Vitamin B6 is an essential vitamin that’s used in a huge range of biological functions and helps maintain heart health, DNA integrity, and cognitive function.
It works in conjunction with the other B vitamins to promote your body’s health, right down to the molecular level.
Deficiency in vitamin B6 is often accompanied by deficiencies in other B vitamins, and it seems to be a particularly common problem in older adults.
Looking to keep your B6 levels high so your body is operating at its very best? Our researchers have selected the best vitamin B6 supplements on the market and ranked them below.
Research
Rankings
1. Pure Encapsulations P5P 50
Pure Encapsulations provides its B6 in a metabolized form that’s more bioavailable and bioactive. The company exploits the fact that “vitamin B6” isn’t one distinct chemical; it’s a category of related compounds.
Their P5P 50 format comes in a high dosage of 50 mg per capsule. This combined with the greater bioactivity of the compound makes it well-suited for people who know they need to correct a substantial vitamin B6 deficiency.
2. NOW B-6
NOW B-6 is a pretty standard and reliable vitamin B6 supplement. At 100 mg per capsule, it delivers a high dose to rapidly correct deficiencies, and its design is about as clean as you can get: the gelatin capsule delivers vitamin B6 with a bit of rice flour, and nothing else.
The lack of additional ingredients is a real draw for this supplement, as is its high dosage.
3. Solgar Vitamin B6
Solgar is one of the better vegetarian-friendly vitamin B6 supplements thanks to its cellulose capsule, solid dosage (50 mg per capsule), and relatively straightforward supplement design that keeps the additives to a minimum. There’s nothing fancy about this supplement but that might be just what you need.
4. Nature’s Way Vitamin B-6
Though it’s one of the most common brands you’ll find at a brick and mortar retailer, Nature’s Way actually makes a pretty solid vitamin B6 supplement.
It delivers 100 mg per capsule, and the supplement design is pretty clean. Aside from cellulose and gelatin for the capsule, the only other ingredient is magnesium stearate.
5. Nutra Lingual B6 Sublingual Spray
Nutra Lingual makes a unique sublingual spray delivery supplement that is great for rapidly boosting your vitamin B6 levels. If you want to use B6 for a quick energy boost in the middle of the day, it’s a great choice. The primary downside is that the dosage is not going to be as precisely measured out, as compared to a capsule-based supplement.
6. Bronson Vitamin B6
Bronson Vitamin B6 is high dose and high-quantity: the bottle of 250 pressed tablets, each delivering 100 mg of vitamin B6, will last you a long time.
If you need chronically high vitamin B6 supplementation, it’s a good choice. Using pressed tablets instead of a capsule does mean that there are more binders and fillers in this supplement compared to other competitors, though.
7. Best Naturals Vitamin B-6
Best Naturals Vitamin B-6 is a moderate dosage vitamin B6 supplement, delivering 25 mg in each cellulose capsule.
The main drawback with this supplement is the presence of binders, fillers, and additives like silica and dicalcium phosphate. Purists won’t like these ancillary ingredients.
8. Nature Made B-6
Nature Made B-6 delivers vitamin B6 in a very high dosage, but at the cost of a lot of extra ingredients in the capsule. While you get 100 mg of B6 in each capsule, there’s a host of stabilizers and binders as well.
These aren’t necessarily going to hurt the efficacy of the capsule, but other brands deliver the same amount of B6 without these extras.
9. Source Naturals B-6
Source Naturals B-6 is one of the highest-dose B6 supplements out there with 500 mg of vitamin B6 per capsule.
To prevent all this vitamin B6 from just going in and out of your system, it’s manufactured in a time-release format so it dissolves more slowly.
Most people will do better on lower doses, so only take this supplement if you’re under medical direction to exceed the usual 100 mg upper intake limit recommended by the National Institutes of Health.
10. GNC B-6
GNC B-6 is one of the higher dosage B6 supplements out there. At 200 mg per capsule, its dosage is too high for regular use, so this supplement should be reserved for people who need to take beyond the normal recommended upper limit on B6 intake.
Category winners
Best vitamin B6 overall: Pure Encapsulations P5P 50
For all-purpose use, it’s tough to beat Pure Encapsulations P5P 50. The high bioavailability of this form of vitamin B6, plus the solid dosage, makes it a potent and versatile supplement. On top of that , the lack of extraneous ingredients makes it a clear winner for our top spot.
