What is in What You Eat?
We all know that food is essential for life. But have you ever tried to
learn why certain foods are really crucial? That being true, what
really is in what you consume is what makes its consumption so
crucial to health. This exploration delves into one key nutrient:
vitamin B6. Why is it essential? Because it plays a role in several
hundred different processes in your body, such as brain formation
and oxygen supply. It’s also important for a healthy immune
system to help with mood swings, and can also help with chronic
diseases. Out of all these vitamins, this post seeks to discover
why is vitamin B6 essential to health.
Why is Vitamin B6 Essential to Health? Role of Vitamin B6 in
The Body’s Vitamin B6 is a vital nutrient that plays a crucial role
in many bodily functions. Let’s explore some key reasons
why it’s essential for our health:
It Fuels Your Body: The Metabolism BoostVitamin B6 is like
the spark plug for your car engine or the
spark plug for your body. It assists in converting foods
that you consume into energy. This vitamin is helpful in helping
to release glycogen, proteins, and fats, turning them into
glucose, thus supplying your cells with energy.
Nurturing Your Mind: Brain Health Benefits
In addition, your brain depends on vitamin B6 for proper performance.
Melatonin is also synthesized by this nutrient and serotonin,
norepinephrine. These chemicals are responsible for the regulation
of our emotional state and ability to sleep or even think. B6 also
fulfills brain commitments, making it critical in childhood as
well as adolescence.
Vitamin B6 Supports Your Immune System
Having a good working immune system is the best armor
anybody can have to fight off infections. Food rich in Vitamin B6
should be consumed to assist the body in manufacturing
immune cells that will enable the body to fight off diseases.
Vitamin B6 Protect Your Heart and Your Cardiovascular Health
Homocysteine is proven to have a direct proportional relationship
with the risk of heart disease because it is found in high levels
in the blood. Homocysteine is converted into other nonlethal
products with the aid of Vitamin B6, thus bringing down the
overall homocysteine levels in the body. Therefore, it plays a
role in ensuring the body has the correct functioning of the
cardiovascular system.
Vitamin B6 Deficiency
Vitamin B6 deficiency can occur when your body doesn’t get
enough of this essential nutrient. Now it is time to discuss what
actually causes and how one can recognize this issue.
Causes of vitamin B6 deficiency:
⦁ Certain medications: The effect of alterations in nutrient status
due to drug interactions is illustrated by the case in which the
use of isoniazid, an antituberculosis drug, inhibits the ability of
the human body to metabolize vitamin B6.
⦁ Poor diet: A diet that has low levels of vitamin B6 foods, which
include poultry, fish, legumes, and cereals that are fortified.
⦁ Medical conditions: Some diseases, like inflammatory bowel
disease, which affects the absorption of nutrients, can result
in deficiency.
Symptoms of vitamin B6 deficiency:
⦁ Muscle weakness: Pain and weakness in muscles that affect
the general performance of activities in day-to-day life.
⦁ Cognitive issues: Inability to focus, impaired memory, and a
feeling of disorientation.
⦁ Depression: Loss of interest in usual pleasures and activities,
or the loss of energy required for these activities in some cases.
⦁ Anemia: A pathological state of anemia in which there is a
low level of red blood corpuscles in the human body.
Sources of Vitamin B6 – How to Get Vitamin B6 in a Balanced Way
Ensuring that the body absorbs enough Vitamin B6 is thus
important for your health. You can obtain it through both dietary
sources and supplements.
Vitamin B6 is found in a variety of foods, making it possible to
obtain sufficient amounts through a balanced diet. Excellent
sources include:
⦁ Fruits and vegetables: Bananas, potatoes (especially with the
skin on), avocados, and spinach.
⦁ Animal products: Chicken, fish (especially tuna, salmon, and cod),
beef liver, and other organ meats.
⦁ Legumes: Lentils, chickpeas, and other beans.
⦁ Nuts and seeds: Sunflower seeds, walnuts, pistachios,…
⦁ Grains: Fortified cereals.
This vitamin is also marketed in various forms, which include
pyridoxine hydrochloride, also known as Vitamin B6 and pyridoxal
5 ‘phosphate. Though PLP is the phosphorylated form of B6 in
the body, other forms, such as pyridoxine HCl, are visible in
supplements and are cheaper. The body specifically reacts
positively to pyridoxine HCl in that it is easily converted into PLP.
Final Words