Vitamin B6 may reduce anxiety and depression

Written by Nootropics Expert on August 1, 2022. Posted in Current News

Researchers at the University of Reading measured the impact of high doses of Vitamin B₆ on young adults. And found participants in the study reported feeling less anxiety and not as depressed.

In this clinical trial, 478 young adults were randomly assigned either Vitamin B₆ or Vitamin B₁₂ daily for one month far above the daily recommended dose.

The study showed that Vitamin B₁₂ had little effect compared to placebo over the trial period.

But Vitamin B₆ made a statistically significant difference in anxiety and depression.[i]

Vitamin B₆ is a required coenzyme for the synthesis of dopamine, epinephrine, GABA, melatonin, norepinephrine, and serotonin.

Even mild deficiency of Vitamin B₆ has been shown to down-regulate GABA and serotonin synthesis.[ii]

A review of vitamin intakes in Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and the USA was conducted to compare vitamin intake to national recommendations.

And the study found intake was below recommendations of even the most critical of vitamins. Including B-Vitamins.

The authors of the study noted that this gap exists in vitamin intake and national recommendations for a significant portion of the population. No matter how good your diet is.[iii]

Pyridoxal 5′-phosphate (P-5-P) is the natural form of Vitamin B₆ your body uses in every single cell.

The recommended adult dosage for anxiety and/or depression is up to 100 mg per day of P-5-P.

You will get 4 mg of P-5-P in both the men’s and women’s formula of my favorite multi: Performance Lab^® NutriGenesis Multi.

But if you think you are deficient and it could be contributing to your anxiety or depression you may want to supplement with an extra 50 – 100 mg P-5-P per day.

Note that dosages above 200 mg of P-5-P or any form of Vitamin B₆ are toxic. And can result in nerve damage.[iv]

See my full review here: Vitamin B₆ (P-5-P, Pyridoxine, Pyridoxal, Pyridoxamine)

References:

[i] Field, D. T., Cracknell, R. O., Eastwood, J. R., Scarfe, P., Williams, C. M., Zheng, Y., & Tavassoli, T. (2022). “High-dose Vitamin B₆ supplementation reduces anxiety and strengthens visual surround suppression.” Human Psychopharmacology, e2852

[ii] Kennedy D.O. “B Vitamins and the Brain: Mechanisms, Dose and Efficacy—A Review” Nutrients. 2016 Feb; 8(2): 68.

[iii] Troesch B., Hoeft B., McBurney M., Eggersdorfer M., Weber P. “Dietary surveys indicate vitamin intakes below recommendations are common in representative Western countries.” British Journal of Nutrition. 2012 Aug;108(4):692-8

[iv] Schaumburg, H., Kaplan, J., Windebank, A., Vick, N., Rasmus, S., Pleasure, D., & Brown, M. J. (1983). “Sensory neuropathy from pyridoxine abuse. A new megavitamin syndrome.” The New England Journal of Medicine, 309(8), 445–448

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