Best vitamin B6 for more energy: Nutra Lingual B6 Sublingual Spray
For a quick pick-me-up, the sublingual spray delivery of Nutra Lingual B6 Sublingual Spray is a great way to rapidly boost your vitamin B6 levels. While most users of vitamin B6 are better-suited by a capsule-based supplement, if you are looking for more energy, Nutra Lingual is the way to go.
Best vitamin B6 for women: Pure Encapsulations P5P 50
Our top overall pick is also our recommendation for women. The dosage is perfect and the simple, clean supplement design couldn’t be better, so whether you’re using B6 as a nausea remedy or as a way to fortify a vegetarian or vegan diet, Pure Encapsulations is a great choice for women.
Best vitamin B6 for vegans: NOW B-6
Vegans often have a hard time with getting enough vitamin B6 in their diet. NOW B-6 is our recommendation for shoring up any deficiencies, thanks to its high dosage of B6 and its vegan-friendly cellulose capsules.
Best vitamin B6 for nausea: Pure Encapsulations P5P 50
Vitamin B6 is a common remedy for nausea and morning sickness, and if that’s what you’re looking to use B6 for, Pure Encapsulations is a good choice. It’s a moderate-dosage B6 supplement with a super clean supplement design, meaning you don’t have to worry about any side effects from other ingredients.
Best vitamin B6 for sleep: NOW B-6
NOW B-6 is a high-dose supplement that’s great for better sleep and less restless legs at night. The high dose will help sustain restful sleep all night long.
Who should buy vitamin B6?
Vitamin B6 is safe for most individuals and helps to prevent and treat anemia heart disease, PMS, and depression. It is also often used in conduction with other vitamins to facilitate proper body functioning. Since it’s water-soluble, it is very difficult to overdose on vitamin B6.
In general, it safe for most of the population. However, if you are currently taking any medication, it’s important to speak to your doctor before taking a vitamin B6 supplement. This is especially true for people taking central nervous system depressants like Barbiturates, since vitamin B6 may reduce its effectiveness. People taking drugs such as Levodopa should also avoid vitamin B6 supplements.
Pregnant and breastfeeding women should proceed with caution as it is not 100% certain to be safe in these populations at high doses. Diabetics should also proceed with caution as it may interact with some of their medications negatively.
How We Ranked
Vitamin B6 can be delivered a few ways: orally, by intramuscular injection or through IV. For our rankings, we eliminated the latter two as they require medical supervision. In terms of oral delivery, capsules were preferred over droppers due to the dosage accuracy and convenience – which is why you won’t find any liquid vitamin B6 products on our list.
There are various dosing protocols for treating different issues, but on average, we preferred lower dosed products like Solgar. With lower dosages, you are better able to tailor your dose to fit your specific needs. This is also why products like Source naturals ranked so low, containing nearly 500mg per capsule.
Purity was also important to consider. Products that weren’t pure B6 supplements were axed from our list. Companies that used a variety of fillers and additives, like Nature Made, were not ranked well as we found them completely unnecessary. NOW ranked well here as it contains almost nothing other than a high dose of vitamin B6.
Lastly, we looked at the bioavailability. Our top choice, Pure Encapsulations, went above and beyond to provide a more bioavailable form of vitamin B6 – P5P. P5P can be directly used by the body without conversion in the liver, making it that much more available for helping with combatting vitamin B6 deficiencies.
Benefits
A vitamin B6 supplement can correct hard-to-detect vitamin deficiencies. In most cases, checking for a vitamin deficiency is pretty easy. A doctor can order a blood test and see if the measured level of the vitamin in your blood matches the usual reference ranges for healthy people.
However, some research has found that even in the presence of normal blood levels of vitamin B6, supplementation might be necessary for optimal health.
This is because the vitamin B6 in your blood might not actually be actively being used by your body. This was demonstrated in a 1995 study in the medical journal The Lancet that looked at the effects of a B6, folate, and B12 supplement on elderly volunteers, both in a hospital setting and in a residential setting (1).
Even though all of the subjects had normal blood levels of B6, tests for biomarkers indicative of poor B vitamin metabolism found a significant improvement in cellular function thanks to the B complex supplement.
