Vitamin B6 is a water-soluble vitamin that exists in three major chemical forms: pyridoxine, pyridoxal, and pyridoxamine.1 2 It performs a wide variety of functions in your body and is essential for your good health. For example, vitamin B6 is needed for more than 100 enzymes involved in protein metabolism. It is also essential for red blood cell metabolism. The nervous and immune systems need vitamin B6 to function efficiently,3 4 5 6 and it is also needed for the conversion of tryptophan (an amino acid) to niacin (a vitamin).7 8Hemoglobin within red blood cells carries oxygen to tissues. Your body needs vitamin B6 to make hemoglobin. Vitamin B6 also helps increase the amount of oxygen carried by hemoglobin. A vitamin B6 deficiency can result in a form of anemia9 that is similar to iron deficiency anemia.

An immune response is a broad term that describes a variety of biochemical changes that occur in an effort to fight off infections. Calories, protein, vitamins, and minerals are important to your immune defenses because they promote the growth of white blood cells that directly fight infections. Vitamin B6, through its involvement in protein metabolism and cellular growth, is important to the immune system. It helps maintain the health of lymphoid organs (thymus, spleen, and lymph nodes) that make your white blood cells. Animal studies show that a vitamin B6 deficiency can decrease your antibody production and suppress your immune response.10 11

Vitamin B6 also helps maintain your blood glucose (sugar) within a normal range. When caloric intake is low your body needs vitamin B6 to help convert stored carbohydrate or other nutrients to glucose to maintain normal blood sugar levels. While a shortage of vitamin B6 will limit these functions, supplements of this vitamin do not enhance them in well-nourished individuals.12 13 14  15

Email This Page Email This Page Print This Page Print This Page

Footnotes

  1. Leklem JE. Vitamin B6. In: Shils ME, Olson JA, Shike M, Ross AC, ed. Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease. 9th ed. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1999: 413-421. [↩]
  2. Bender DA. Vitamin B6 requirements and recommendations. Eur J Clin Nutr 1989 ;43:289-309. PubMed abstract [↩]
  3. Gerster H. The importance of vitamin B6 for development of the infant. Human medical and animal experiment studies. Z Ernahrungswiss 1996; 35:309-17. PubMed abstract [↩]
  4. Bender DA. Novel functions of vitamin B6. Proc Nutr Soc 1994; 53:625-30. PubMed abstract [↩]
  5. Chandra R and Sudhakaran L. Regulation of immune responses by Vitamin B6. NY Acad Sci 1990; 585:404-423. PubMed abstract [↩]
  6. Trakatellis A, Dimitriadou A, Trakatelli M. Pyridoxine deficiency: New approaches in immunosuppression and chemotherapy. Postgrad Med J 1997; 73:617-22. PubMed abstract [↩]
  7. Leklem JE. Vitamin B6. In: Shils ME, Olson JA, Shike M, Ross AC, ed. Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease. 9th ed. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1999: 413-421. [↩]
  8. Shibata K, Mushiage M, Kondo T, Hayakawa T, Tsuge H. Effects of vitamin B6 deficiency on the conversion ratio of tryptophan to niacin. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem 1995; 59:2060-3. PubMed abstract [↩]
  9. Leklem JE. Vitamin B6. In: Shils ME, Olson JA, Shike M, Ross AC, ed. Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease. 9th ed. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1999: 413-421. [↩]
  10. Leklem JE. Vitamin B6. In: Shils ME, Olson JA, Shike M, Ross AC, ed. Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease. 9th ed. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1999: 413-421. [↩]
  11. Chandra R and Sudhakaran L. Regulation of immune responses by Vitamin B6. NY Acad Sci 1990; 585:404-423. PubMed abstract [↩]
  12. Leklem JE. Vitamin B6. In: Shils ME, Olson JA, Shike M, Ross AC, ed. Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease. 9th ed. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1999: 413-421. [↩]
  13. Leyland DM and Beynon RJ. The expression of glycogen phosphorylase in normal and dystrophic muscle. Biochem J 1991; 278:113-7. PubMed abstract [↩]
  14. Oka T, Komori N, Kuwahata M, Suzuki I, Okada M, Natori Y. Effect of vitamin B6 deficiency on the expression of glycogen phosphorylase mRNA in rat liver and skeletal muscle. Experientia 1994; 50:127-9. PubMed abstract [↩]
  15. Okada M, Ishikawa K, Watanabe K. Effect of vitamin B6 deficiency on glycogen metabolism in the skeletal muscle, heart, and liver of rats. J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo) 1991; 37:349-57. PubMed abstract [↩]

Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.