Too much vitamin B6? Symptoms, causes and the solution
Do you know the bizarre story of Sven Kramer? He was prescribed enormous amounts of vitamin B6 by a nutritionist because he had a deficiency. However, these amounts were too high and caused nerve damage, which meant he was unable to skate competitions for a year. Bizarre, huh? But how does this work? How much is too much and what happens to your body? What is vitamin B6 actually good for?
Too much vitamin B6
Vitamin B6 is important for several things. It is important for metabolism, regulating certain hormones and is necessary for growth, blood production and proper functioning of the immune system and nervous system. Proper intake is also said to help lower homocysteine and cholesterol levels, which has a positive effect on the heart and blood vessels and brain metabolism. 1 That's quite a few things. Athletes often take a vitamin B6 supplement because concentration is a very important part of competitive sports in particular and vitamin B6 can help with this. But what if you, like Sven Kramer, get too much vitamin B6?
Symptoms
First, briefly about what exactly you notice when you take in too much vitamin B6. Sven Kramer suffered a leg injury due to nerve damage. Numbness, tingling or severe nerve pain in the hands and feet are other symptoms that you may notice. You may also experience a deterioration of your memory and thought processes. Of course, you want to prevent this, but what should you pay attention to?
Causes
To reassure you, an excess of vitamin B6 is not caused by eating too much of a certain food. The maximum tolerable upper limit of vitamin B6 is 21 mg per day. This is impossible to get through solid food. 21 mg is namely 14 times the amount you need daily. The cause is therefore almost always due to supplements. In the case of Sven Kramer, he sometimes even took two dozen vitamin B6 pills per day.
Solution
You may have guessed it, to eliminate the cause it is necessary to take a good look at the amount of vitamin B6 supplements. In 2018, a law was also passed that makes it impossible to produce supplements with more than 21 milligrams per day. Unfortunately, the current stocks may still be sold, but you really do not need more than 1.5 milligrams per day. So first look carefully at the packaging before you buy it so that you do not get too much vitamin B6! Vitamin B6 is also found in various things such as meat, eggs, fish, bread, legumes, vegetables and dairy products. With a healthy and varied diet you should get enough vitamin B6, but if you still want to take extra and not get too much vitamin B6? Then you now know what to look out for.
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