Maintaining healthy levels of vitamin B6 can reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke. The link between vitamin B6 and cardiovascular health is a compound called homocysteine.
It’s a metabolite in your blood, and high levels of this compound have been linked to an increased risk for heart disease and stroke. Low vitamin B6 is, in turn, a cause of high levels of homocysteine (the same compound that is targeted by TMG).
Research establishing this link was published in 1998 in the journal Circulation by a team of doctors at the Cleveland Clinic (2).
Their study involved matching patients with confirmed cardiovascular disease to healthy controls who were otherwise similar. When comparing the subjects with cardiovascular disease to the healthy subjects, the researchers found higher levels of homocysteine and lower levels of vitamin B6.
Further, even after controlling for homocysteine levels, low vitamin B6 was still associated with a greater rate of disease.
Vitamin B6 levels reduce heart disease in the long run. Later research confirmed this association in a 14-year study of female nurses described in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The subjects completed questionnaires on their dietary and supplemental habits like multivitamin use, and were followed until they developed cardiovascular disease (3).
After analyzing the dietary and supplement data in excruciating detail, the researchers demonstrated that greater vitamin B6 intake—whether from a supplement or from your diet—was associated with a decreased risk for heart disease.
Vitamin B6 may help maintain or even improve your cognitive function as you get older. The biological functions of vitamin B6 extend to your brain and nervous system too: maintaining high levels of B6 appears to be linked to better cognitive performance as you get older.
That was the conclusion of a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition by researchers at Tufts University (4). The study looked at several different measures of cognitive performance among 70 older subjects who underwent blood testing of their vitamin B6 levels.
The researchers found that cognitive performance, specifically memory, was superior among those with higher levels of vitamin B6. The underlying biological process that links vitamin B6 to memory and cognitive function isn’t clear, but nevertheless, the researchers recommended further work into the use of B6 to prevent or reverse cognitive decline.
Vitamin B6 can help protect your DNA from damage. According to a scientific paper published in the journal Mutation Research/Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis by Bruce Ames at the University of California Berkeley, deficiencies in vitamin B6 can cause damage to DNA strands that mimics the effects of toxic and mutagenic compounds (5).
In addition to cardiovascular and cognitive health, it appears that vitamin B6 is critical for the integrity of the DNA in your cells, too.
The author of this paper connects low levels of micronutrients like B6 with the development of chronic disease and cancer, and cites some unsettling statistics. Among the elderly population in the United States, up to 10% are deficient in vitamin B6.
This finding suggests that B6 deficiency in the elderly could contribute to chronic disease rates, and that preventing B6 deficiency could be an integral part of reducing the burden of chronic diseases.
Side effects
At low to moderate doses, vitamin B6 has no known side effects. The only known adverse effects have come from massive doses (1000 mg per day or more) taken for a long period of time (7).
Doses as high as 200 mg per day taken daily for five years are not known to cause side effects, but to maintain a safety buffer, the Office of Dietary Supplements halved this value to recommend an upper limit of 100 mg of vitamin B6 per day from supplements.
This is in line with the largest dose you’ll find in many of the best supplements. Exceeding the recommended upper limits, unless you are under medical supervision, puts you at risk for some pretty serious neurological effects.
While these tend to go away after you stop taking extremely high B6 doses, it’s still not worth risking, so stick to the recommended upper limit unless you’ve gotten specific medical instructions to exceed it.
Recommended dose
To ward off vitamin B6 deficiency, you should aim for at least 1.3 mg of vitamin B6 per day, and more (1.5 to 1.7 mg) if you are over age 50.
That’s according to the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Dietary Supplements, which aggregates data on vitamins and minerals for optimal health (8).
However, if you are taking vitamin B6 specifically to correct a deficiency, you are likely to need a higher dose, like 5 mg, 10 mg, or more. Most studies simply use a once-daily dose, often in combination with other B complex vitamins.
FAQ
Can Vitamin B6 help my acne? While it’s rumored that Vitamin B6 can help with acne, there is insufficient evidence that proves that to be true. It is suggested that because the Vitamin regulates hormones, it’s excellent for your skin, hair, and nails, but there is no concrete evidence to suggest this. In fact, it may just do the opposite and cause a rash on the skin (9).
