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Vitamin B6 or Pyridoxine Benefits and Plant-Based Sources

Key for early brain development and to break down homocysteine

Key for early brain development and to break down homocysteine

Last Updated: October 10, 2025 | First Published: December 8, 2023

Last Updated: October 10, 2025

First Published: December 8, 2023

Vitamin B6.

Pyridoxine or vitamin B6 has multiple functions in our body from the moment we are conceived.

Vitamin B6 is a key nutrient for our brain, essential for its development during pregnancy and infancy. It also helps our brain produce neurotransmitters that are involved in mood regulation and pain, and it may help prevent cognitive decline as we age. 

Plus, it has a key role in breaking down homocysteine to make cysteine. These two are non-essential amino acids made from the essential amino acid, methionine. When we have too much methionine in our diets, and not enough vitamins B6, B9 and B12, we end up with excessive homocysteine. This condition increases the risk of stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, cardiovascular disease, muscle strength loss, cancer, and more. For this reason, vitamin B6 is key in protecting our brain, our heart, our muscles, and more. 

Other vitamin B6 functions include supporting our metabolism, helping us produce hemoglobin (the protein in our red blood cells that delivers oxygen to our body tissues) and supporting our immune function.

Getting adequate intake levels is easy because vitamin B6 is present in many plant-based foods, including nuts, legumes, seeds, leafy greens, vegetables, and bananas! A favorite food among infants.

Scroll down to use our personalized vitamin B6 intake calculator, to see some of its top plant-based sources, to learn more about cysteine and homocysteine, and to discover other interesting facts.

Top Whole-Food, Plant-Based Sources

Hover over each food below to see how much vitamin B6 or pyridoxine you can get with one serving. Click on each food’s picture to visit its interactive page with a personalized calculator of all the nutrition you can get from one serving, more information about how it supports our body, tips to choose and prepare it, interesting facts, and more!

Lentils

Lentils

1 cup cooked = 17% DV

Link
Sweet Potatoes

Sweet Potatoes

1 c cooked = 54% DV

Link
Bell Pepper

Bell Pepper

1 c = 23% DV

Link
Spinach

Spinach

1 cup cooked = 26% DV

Link
Sunflower Seeds

Sunflower Seeds

1/4 c dried kernels = 28% DV

Link
Avocado

Avocado

1 c = 21% DV

Link
Soybeans

Soybeans

Mature 1 c cooked = 24% DV

Link
Banana

Banana

1 c = 25% DV

Link

Vitamin B6 Personalized Calculator

See how much vitamin B6 or pyridoxine you and your family members need, according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025.

Terminology:

  • Daily Value (DV): The recommended amount of nutrients to consume each day for individuals who are 4 years old or older.
  • Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA): The recommended amount of nutrients to consume each day according to the individual’s age, gender, and whether a woman is pregnant or breastfeeding.
  • Upper Intake Level (UL): The highest amount of nutrient intake that will not pose adverse health effects on most individuals.

Important Things to Know

Hover over each of the interesting facts below to flip the tiles and learn more details.

Check out the interesting facts below! Tap on the red triangles to flip the tiles and learn more details.

A vitamin B6 deficiency may lead to anemia.

Since we need vitamin B6 to convert iron into the hemoglobin in our red blood cells, a deficiency can lead to anemia.

This type of anemia manifests in smaller than normal red blood cells with less than normal amounts of hemoglobin. It can be identified because iron levels would be normal or high, showing that iron deficiency isn’t the problem. The problem is that iron isn’t being converted into hemoglobin.

Cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative diseases, stroke, kidney disease, and cancer caused by high levels of homocysteine and low levels of vitamin B6, B9, and B12.

High levels of homocysteine and low levels of cysteine are linked to top diseases.

Our body stores amino acid, methionine, as homocysteine. We then need vitamins B6, B9 and B12 to break it down into cysteine and methionine. 

Vitamin B6 is in charge of making cysteine, a non-essential amino acid that is an important part of our muscles, helps us synthesize essential fatty acids, and is the main component in keratin (needed for our nails and hair). We also need cysteine to make anti-inflammatory taurine, top antioxidant glutathione, and coenzyme A, which is key for energy metabolism.   

High levels of homocysteine and low levels of cysteine are linked to cardiovascular diseases, ischemic stroke, neurological disorders (like Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease), diabetes, renal dysfunction, and cancer (including ovarian, colorectal, prostate, and lung cancers). Learn more.

Depression while on birth-control pills may be due to vitamin B6 depletion.

Since the 1970s, studies like this one and this one have shown low vitamin B6 levels in women taking estrogen-progestin, birth-control pills. More recently, this 2022 study proved that supplementing vitamin B6 while on the pill reduced depression symptoms.

We need vitamin B6 to make serotonin out of tryptophan. Serotonin is a key neurotransmitter for our mood, and deficiency leads to depression.

A vitamin B6 deficiency is also connected to other risks, including thrombosis in the arteries and veins. Plus, having low vitamin B6 levels while pregnant increases the risk of pregnancy complications and may affect the baby’s brain development. This is a problem because of accidental pregnancies while on the pill, or because women may be getting pregnant shortly after stopping their birth control.

If you decide to go on the pill, talk to your doctor about monitoring your vitamin B6 levels. Be sure to add more B6 sources to your diet, and ask about supplements if needed.

Vitamin B6 may help prevent PMS symptoms.

