Vitamin B6 health benefits are far reaching and diverse in your body. It is important to your metabolism. Pyridoxine is a fundamental vitamin in creating red blood cells. You need vitamin B6 in order to develop neurotransmitters, which affect your moods. It is also effective in treating nausea, even during pregnancy.
Vitamin B6 is also important to a healthy immune system. It prevents clogged arteries, which in turn helps your body fight off heart disease. It also balances your sugar levels, helping to prevent diabetes. There are hundreds of benefits that pyridoxine adds to your body, and you only need to eat regularly balanced meals to get your recommended levels.
Vitamin B6 health benefits are quite noticeable when it comes to mental health and battling depression and anxiety in both young and old alike.
Here Are 9 Vitamin B6 Health Benefits
Because the health benefits of vitamin B6 are so far reaching, we’ve broken the benefits into categories. The amazing thing is that even with all of the great benefits of vitamin B6 that are already known, studies are showing even more benefits practically every day. By simply consuming foods like fish, eggs, beef, and bananas every day, you can get all of the vitamin B6 that your body needs to function without a hitch.
You might notice that you aren’t getting enough B6 in your diet if you start to feel marked fatigue. Another symptom is a loss of coordination, which may or may not be in conjunction with confusion. If you think that you might be vitamin B6 deficient, your GP can recommend or prescribe a multivitamin that can get you back to your ideal amount of pyridoxine.
Here are 9 key vitamin B6 health benefits.
Healthy Skin
Healthy and radiant skin is one of the most noticeable health benefits of vitamin B6. Pyridoxine is great for warding off the signs of premature aging, such as fine lines and wrinkles. It also is effective in preventing dry skin and eczema. Acne prone individuals should definitely look to vitamin B6 for help, because it works hard to ensure that you have flawless skin.
Vitamin B6 isn’t a lightweight though, it also battles against more serious skin complications like psoriasis and melanoma. It is a vital part in taking good care of your largest organ, your skin. Before beginning any vitamin B6 supplement program to treat or prevent serious skin complications, you should consult with your GP.
Metabolism
We all want to have the best metabolism possible in order to fight off extra weight that is gained by becoming more sedentary with age. Vitamin B6 is a great aid in your metabolic processes, and it ensures that you break down the fat, carbs, and proteins that you ingest, and readies them to be energy for you.
Vitamin B6 health benefits are also best observed in the effects that it has on your blood sugar levels, which ensure you don’t develop diabetes. Without vitamin B6 sorting out all of the food that you consume and getting all of the proper nutrients in place to become your energy, your metabolism would become slow or even stagnant.
Nausea
Vitamin B6 health benefits also include being effective in fighting nausea. It is a key ingredient in drugs like diclegis, which is used to treat morning sickness and other forms of nausea. If you are pregnant and having a difficult time holding food down in the early stages of your pregnancy, your GP may prescribe a similar drug with B6 in order to help you get the nutrients necessary to maintain a healthy pregnancy.
However, it will also cause breast milk to dry up, so it might not be recommended in late pregnancy because of this. Prior to beginning any vitamin B6 supplementation to treat or prevent nausea, you should consult with your GP.
Heart Disease
Pyridoxine is vital to decreasing homocysteine amino acid levels in your body, which increase cholesterol levels in your body. Having increased cholesterol levels can lead to a hardening of the arteries and may in turn cause heart disease. It lowers blood pressure, blood cholesterol, and keeps blood platelets from sticking together. Those are vital parts of preventing heart disease.
Vitamin B6 also aids in your body producing hemoglobin, and has been shown to prevent and treat anemia, especially in women who have anemia brought on by pregnancy. Hemoglobin also carries oxygen in your red blood cells throughout your body, keeping you properly oxygenated and aiding in proper organ function. Before you begin any vitamin B6 supplement routine to prevent or treat heart disease, you should consult with your GP.
Immunity
Vitamin B6 health benefits include serving as a huge boost to your body’s natural immune system. It increases the synthesis of your antibodies to elevate your body’s immunity. Pyridoxine fights things like eye infections, bladder infections, tooth decay and polyps. It is also a strong defender against inflammation. This helps in reducing the symptoms of conditions like carpal tunnel syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis. It also helps to prevent muscular degeneration in the eyes that occurs with age over time.
Diabetes
With its role in metabolism, it is no surprise that vitamin B6 is a great agent in the fight against developing diabetes. In fact, GP’s often use vitamin B6 to aid in treating the painful effects of diabetes on the body. As pyridoxine is a natural painkiller, it can assist in the diabetic neuropathy pain that can sometimes accompany diabetes. The nerves in the urinary tract and also the nerves in the legs and feet are often affected by diabetic neuropathy and can range from mild discomfort to nearly intolerable pain. Before you begin any vitamin B6 supplement program to help with the side effects of diabetes or as a tool in diabetes prevention, you should consult with your GP.
Asthma
Vitamin B6 health benefits include assisting asthmatic people with breathing a little easier. Studies have shown that wheezing and asthma attacks decrease in both severity and frequency when taking pyridoxine supplements However, before attempting to treat your asthma and its symptoms with vitamin B6, you should consult with your GP.
PMS
When it comes to warding off the symptoms of PMS, many women have found comfort with the assistance of vitamin B6. When using vitamin B6 as a preventative tool against PMS, you should supplement your diet with extra vitamin B6 starting ten days prior to the onset of your PMS.
It has been shown to fight bloating, mood swings, breast tenderness, and the breakouts associated with PMS. Because vitamin B6 is a natural painkiller, it also can ease the painful cramping that comes along with PMS. Before you begin any vitamin B6 supplement to treat PMS, you should consult with your GP.
Kidney Stones
When it is paired with magnesium, pyridoxine can prevent kidney stones from forming in your body. Studies have shown that in about a three month period, the combination of vitamin B6 and magnesium effectively help your body stop kidney stones from forming. Before you begin any kidney stone treatment with vitamin B6, you should consult with your GP.
All in all, pyridoxine has been used and is still being used in the treatment of over 100 health issues. From your skin to your heart, and everywhere else in your body, the vitamin B6 health benefits are incredible, and the great thing is that you receive them with almost no effort at all.
By simply consuming 1.3mg of pyridoxine every day, you are helping your body to boost its immunity, prevent heart disease, maintain a healthy nervous system and prevent diabetes. And those are just the beginning of the amazing things that regular vitamin B6 consumption does to help your body be the best you that you can be.
What other vitamin helps to regulate sleep cycles and fight off depression like vitamin B6 is so dedicated to doing for you? As a homocysteine amino acid fighter, vitamin B6 is in a class all its own for fighting depression and anxiety naturally. It has a serious impact in regulating your emotions, keeping you from having extreme highs and lows that a pyridoxine deficiency may cause. If you’re expecting, you may grow to love vitamin B6 health benefits for easing the nausea that sometimes can take the fun out of expecting. All in all, vitamin B6 is a virtual assistant in every bodily function that you have.
READ ALSO: Vitamin B6 Dosage