Nutritinal Deficiencies in the US- B6

I am going to be highlighting one nutrient every week. I thought it would make since to start with the most common deficiencies first. Through the years of studying nutrition, I have discovered that when our diet lacks certain required nutrients, the deficiencies can manifest outwardly in our bodies. Whether we feel tired, mentally and/or physically or our hair and nails don’t grow correctly or it is even possible for body systems to shut down if they lack the proper nutrients.

According to the CDC, B6 is number the one most prevalent deficiency. So what does this vitamin do for us…let’s find out!

According to the National Institutes for Health, vitamin B6 is needed for metabolism, which is important for energy production, it also helps with enzyme reactions, and assists your body making immune cells that you need to fight infections. You can think of it like this: If your body was a city the roles of B6 are required for  your power company (making energy from food), the managers of your power company (co-enzymes assist with the reactions that make energy) and your military (guarding us from invaders). Vitamin B6 also helps with oxygen transportation in your body by helping make hemoglobin.

So now you can see this vitamin is vital to our bodies and it is pretty unnerving that many of us are walking around with less B6 than we require. So what can we do about it?! Many people might rush want to go to the pharmacy and head to the vitamin isle. The problem is that most of these vitamins are made from synthetic sources.

Why would we allow our vitamins to come from a lab when mother nature has made them perfectly presented in the foods we eat?! Perfectly presented- what exactly does that mean? Mother nature has done some pretty great things for us to help us with nutrition. When we eat a food it is often designed that we don’t overeat it. Imagine eating a bunch of bananas, eventually you will stop eating because you will get too full and your appetite will go away. Vitamins don’t have those safe guards built in. It is easy to intake amounts of supplements your body is not designed to ingest when you take them in an isolated pill form. Isolated, that word is also important. Often times we know that certain nutrients are best absorbed when consumed with other nutrients. Often these pill forms don’t provide those nutrient combinations. Even worse, some supplements are not presented correctly, the chemical structure of the synthetic supplement doesn’t resemble the structure of the naturally occurring nutrient. Often our bodies don’t know what to do with these synthetic supplements and may not even absorb them.

How much B6 do we need, according to the Mayo clinic:

“The recommended daily intake of vitamin B6 is as follows: 1.3 milligrams in men and women ages 19-50; 1.7 milligrams in men aged 51 and older; and 1.3 milligrams in women aged 51 and older. The maximum daily intake of vitamin B6 in adults and pregnant or breastfeeding women over age 18 is 100 milligrams.”

What foods should I eat to help me get the B6 I need?

Sources that can be added to smoothies: banana, carrots, avocado, spinach, prunes, and prune juice.

Sources you can eat: potatoes (regular and sweet), plantain, bran, tuna, salmon, grass feed beef, turkey and garlic.

The prune juice or carrot juice can be used as the liquid portion in your smoothie. Also, when you drink a smoothie you are taking in a symphony of nutrients that your body needs to function properly.

Let’s get blending! Look for a high a B6 content smoothie recipe in the smoothie resources area soon!