Vitamin B6 is essential for the production of the corpus luteum and therefore, the production of Progesterone. Vitamin B6 is also necessary for the liver to metabolize and break down Estrogen. Through these metabolic pathways, Vitamin B6 will help to increase Progesterone and reduce Estrogen dominance.
Vitamin B6 Foods
Vitamin B6 also plays a role in keeping your body's hormones regulated. One research study showed that increasing the amount of B6 vitamins taken each day to around 200-800 mg per day can raise progesterone levels and reduce estrogen enough to improve symptoms of PMS.
It makes your uterus more receptive to the factors of pregnancy. Having adequate amounts of vitamin B6 in your body helps in the production of hormones that make the uterine lining stronger and increases the levels of progesterone, thereby increasing the chances of conception.
Vitamin B6 has been shown to help improve progesterone levels and is, therefore, one of the vitamins which women who are trying to conceive often take. Research has shown that women who have higher levels of vitamin B6 in their blood have reduced miscarriage rates by 50%.
Vitamin B6 is also necessary for the liver to metabolize and break down Estrogen. Through these metabolic pathways, Vitamin B6 will help to increase Progesterone and reduce Estrogen dominance.
In response to this release of GnRH, the anterior pituitary will release FSH and LH, which will subsequently act on the gonads. In the female ovary, this release of FSH and LH on the gonads causes the release of progesterone.
A lot of women have reported a lengthened luteal phase after supplementing with vitamin B6. This may have been caused by the hormonal balancing effect vitamin B6 has on the body. Vitamin B6 can be found in tuna, bananas, turkey, liver, salmon, and many of the greens.
Progesterone and vitamin B6 combination therapy can reduce the patient's prolactin level and regulate the patient's menstrual cycle [7, 8]. Our study aims to explore the effectiveness and safety of vitamin B6 combined with progesterone in treating amenorrhea caused by antipsychotics.
In particular, B6 is incredibly important to help support healthy hormone balance as it helps with the production of progesterone (7). In our modern day, many women are low in progesterone, and dominant in estrogen.
Vitamin B6 helps the body make several neurotransmitters, chemicals that carry signals from one nerve cell to another. It is needed for normal brain development and function, and helps the body make the hormones serotonin and norepinephrine, which influence mood, and melatonin, which helps regulate the body clock.
Vitamin B6 is the master vitamin for processing amino acids—the building blocks of all proteins and some hormones. Vitamin B6 helps to make and take apart many amino acids and is also needed to make the hormones, serotonin, melatonin, and dopamine.
Vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine) is important for normal brain development and for keeping the nervous system and immune system healthy.
Vitamin B6 encourages estrogen to break down into 2-OH instead of 16-OH, which both decreases cancer risk, and decreases the strength of the estrogen metabolites on the way out of the body. This means fewer estrogen dominance symptoms during PMS, including less breast tenderness and fewer cramps.
Vitamin B6 is absolutely essential for the development of the corpus luteum – this gland is produced in the ovary after the egg has been released and it is what makes the hormone progesterone. Therefore B6 is necessary for balanced hormones and preventing progesterone deficiency.
How it can help during menopause: Vitamin B6 may help ward off menopausal depression and increase energy by boosting serotonin. B vitamins may also help with insomnia and possibly even reduce hot flashes. They are also important for cognitive functions.
Vitamin B6 supplements might interact with cycloserine (Seromycin®), an antibiotic used to treat tuberculosis, and worsen any seizures and nerve cell damage that the drug might cause. Taking certain epilepsy drugs could decrease vitamin B6 levels and reduce the drugs' ability to control seizures.
Vitamin B6 deficiency is associated with microcytic anemia, electroencephalographic abnormalities, dermatitis with cheilosis (scaling on the lips and cracks at the corners of the mouth) and glossitis (swollen tongue), depression and confusion, and weakened immune function [1,2].
Supplementing with B6
When I do supplement, I tend to take it only during the luteal phase of my menstrual cycle, which is the two weeks leading up to my period. Or sometimes, mostly the week leading up to my period.
Vitamin B6 is linked to fertility in two ways. First, it contributes to the luteal phase of the ovulation cycle. That is the period in which the uterine wall thickens and prepares for the embryo to implant. Second, B6 lowers the level of homocysteine, an amino acid that is associated with heart disease risk.
As a water-soluble nutrient, vitamin B6 is absorbed quickly, and it doesn't take long before you will start noticing the beneficial effects of this vitamin. Positive benefits may be seen within one week.
Although the corpus luteum in the ovaries is the major site of progesterone production in humans, progesterone is also produced in smaller quantities by the ovaries themselves, the adrenal glands and, during pregnancy, the placenta.