Vitamin B6 protects against depression, anxiety, insomnia, age-related cognitive decline, hypoglycemia, kidney stones, and the morning sickness of pregnancy.
Tune in for everything you need to know about how to manage your B6 status!
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I’ve been having a lot of issues and I’ve seen many doctors over this for the past 2 months. Body twitching all over, tingling, burning, numbness, feels like I’ve been hit by a bus with muscle and joint pain. Four MRIs done, EMG, neurologist and so on and everything keeps coming back benign. I’ve had many blood tests done and they all come back normal (accept low and vitamin D) as always however my B12 and B6 are on the lower range however the doctors mark that as all normal as well. With my B6 being a 9.2 plasma range with 2 being the lowest, could that still cause a B6 problem because it’s still far away from the highest normal range of 32.8 and I do take extra B12, B6, D and a multi vitamins. This is all so frustrating.
I recently had a range of bloods done, I had to fast 12 hrs prior to testing, and did. I do not take any b6 sup or eat a large amount of breakfast cereals or ever consume energy drinks. But I had an abnormally high level of b6 recorded in my results.
I asked my gp what it meant, or could mean to me, and any known causes.
The response was
I just found a list of foods high in b6 used to treat deficiency. I’ll print it out. And you try not to eat them from now on. This was the list….
Pork, vegetables, wholegrain cereals and oatmeals, brown rice, breads, eggs, poultry, milk, soya beans, fish , potatoes, wheat germ…. đ€
I was quite confused.
Strict Chocolate diet maybe đ
P.s. I am 32, F , my BMI is 19.5. The tests were done a year ago, and I have recently had severe shortness of breath and wheezing of a night, probably occurring once a week-ish.
Could it be related to, or a symptom caused by that high b6 maybe??
Hali
Ask more questions: what co-factors do you need to metabolize B6? Have you been taking high doses because if you have not been supplementing it, avoiding B6 in foods will not help you lower it since your high level comes from an inability to utilize it. Your goal then is to figure out, what you might need to use it correctly. If you have been taking it, then of course stop.
I don’t know what it means, but you definitely don’t need to take out foods if foods have been your only source of B6. Most “normal” ranges are of dubious value in a case like this. If you’ve been supplementing more than 100 mg, you should stop. But if you’re just eating food there’s no way you have B6 toxicity.
Please research MTHFR. Approx. 50 percent of the population can struggle with folate issues. I developed b6 toxicity after weeks of supplementation of 25 mg day. My b6 values exceeded the normal values by mere points. It’s been a month without supplementation and the neuropathy remains.
I have a lot of MTHFR info. See https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/methylation
Chris, can you comment on pyroluia, which is a condition wherein someone keeps losing B6 and zinc and needs to supplement daily (also manganese and evening primrose oil, among other things)?
I’ve never had the urine test (which tests are often not reliable as re. pyroluria) but I have 75% of the symptoms and taking B6 and zinc has absolutely helped.
BTW, standard info from many pyrolurics is that the normal B6 may cause nerve issues in the hands and/ or feet in high doses (which goes away when you stop that B6); when you switch to the P5P version this issue goes away.
I’m basing my info on the following healers, who recognize and treat pyroluria:
-Trudy Scott: http://www.everywomanover29.com/blog/pyroluria-questionnaire-from-the-antianxiety-food-solution/
-Joan Mathews Larson: http://www.joanmathewslarson.com/HRC_2006/Depression_06/D_Hide_In_Closet.htm#pyroluria (For example, Dr.Larson finds that many alcoholics are pyroluric, and treating that issue, is critical to a successful outcome).
-Julia Ross: The Mood Cure and The Diet Cure
-Dr. William Walsh in his book “Nutrient Power” and https://www.walshinstitute.org
Dr. William Walsh studied with the famous Dr. Carl Pfeiffer at his clinic in Princeton, who, I believe, also recognized this condition.
I would LOVE your perspective on pyroluria and whether it is, in fact genetic and how to diagnose and treat it.
Why does pyroluria exist? Why is it these two vitamins, in tandem, which go awry in the system? Is it our modern diet? Genetic? From a bad gut?
Laura
Thanks Laura, you can submit this as a topic request here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/contact-chris-masterjohn-phd/#topic
Done. Thank you Chris.
Chris, my questions also relates to B6 toxicity. I’m a medical student and on one occasion during my neurology rotation I remember a patient’s B6 level coming back abnormally high and the patient promptly being told to stop taking any supplements containing B6. However, the patient wasn’t even aware that he was taking anything with B6 and, while I didn’t get a lot of details, I don’t think his diet was stellar either. So, my question is this: Is there anything that besides excessive B6 intake that can cause a falsely elevated plasma B6 level?
