You need to consume enough vitamin B-6 through your daily diet to make red blood cells and several enzymes, and it also helps the immune and nervous systems work better. Vitamin B-6 supplements also have several potential benefits, including preventing kidney stones caused by a rare genetic condition. Before you take vitamin B-6 for any reason, you should consult with a doctor who can advise you of whether it may help you and how to take it safely.
B-6 for Kidney Stones
Medical evidence suggests that taking a vitamin B-6 supplement above and beyond the recommended dietary allowance for the vitamin can help prevent certain types of kidney stones. Specifically, the vitamin can help decrease kidney stones in people with the the hereditary disease type 1 primary hyperoxaluria, MedlinePlus reports. Taking a magnesium supplement also may help prevent kidney stones in these individuals. However, vitamin B-6 supplements have not proved effective in treating or preventing other types of kidney stones. If you have kidney stones or are prone to them, do not use vitamin B-6 or any other type of supplement to improve the condition unless you have first consulted with a doctor.
Recommended Dietary Allowance
Many of the foods you eat -- including several kinds of meat, poultry and seafood, as well as several vegetables and grains -- naturally contain vitamin B-6 and help you meet your dietary needs. The precise amount you need depends on you age and gender. Men and women ages 19 to 51 should get 1.3 mg of vitamin B-6 a day, the National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements reports. Women ages 51 and older need 1.5 mg per day, while men of the same age should consume 1.7 mg per day. Females 14 to 18 need 1.2 mg, while their male counterparts should get 1.3. Children ages 9 to 13 should consume 1 mg of vitamin B-6 per day, while children ages 4 to 8 should get 0.6 mg, and children 1 to 3 need 0.5 mg. Babies up to 6 months old need 0.1 mg, while the adequate intake for babies 7 months to 12 months is 0.3 mg per day.
Recommended Dosage
When using vitamin B-6 supplements to prevent kidney stones associated with type 1 primary hyperoxaluria, the recommended dose ranges from 25 mg to 500 mg per day, MedlinePlus reports. B-6 supplements are sold under several names -- including pyridoxine, pyridoxine hydrochloride, pyridoxal-5-phosphate and pyridoxal -- and come as tablets, capsules, soft gels and lozenges. Because the amount of vitamin B-6 in supplements can vary among products, you should always carefully follow the label directions and consult with a physician before using them.
Side Effects and Cautions
When taken as a supplement in levels that exceed the recommended dietary allowances, you may experience side effects such as stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, headaches, fatigue and a tingling sensation, MedlinePlus reports. When taken at high doses over a long time, you can also develop brain and nerve problems, so it's important to consult with a doctor about how to use vitamin B-6 supplements safely. Drug interactions can occur in people who take phenytoin, phenobarbital, amiodarone and levodopa. Because of these potential effects, you should not take vitamin B-6 without checking with a doctor or pharmacist who can evaluate the medications you take. Finally, women who are breastfeeding should not consume more than 2 mg of the vitamin per day because it has been linked to seizures in newborns.
