B6 supplementation can treat the impaired neurotransmitter systems in a given patient, even if the actual impaired neurotransmitter systems are not defined in that patient.

Vitamin B6 and Hemoglobin Synthesis

The body requires vitamin B6 to produce hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells needed to deliver oxygen throughout the body. Vitamin B6 deficiency can also be caused by certain medications, including Nydrazid (isoniazid), used to treat tuberculosis and L-DOPA, a treatment for Parkinson’s disease and other neurological conditions.

Vitamin B6 is able to bind to the hemoglobin molecule and affect its ability to pick up and release oxygen. Vitamin B6 deficiency may impair hemoglobin synthesis and lead to microcytic anemia.

Vitamin B6 deficiency

Deficiencies are uncommon , but they may develop if a person has poor intestinal absorption or is taking estrogens, corticosteroids, anticonvulsants, or some other medications. Many deficiencies in vitamin B6 are associated with low levels of other B vitamins, such as vitamin B12 and folate. Long-term, excessive alcohol consumption may eventually result in a vitamin B6 deficiency.

Signs and symptoms of vitamin B6 deficiency include peripheral neuropathy with tingling, numbness, and pain in the hands and feet , anemia, seizures, depression, confusion and a weakened immune system.

In rare cases, vitamin B6 deficiency may lead to a pellagra-like syndrome, such as seborrheic dermatitis, inflammation of the tongue, inflammation and cracking of the lips. In infants, seizures may persist even after treatment with anticonvulsants.

Food Sources of Vitamin B6

Although vitamin B6 is widely available in foods, mild to moderate deficiency is still common, even in developed countries.

Vitamin B6 is destroyed by heat but it remains stable during storage.

Both steaming and boiling result in relatively low amounts of B6 loss. Perhaps, lower pH tends to stabilize the vitamin under heat. So adding a little vinegar or tomato into a sauce, for example, may help keep the vitamin B6 more intact.

A wide range of foods contain vitamin B6, but beef Liver, meat, fish, chicken and turkey are particularly rich in this vitamin.

Besides meat and fish, there are a variety of vitamin B6 rich foods vegetarian people can enjoy. Chickpeas are one of them as they are rich in this essential nutrient.

Potatoes also have a high vitamin B6 content. Squash is also one of the foods high in vitamin B6.

Spinach is a green, leafy vegetable belonging to foods with vitamin B6. Green peas are another veggie rich in vitamin B6.

Vitamin B6 rich foods also include onion, nuts, bananas, avocados, berries, mangoes, pineapples, dried apricots grapes.