Your Food and You: Heart Health Part 2 – Vitamin B6
Vitamin B6 also known as Pyridoxine is a water soluble vitamin that has many roles in the body including:
- production of amino acids (protein)
- production of insulin
- Production of chemical messengers including histamine which is a chemical that sends messengers between nerves in the body.
- Production of red blood cells called hemoglobin, oxygen caring molecule of red blood cells
- Vitamin B6 also helps to reduce homocysteine levels (high blood levels the amino acid homocysteine may lead cardiovascular disease)
- Required to convert tryptophan in to niacin (Vitamin B3)
- Skin and immune health
Not getting enough? You may experience cracked lips, oily or flak skin, nausea and diarrhea. Sever deficiency may result in reduced or loss of appetite, depression, and confusion
Who should consider a supplement?
- People who abuse alcohol
- People who smoke
- Women who use oral contractive
- People who are taking medication for certain medication asthma, kidney disease, diabetes, sickle cell anemia or Hodgkin’s disease.
- People who suffer from asthma, or PMS
- People who exercise vigorously regularly
If needing supplements a general B complex is ideal as if B6 is taken alone you need to balance it out with higher amounts of other B vitamins, and magnesium.
How much do you need?
| Age | Recommended Dietary allowance (mg) | |
| Female | Male | |
| 1-3 years | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| 4-8 years | 0.6 | 0.6 |
| 9-13 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| 14-18 | 1.2 | 1.3 |
| 18-70 | 1.3 | 1.3 |
| 70+ | 1.5 | 1.7 |
| Upper Limit | 100 | 100 |
How much is that in terms of food?
| Food | Serving size | Vitamin B6( mg ) |
| Vegetarian stew/chili
Dried Ando pepper Vegetarian Meat substitute Game meat (Caribou, moose,seal,walrus) Plain yogurt Chickpeas Turkey, cooked Tuna, yellowfin or skipjack Pork loin Baked Potato skin on Sunflower seeds Chicken breast Salmon baked or broiled Pistachio , dishelmed Nutritional Yeast Mushroom, shiitake, dried All bran buds |
250mL (1 cup)
4 peppers 150g 90g
¾ cup 175mL 175mL 75g 75mg 90g 1 medium 60mL (2 tbsp) 75g 75g ¼ cup 60mL (2 tbsp) 10 mushrooms ¼ cup |
2.9mg
2.4mg 2.4-1.6mg 1.7-1.2
1.6mg 0.8mg 0.8mg 0.7mg 0.7mg 0.6mg 0.5mg 0.5mg 0.4mg 0.4mg 0.3mg 0.5mg 1.3 mg |
How to get it:
| Option 1 | Options 2 | Option 3 | |||
| 75g (2.6oz) of Chicken in a pita a lunch | 0.8 mg | 1/3 cup all bran buds in your yogurt for snack | 1.3mg | 2 tbsp nutrition yeast popcorn or kale chip | 0.3mg |
| Baked potato as your starch at dinner | 0.5 mg | ½ cup flavoured yogurt | 1mg | 2/3 cup of lentils (chickpeas) on your lunch time salad | 0.8mg |
| ¾ cup plain yogurt on potatoes | 1.6 | ½ cup pistachio nuts | 0.4mg | ||
| 2.9mg | 2.3mg | 1.5mg |
See examples of real food ways to get in your B vitamins here.
