Vitamin B6 – Pyridoxine

Author: Elson M.Haas M.D.
Source: Excerpted from Staying Healthy with Nutrition: The Complete Guide to Diet and Nutritional Medicine, (Celestial Arts)

Vitamin B6 – Pyridoxine

Deficiency and toxicity: There is basically no toxicity with pyridoxine at reasonable daily doses, though there has been some recent concern about this. Regular oral intake of 200 mg and intravenous doses of 200 mg have shown no side effects. Usually, the toxic doses are much higher, between 2-5 grams. Some recent reports in the medical literature show that regular usage of over 2,000 mg per day, which some women especially have been taking, are correlated with episodes of peripheral neuritis. Although the experience of weakness or tingling of arms or legs has been transient and mostly correctable by decreasing the B6 dosage, this does warrant some concern about excessive use of B6, especially long-term use. Since part of the neuropathy problem comes from the liver’s inability to convert all of the pyridoxine to active P5P, this concern can be lessened by supplementing some of the B6 as pyridoxal-5-phosphate (as I have done in many of my programs), especially when the dose of vitamin B6 exceeds 200 mg per day. In addition, using increased amounts of magnesium with the higher levels of vitamin B6 will reduce the occurrence of the peripheral neuritis.