Health officials in the Land Down Under are cracking down on a popular supplement.<\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) announced this week<\/a> that it will roll out new sales restrictions and labeling rules for vitamin B6 products, warning that prolonged high doses can cause potentially dangerous side effects.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can have too much of a good thing,\u201d Dr. Oliver Jones<\/a>, a chemistry professor at RMIT University in Melbourne, who was not involved in the new policy, said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cThe dose makes the benefit as well as the poison.\u201d<\/p>\n People obtain vitamin B6 through a diet of foods like meat, poultry, fish, eggs and fortified whole grains. SERSOLL \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n Vitamin B6 is an essential nutrient that helps with more than 140 functions in the body, including brain development, immune support and the metabolism of proteins, fats and carbs.<\/p>\n We can\u2019t make it ourselves, but health experts say<\/a> that most people get enough from foods like foods like poultry, fish, starchy vegetables and fruits without needing to take supplements. <\/p>\n After all, you don\u2019t need much of it. For most American adults under 50, the recommended daily amount is just 1.3 milligrams (mg). Women over 50 need 1.5 mg, and men 1.7 mg, according to the Mayo Clinic<\/a>.<\/p>\n Still, a 2021 study<\/a> found nearly 13% of Americans may be deficient, which can raise the risk of a wide range of health problems, including anemia, seizures, depression, heart disease and even some cancers.<\/p>\n But whether they\u2019re deficient or not, plenty of people take vitamin B6 supplements \u2014 and can get extra doses from products like energy drinks, weight-loss shakes and multivitamins.<\/p>\n \u201cThe problem is that vitamin B6 is in a range of products, so it is easy to accidentally take too much without realizing,\u201d Jones said. \u201cPeople may then not link their symptoms to the supplements, so they can be ill for some time and not know why.\u201d<\/p>\n High levels of vitamin B6 can damage the nervous system, causing symptoms like tingling, numbness, and pain in the hands and feet. Yura Yarema \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n Before announcing its new rules, the TGA conducted a sweeping review of the available evidence, which included more than 100 submissions from people who reported \u201csevere, sometimes permanent\u201d health effects from vitamin B6 toxicity, according to 7.30<\/a>, the ABC\u2019s nightly current\u2011affairs program in Australia.\u00a0<\/p>\n That includes peripheral neuropathy, or nerve damage that can cause numbness, tingling and muscle weakness, usually in the hands and feet.<\/p>\n \u201cVitamin B6\u2013induced neuropathy is uncommon, but the risk is rising because of widespread supplement use,\u201d Dr. Peter Crack, head of the University of Melbourne\u2019s Neuropharmacology Laboratory, said in a statement<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNeuropathy is almost never seen with dietary intake alone, and occurs almost exclusively in people taking supplements at doses well above physiological needs,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n Toxic levels of vitamin B6 have also been linked to stomach problems, skin lesions, extreme sun sensitivity and a reduced ability to sense heat, cold or pain. <\/p>\n Australians will now need to consult with a pharmacist or obtain a prescription for products containing high doses of vitamin B6. Reese\/peopleimages.com \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n Seeking to clamp down on the risks, the TGA will begin enforcing new rules in June 2027, including: <\/p>\n Requiring pharmacist supervision to buy vitamin B6 products containing 50 mg to 200 mg per recommended daily dose.<\/p>\n Requiring a prescription for vitamin B6 products above 200 mg.<\/p>\n Requiring front-of-pack warnings when a product contains vitamin B6. <\/p>\n Lower-dose products \u2014 50 mg or less \u2014 will still be available over the counter without a pharmacist. <\/p>\n \u201cThe amount of B6 which might cause toxicity is not fully known, as it seems to vary across the population,\u201d Dr. Vasso Apostolopoulos<\/a>, a professor of immunology, and Jack Feehan<\/a>, a immunology fellow at RMIT University, wrote in The Conversation<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cSome studies<\/a> have identified nerve damage in people taking less than 500mg\/day, but not below 200mg\/day. So this is likely why the TGA chose these limits,\u201d they explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the US adults can take up to 100 mg of vitamin B6 per day before reaching the country\u2019s official \u201cupper limit,\u201d according to the Cleveland Clinic<\/a>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s significantly higher than many other parts of the world. In Europe, the Food Safety Authority<\/a> has set the tolerable upper intake level for adults at 12 mg per day, while in Japan<\/a> the limit ranges from 40\u202fmg to 60\u202fmg, depending on age and sex.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you choose supplements, stick to low-dose options like multivitamins or B-complex products that provide less than 10mg per day,\u201d Dr. Vijay Suppiah<\/a>, senior lecturer in pharmacy at the University of South Australia, said in a statement<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAlways check labels and consult a healthcare professional before starting any high-dose regimen,\u201d he advised. \u201cThe bottom line: High-dose vitamin B6 is not risk-free.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Health officials in the Land Down Under are cracking down on a popular supplement. Australia\u2019s Therapeutic Goods Administration…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[1246,97,269,247,582,2668],"class_list":{"0":"post-317077","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-nutrition","11":"tag-pharmaceuticals","12":"tag-supplements","13":"tag-vitamins"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}