I truly don’t know, but can only think of impaired intracellular transport.
I’m one of those who easily gets toxicity from B6 in supplements in either form, and it was the same for my father. We both get tingling in the nerve that runs from the shoulder down to the fingers. I manage it by mixing up my own B from powders and taking a very low dose of B6, just enough to prevent deficiency if I don’t eat well. I would be very interested in reading about the issues involved in using B6, since I suspect my toxicity, and my father’s, developed from the same metabolic snp or co-factor issue, as neither of us took high doses.
Janis – here is the link to the Facebook forum on Vitamin B6 toxicity. Keep in mind that a lot of what you read on forums like this is anecdotal, and may not be based on the latest science. But I do know for a fact that my wife experienced Vit. B6 toxicity from the B complex supplements she was taking, which contained a dosage of B6 that was supposed to be “safe” for everyone. And we did get some useful information from this forum.
https://www.facebook.com/VitaminB6Toxicity/
Janis – there is a Facebook forum on B6 toxicity, here:
https://www.facebook.com/VitaminB6Toxicity/
Keep in mind that a lot of the stuff you read on forums like this is anecdotal, and not necessarily based on scientific studies. However, I know that Vitamin B6 toxicity is real, based on my wife’s experience with it. And I know that she developed the toxicity as a result of taking a B complex supplement, which contained only 50 mg. of B6……….supposedly a “safe” level, based on everything that we had read. A couple months after she stopped taking the B complex supplement, her symptoms were mostly gone (thankfully). Rob
“Only” 50 mg? That’s a huge dose.
I believe it is the orthomolecular doctors who are aware (and have been for decades) that the activated form of B6 â that is P5P or PLP â will react better for some people; it is known to not create the neuropathy that B6 does. (For example, perhaps Dr. William Walsh or Dr. Woody McGinnis have published data about this? Perhaps there is data at the orthomolecular physiciansâ website: http://orthomolecular.org/ ?)
Here is another factor which needs research and investigation: how, exactly, is the B6 in vitamins being created / manufactured? That is, can the product itself be toxic to begin with (depending upon the dose), or is the means of production / additives causing the trouble?
First: at some point in recent history, the US vitamin industry switched from one form of B6 to another (due to pressure from Big Pharma, which forced the FDAâs hand). I donât know the exact B6 names but, given this fact, has anyone researched to determine if this newer form of B6 is causing problems?
Second: (there will be a B vitamin tie-in) in researching the toxicity of MSG (more correctly called âprocessed free gluatamic acidâ), I discovered that MSG is created in labs: fermenting genetically modified (GM) bacteria which are, themselves, fed upon a medium of sugar beets, 95% of which are GM and Round-Up Ready (if grown in the US, Monsanto holds the corner on US sugar beet production).
It is unknown if sugar beet seeds are also routinely neonicotinoid-coated, as is now the norm for, not only, Big Ag seeds like corn, soy and sunflower, but, as well, for all those (non-organic) annuals and perennial plants we all buy. Neonics, a neuro-toxic pesticide, are implicated in honey bee colony collapse disorder.
So, with MSG, we have a highly neuro-toxic, cancer-causing chemical â to begin with â now being produced with GM bacteria (!!), fermented upon a Round-Up â poisoned, GM sugar beet medium!!
It is well-known among home fermenters that the process of fermentation boosts the availability and amount of nutrients therein.
So, is the food industry boosting the inherent toxicity of MSG by HOW it is being manufactured: genetic modification of the bacteria themselves, and genetic modification of the very food they eat, that food made toxic with glyphosate/Round-Up, and this all being produced and magnified through a fermentation process?
Yikes.
Would you knowingly eat a food product with THAT slurry in it?
Ingesting this hidden MSG three times a day at meals in processed foods, what does that do to oneâs gut bacteria, the microbiome? The gut-brain connection?
It is well-known that MSG itself is toxic. But, nobody knows the toxic effect of these MSG manufacturing processes upon a human body! …because nobody is even aware of those processes! (Truth in Labeling is: see the incredible work of Jack and Adrienne Samuels at http://www.truthinlabeling.org/ )
Now… the tie-in to the B vitamins.
How are the B’s/B6 being manufactured? Are they using GM bacteria, as with MSG production? Are those bacteria being fed GM, Round-Up Ready food, so a toxic, systemic pesticide is in the fermentation mix? Any neonics in this picture? What devilish things would this combination do to a human body and its biome?
