VITAMIN B6
Vitamin B6 has been widely studied for its role in disease prevention. It serves as a co-factor in more than 140 cellular reactions, mostly related to amino acid biosynthesis and catabolism, but is also involved in fatty acid biosynthesis and other physiological functions
Functions:
- It converts the amino acids into neurotransmitters.
- It is a cofactor in the biosynthesis of five important neurotransmitters: serotonin, dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA).
- When you have too much of one amino acid and not enough of another, it converts the one you have to the one you need.
- It converts the amino acids into glucose whenever you don't have enough.
- Most things you do with protein generate some ammonia. If you don't get rid of this, you'll smell funny and feel like crap. B6 helps you convert the ammonia into urea, which isn't toxic and has no color or odor at all. That stuff, you just pee out. Basically, it makes protein disappear!
- You store carbohydrate in your muscles for use during high-intensity exercise, and in your liver to sustain your blood sugar in between meals. B6 helps release the stored carbohydrate so you can use it.
- Histamine is famous for causing allergies. Believe it or not, lots of FOODS have histamine, and B6 helps you get rid of it.
Reasons for deficiency:
- Riboflavin deficiency prevents us from getting B6 from plant foods.
- Variations in genetics and gut flora may also make it harder to get B6 from plant foods.
- Estrogen from oral contraceptives, pregnancy, or the peaks at ovulation and just before menstruation raise B6 needs.
- Sulfite destroys vitamin B6. Sulfite can come from food additives.
- Inflammation raises our needs for B6.
Sources:
- Liver
- Nutritional yeast
- Pistachio nuts
- Salmon
- Tuna
- Steak
- Red meat
- Cashews
- Rice
- Banana and non-citrus fruits
- Beans
Note: Similar to vitamin A, it's the animal form that we need. We can convert the plant form into the animal form within our liver, but it requires riboflavin and a healthy liver. Additionally, most plants have a lot of their B6 bound to sugars that make it hard to absorb. We can get, at best, only half the B6 from these sugar-bound forms. At worst, we might not get any. As a result, you should NEVER trust the values for B6 in a nutritional database when looking at plant foods.
Supplementation:
- PYRIDOXINE HCL
This is the form found in plants. While it is the most studied and it clearly works, I don't favor using it because its efficacy will depend on your genetics, liver health, and riboflavin status.
- PYRIDOXAL 5'-PHOSPHATE (P5P)
This is the form found in animal products. It has the highest biological activity. I recommend always using this simply because you don't need to worry about your genetics, riboflavin status, or liver health in the way you do with pyridoxine. Use it when food doesn't seem to work, and move slowly from 10 to 100 mg/d as needed.
I recommend trying supplements whenever you have symptoms that might be related, and when a food-first approach just doesn't seem to work. High estrogen levels or inflammation are two common reasons which requires supplementation. Insomnia, problems with mood or mental health, and anemia are the biggest clues of needing more B6.