What happens if I am allergic to Vitamin B6? Vitamin B6 allergies typically display in the form of a skin rash. If you have taken Vitamin B6 and you have a rash, feel unwell, exhibit vomiting, diarrhea, or any other unusual symptoms, please contact your doctor or visit a medical professional immediately.
How do I know if I have a Vitamin B6 deficiency? Signs of a Vitamin B6 deficiency can manifest in many different ways. Common symptoms include tingling and numbness in the hands and feet, seizures, anemia, depression, weakened immune system, itchy rashes, cracked skin on the lips, cracked skin at the corners of the mouth, and a swollen tongue. If you are experiencing any of the above symptoms, please visit your doctor to request testing.
Who should take Vitamin B6? Those who have a Vitamin B6 deficiency tend to be those who consume a large amount of alcohol, pregnant women, breastfeeding women, those who are obese, children, the elderly, or those who take medication that causes a deficiency. Please visit your doctor to obtain blood work that will show if you are Vitamin B6 deficient before taking a supplement.
Can I use Vitamin B6 supplements to help with fertility? Studies have shown that an increase of B Vitamins may reduce infertility. Still, more studies are required to substantiate these claims (10).
Can I take Vitamin B6 if I am pregnant or breastfeeding? Pregnant and breastfeeding women are some of the most likely individuals to be deficient in Vitamin B6, which means a supplement could be beneficial. Please consult your doctor before adding a supplement to your routine if you are either breastfeeding or pregnant.
Will Vitamin B6 help me lose weight? There is not enough conclusive evidence to suggest that Vitamin B6 is a weight loss aid, but a 2008 study by the Department of Nutrition at Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain suggests that women who ate a balanced diet with a focus on vitamins lost weight, but that can’t be directly contributed to the Vitamin B6 itself.
Can I take Vitamin B6 if I am taking other medications? The significant drug interactions that are known for Vitamin B6 are Altretamine, Barbiturates, Anticonvulsants, and Levodopa. Taking Vitamin B6 with Altretamine, which is a chemotherapy drug, can reduce the effectiveness of the drug. If you’re taking a combination of Hexalen and Cisplatin, the adverse effects are worse.
Barbiturates are another medication that’s effectiveness will decrease when taken with Vitamin B6. Anticonvulsants like Cerebyx, Phenytek, or Dilantin will be less intense and won’t last as long when combined with a Vitamin B6 supplement. Levodopa is used to treat Parkinson’s disease and should not be taken with Vitamin B6 as it will be less effective. If you are taking any of these or other medications, consult your physician or pharmacist before starting a Vitamin B6 supplement.
Can I take Vitamin B6 if I am taking other supplements? There are no significant interactions noted between Vitamin B6 and other supplements but consult with your doctor before taking several different supplements. They know you and your health situation the best and can determine what is right for you.
Will Vitamin B6 help me sleep better? There is not enough evidence to suggest that Vitamin B6 is a sleeping aid. However, a deficiency has been linked to depression and insomnia. If you are experiencing trouble sleeping, please discuss your options with your doctor before purchasing or taking a Vitamin B6 supplement.
If I have epilepsy, can I safely take Vitamin B6? Vitamin B6 deficiency has been linked to seizures in newborns, and a B6 injection is used to treat them successfully. Some epilepsy medications can cause a deficiency. If you have epilepsy as an adult, or you are taking drugs to treat it, please consult your doctor before adding a new supplement to your routine.
What happens if I take too much Vitamin B6? If you’re eating a healthy and balanced diet, you should be receiving enough Vitamin B6, and there are no known adverse effects from consuming too much. However, taking too much of a supplement has adverse effects. If you were to take between one and six grams of a Vitamin B6 supplement daily for a year or more, it would cause severe loss of body movement control and progressive sensory neuropathy.
These symptoms occur over a prolonged period of time, so if you’ve taken too much on a single occasion, you will likely be okay. If you are concerned about how much you’ve taken, or start to feel unwell, please contact your doctor or head to your nearest emergency room.
Does Vitamin B6 cause headaches? In a 2015 study from the Food Security Research Center and Department of Community Nutrition, School of Nutrition and Food Science, at the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in Isfahan, Iran suggests that a Vitamin B6 supplement can significantly decrease the pain of migraines and migraines with aura in patients (11).