According to Dr. Neil Barnard on Foods That Fight Pain, vitamin B6 appears to increase the production of neurotransmitters that inhibit pain sensations, including cramps and headaches associated with PMS and our periods. It also facilitates the removal of estrogen in our liver, and it helps with depression, irritability, and other symptoms.

Though Dr. Barnard recommends using supplements of 50 to 150 mg per day, always talk to your doctor before taking supplements for any health condition.

Vitamin B6 may help increase our pain resistance, including back pain.

According to this study cited by Dr. Neil Barnard on Foods That Fight Pain, vitamin B6 may not help our muscles relax or our damaged disks get repaired, but it does increase our pain resistance, thus allowing us to control our pain with less medication.

Barnard also says that vitamin B6 may help prevent relapse of acute back pain, cutting it in half over six months following initial treatment.

Always talk to your doctor before taking supplements to treat any health condition.

Bananas are a delicious, brain-supporting first solid food!

You can start feeding your baby bananas when they’re 6 months old. Not only are they sweet and soft, making it a favorite food for them, they are also packed with vitamin B6 which is key for your baby’s brain development! Plus, bananas are easy to pack and bring with you anywhere you go.

A vitamin B6 deficiency may lead to anemia.

Since we need vitamin B6 to convert iron into the hemoglobin in our red blood cells, a deficiency can lead to anemia.

This type of anemia manifests in smaller than normal red blood cells with less than normal amounts of hemoglobin. It can be identified because iron levels would be normal or high, showing that iron deficiency isn’t the problem. The problem is that iron isn’t being converted into hemoglobin.

Cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative diseases, stroke, kidney disease, and cancer caused by high levels of homocysteine and low levels of vitamin B6, B9, and B12.

High levels of homocysteine and low levels of cysteine are linked to top diseases.

Our body stores amino acid, methionine, as homocysteine. We then need vitamins B6, B9 and B12 to break it down into cysteine and methionine. 

Vitamin B6 is in charge of making cysteine, a non-essential amino acid that is an important part of our muscles, helps us synthesize essential fatty acids, and is the main component in keratin (needed for our nails and hair). We also need cysteine to make anti-inflammatory taurine, top antioxidant glutathione, and coenzyme A, which is key for energy metabolism.   

High levels of homocysteine and low levels of cysteine are linked to cardiovascular diseases, ischemic stroke, neurological disorders (like Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease), diabetes, renal dysfunction, and cancer (including ovarian, colorectal, prostate, and lung cancers). Learn more.

Depression while on birth-control pills may be due to vitamin B6 depletion.

Since the 1970s, studies like this one and this one have shown low vitamin B6 levels in women taking estrogen-progestin, birth-control pills. More recently, this 2022 study proved that supplementing vitamin B6 while on the pill reduced depression symptoms.

We need vitamin B6 to make serotonin out of tryptophan. Serotonin is a key neurotransmitter for our mood, and deficiency leads to depression.

A vitamin B6 deficiency is also connected to other risks, including thrombosis in the arteries and veins. Plus, having low vitamin B6 levels while pregnant increases the risk of pregnancy complications and may affect the baby’s brain development. This is a problem because of accidental pregnancies while on the pill, or because women may be getting pregnant shortly after stopping their birth control.

If you decide to go on the pill, talk to your doctor about monitoring your vitamin B6 levels. Be sure to add more B6 sources to your diet, and ask about supplements if needed.

Woman with menstrual cramps.

Vitamin B6 may help prevent PMS symptoms.

According to Dr. Neil Barnard on Foods That Fight Pain, vitamin B6 appears to increase the production of neurotransmitters that inhibit pain sensations, including cramps and headaches associated with PMS and our periods. It also facilitates the removal of estrogen in our liver, and it helps with depression, irritability, and other symptoms.

Though Dr. Barnard recommends using supplements of 50 to 150 mg per day, always talk to your doctor before taking supplements for any health condition.

Vitamin B6 may help increase our pain resistance, including back pain.

According to this study cited by Dr. Neil Barnard on Foods That Fight Pain, vitamin B6 may not help our muscles relax or our damaged disks get repaired, but it does increase our pain resistance, thus allowing us to control our pain with less medication.

Barnard also says that vitamin B6 may help prevent relapse of acute back pain, cutting it in half over six months following initial treatment.

Always talk to your doctor before taking supplements to treat any health condition.

Bananas are a delicious, brain-supporting first solid food!

You can start feeding your baby bananas when they’re 6 months old. Not only are they sweet and soft, making it a favorite food for them, they are also packed with vitamin B6 which is key for your baby’s brain development! Plus, bananas are easy to pack and bring with you anywhere you go.

Comparison of vitamin B6 Sources

You may be wondering about other potential sources of vitamin B6, such as supplements and animal-based foods. Below we make a quick and simple comparison between our three options.

Best source!
Plant-Based
A plant-based diet rich in legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds, and leafy greens can give a healthy person all the vitamin B6 we need.
Supplements
A safe dose of vitamin B6 is 50-150 mg a day. Doses over 200 mg are associated with nerve damage. High doses are also associated with an increased risk of hip fracture. Excessive intake (1-6 g/day) can lead to the loss of body movement control.
Animal-based
Vitamin B6 is present in animal-based foods including beef liver, tuna, salmon, chicken breast, turkey, and more. However, a diet rich in animal-based foods might still lead to a deficiency because of their high levels of protein which tends to use up vitamin B6 to get metabolized in our body. Animal-based foods present other issues including an increased risk of digestive and hormonal cancers, and cardiovascular disease.

References