Too much vitamin B6? Symptoms, causes and the solution

Do you already know the bizarre story of Sven Kramer? He was prescribed huge amounts of vitamin B6 by a nutritionist because he was deficient. However, these amounts were too high and caused nerve damage that prevented him from skating 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 and nervous systems. Correct intake would also help reduce homocysteine and cholesterol levels, which have a positive effect on heart and blood vessels and brain metabolism.¹ Those are quite a few things. Athletes more often take a vitamin B6 supplement because concentration is a very important part, especially in competitive sports, and vitamin B6 can help with this. But what if, like Sven Kramer, you get too much vitamin B6?

Symptoms

First let's briefly talk about what exactly you notice if you get 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 you may notice. You can also suffer from a deterioration of your memory and thinking 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 14 times the amount you need daily. The cause is therefore almost always due to supplements. In Sven Kramer's case, he sometimes even took two dozen vitamin B6 pills a day. 

Solution

You may have guessed it, to eliminate the cause, it is necessary to look closely at the amount that is in vitamin B6 supplements. This is how we have our coffee chose to add exactly the recommended amount of 1.5 milligrams from the Nutrition Center to the coffee cups. A law was also passed in 2018 that makes it impossible to produce supplements with more than 21 milligrams per day. Unfortunately, the current stocks can still be sold, but you really don't need more than 1.5 milligrams per day. So take a good look at the packaging before you buy it so that you don't 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 therefore 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.

Vitamin B6 has many benefits for your body. Would you like to use this as a supplement in a responsible way? Then view our immunity blend coffee in combination with our MCT oil for even more energy and focus! Do you want to know what else MCT oil can do for you? Read it in our blog.

Sources

¹ https://www.orthokennis.nl/nutrienten/vitamine%20B6