What brand of Vitamin B6 is the best? Everyone has a different preference when it comes to supplements and which ones they prefer. Choosing a reputable brand that has been on the market for a long time is a helpful tool in your decision making. You can also ask your doctor or pharmacist for more information or their recommendations.
Some of the best selling supplements include Natrol Melatonin Advanced Sleep Tablets with Vitamin B6, Nature’s Bounty Vitamin B6 Supplement, NOW Supplements GABA + B-6, Amazing Nutrition Vitamin B6 Dietary Supplement, and Best Naturals Vitamin B-6 25 Mg Tablets.
What’s the difference between Vitamin B6 and B12? Vitamins B6 and B12 are both part of the B-complex vitamins, but Pyridoxine and Cobalamin have significant differences. They both help to convert your food into energy, and they work to nourish your liver and skin.
Still, they are processed differently in the body. B6 works to regulate your hormones, improve your mood, decrease symptoms of PMS, nausea, and help your red blood cell production. B12 works to increase your nerve function, and it increases myelin production to aid in the process.
Further, B6 has a recommended dose of about 1.3mg daily, and B12 has a recommended dose of 2.4 micrograms. In foods, B6 is found in many vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, poultry and fish, and B12 is found in many animal products like dairy and eggs. Deficiencies in both vitamins can result in anemia and confusion, but a B12 deficiency can lead to dementia and loss of your sense of touch. Lastly, excess B6 is expelled from your body, whereas B12 is stored in your body for later use.
Does Vitamin B6 help relieve period symptoms or PMS? If you are experiencing PMS symptoms, Vitamin B6 may be an effective treatment to reduce the severity. Taking 50 to 100mg per day, combined with 200mg of magnesium, could substantially help. Please consult your physician or pharmacist before combining supplements.
Does Vitamin B6 help with depression? One of the indicators of Vitamin B6 deficiency can be depression or lowered mood. Vitamin B6 is responsible for helping regulate emotions and hormones like serotonin, dopamine, and GABA. The Vitamin may also reduce the amount of the homocysteine amino acid in the blood, which has been linked to low mood.
Vitamin B6 deficiency has been linked to depression in those who are at high risk of deficiency. However, Vitamin B6 is not a suitable treatment for depression on its own. Still, a deficiency makes depression twice as likely to occur.
If I am feeling nauseated, can Vitamin B6 help? Vitamin B6 is known to help suppress morning sickness symptoms in pregnant women. If you are not pregnant and experiencing nausea, please contact your doctor or ask your pharmacist for a suitable solution.
When should I take Vitamin B6? Since Vitamin B6 may help those who have trouble sleeping, it should be taken at night, preferably before bed.
Can Vitamin B6 cause constipation? Constipation is not considered to be one of the side effects of a Vitamin B6 supplement. However, everyone reacts to supplements differently, so it is possible that you could experience this. If you experience any unusual symptoms after taking a supplement, please consult your doctor.
Is Vitamin B6 suitable for children? Vitamin B6 is used to treat kidney stones in children. The recommended dosage for children five years old and up is up to 20mg per day. A deficiency of Vitamin B6 in newborns can cause seizures that are difficult to control. Vitamin B6 is a suitable treatment when it is injected by a medical professional with a needle.
Why is vitamin B6 so useful in a wide range of conditions? The wide-ranging biological functions of vitamin B6 make it useful for everything from boosting your immune system to better heart health to maintaining proper cognitive functioning as you get older.
Vitamin B6 deficiency is surprisingly common but difficult to detect, particularly in older adults, so ensuring that you get enough of this critical vitamin is very important if you want your body in good health.
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Recap
Vitamin B6 plays an important role in regulating your body’s cardiovascular and cognitive health. Older adults are at risk for vitamin B6 deficiency, and it isn’t always easy to detect.
Fortunately, adequate supplemental doses of vitamin B6 can correct deficiencies, and the evidence indicates that they may also be able to protect your DNA and help maintain or improve cognitive function in old age and reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke.
At the most effective dosages, vitamin B6 is very safe: doses as low as 5 mg per day produce benefits. It’s not until your daily dosage gets above 500 mg per day that you encounter problems with side effects.
With the right vitamin B6 supplement, you can help maintain the well-being of your brain and your heart.
For BodyNutrition’s #1 recommended vitamin B6 supplement, click here.
