Vitamin B-6 is essential to your health. Your body needs it for protein metabolism, red blood cell metabolism, nervous and immune system function, and synthesis of neurotransmitters like serotonin, as well as to make hemoglobin within your red blood cells, which carries oxygen to your tissues. You may see vitamin B-6 recommended for premenstrual syndrome, carpal tunnel syndrome or neurologic symptoms. However, you need to consult a doctor before supplementing because taking too much vitamin B-6 causes health problems.
Toxicity
Taking too much vitamin B-6 via supplements leads to nerve damage, or neuropathy, in your arms and your legs, according to the U.S. Office of Dietary Supplements, or ODS. Symptoms can include numbness and pain. In severe cases, you may experience difficulty walking. You may experience this condition at doses of less than 500 mg daily. The neuropathy is reversible when the excessive intake of vitamin B-6 is halted.
Dosage
Though vitamin B-6 is a water-soluble vitamin, the upper tolerable intake level established by the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine is 100 mg per day for adults of all ages. The recommended daily intake of vitamin B-6 is 1.3 mg for men and women ages 19 to 50, 1.7 mg for men older than 50, and 1.5 mg for women older than 50. You'll find B-6 in many foods, including fish, meat, poultry, cereals, beans, such fruits as bananas and such vegetables as spinach. It's best to gain your vitamin B-6 via food rather than supplementation, according to the ODS.
Drug Interactions
Taking vitamin B-6 at the same time as tetracycline may interfere with your absorption of this antibiotic, which reduces its effectiveness. It's best to take tetracycline and all B vitamins at different times. Vitamin B-6 also reduces the effectiveness of the Parkinson's disease medication levodopa. Vitamin B-6 is sometimes used to help reduce levodopa's side effects, but you need strict doctor's supervision to safely achieve this effect. Vitamin B-6 also reduces the effectiveness of the seizure medicine phenytoin.
Deficiency and Supplementation
If you are an older adult, or follow a poor-quality diet, there's a chance you are not taking in enough vitamin B-6. Symptoms may include depression, confusion, a sore tongue, skin inflammation, convulsions and anemia. These symptoms most often show up when vitamin B6 levels have been low for an extended period of time. Other medical conditions can cause all these symptoms, so it's important to consult a doctor to evaluate them. It's also important to have your doctor establish the correct level of vitamin B-6 supplementation to correct a deficiency so you don't overdo it.
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