I know from my research into MSG/processed free glutamic acid, that products like nutritional yeast (known for its high B vitamin content and beloved of vegetarians and vegans) are highly chemically-processed and full of processed free glutamic acid; most nutritional yeast flakesâ brands get most of their B vitamin content from B vitamins added in AFTER the yeast has been fermented!
I stopped using nutritional yeast flakes as a source of B vitamins in my diet after researching exacting HOW it is manufactured and that it contains hidden MSG.
I might do the same thing with B vitamins, if somebody finds out that B vitamin production has gone the same way as MSG production.
I pose one obvious question: could B vitamin production – as with MSG and nutritional yeast production – be leaving behind residues of hidden processed free glutamic acid (MSG) in the final product?
Given the triple whammy toxicity of manufactured MSG in processed food products (now effectively hidden in most processed foods through the use of 50+ different ingredient names on resulting , spanking ‘clean labels’), it would be interesting if someone could research this issue and let us know if the product itself, B6 (and all B vitamins)â and the means used to create them â are what’s, in fact, causing major trouble in a human body.
Finally: there is the wild card of the source of the B6. Is it being produced in China, for example, and being granted âorganicâ and/or âGMO-Freeâ status by one or another nefarious âcertifying agentsâ at the US border (e.g., âQAIâ, who are they, exactly, and who oversees all these “certifying agents” which have been allowed to grant USDA / NOSB organic status to thousands of products grown/produced OUTSIDE US borders)? Organic and/or GMO-Free status that is granted when, in fact, it is likely full of invisible heavy metals, which that very âorganic,â or âGMO-Freeâ clean label keeps effectively hidden from the consumer?
Whatâs REALLY in that B6 /B vitamin produced in China and what effect has that chemical mixture upon a human body, especially if taken every single day in a vitamin pill?
Finally: when did the US start sourcing its B vitamins from China? Does that correlate with people beginning to have issues with B6 or B vitamins?
If someone with the credentials like Chris Masterjohn finds out the real story behind B vitamin production – and they are shown to be toxic – how do we humans get enough daily B vitamins through our food and, more importantly, through a healthy gut (which bacteria should be producing B vitamins continually?)
Laura
To add weight to my concerns about the PRODUCTION of B6/Bs as being a causative factor in bad reactions to B’s and B6, please read this article at “GreenMedInfo.’ It is about the dangers of synthetic, genetically-engineered insulin, produced from genetically modified yeast. According to this article, synthetic insulin is now the ONLY type of insulin available in the US; insulin produced from pig pancreas-derived forms is NO LONGER AVAILABLE.
(The article does not discuss the medium used to grow the GM yeast; unknown if it is, itself, GM, and Round-Up Ready.)
The article states:
“…synthetic insulin produced through genetically modified organisms accelerates disease progression in type 2 diabetics…”
http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/research-insulin-kills-diabetics-natural-substances-heal-them-1
The pharma AND food industries (e.g., MSG, nutritional yeast) appear to now have an industry standard of using genetically-modified yeast for large-scale, industrial production; we know from production of MSG that the medium used to feed these GM yeasts is itself GM and Round-Up Ready (US sugar beets).
Has the vitamin industry followed suit? Are we simply ignorant of these facts?
Is the US vitamin industry owned, in large part, by the pharma / biotech industry, which is using its industrial pharmaceutical fermenting techniques (e.g., synthetic, GM insulin) to create vitamins like the Bs?
Is ANYBODY researching and testing the effects of GM yeast – which is being fermented upon GM mediums which may be Round-Up Ready – upon human beings …who take vitamins?
I’m sorry but I don’t have time to read outside articles. I try to respond to all short, specific questions.
Chris – some people seem to be unusually sensitive to taking in too much Vitamin B6. My wife has pernicious anemia, and she was taking a Vit. B complex supplement, in addition to her regular B-12 injections. The Vit. B complex supplement she was taking has just 50 mg. per capsule (and she took only one capsule daily), so we thought that would be safe. After a couple months of taking this supplement, she started having odd symptoms (neurological), that were eventually determined to be from Vitamin B6 toxicity. This was confirmed by a blood test for Vitamin B6. I later found out that there is an internet forum devoted to people with B6 toxicity, as a result of taking Vitamin B complex supplements. So………be careful with B6. Even doses as low as 50 mg. daily can cause serious problems for some people.
I would always recommend titrating up slowly, and I think B12 deficiency might be complicating things here. For example, there are case reports of folate supplements precipitating neurological problems in B12-deficient patients.