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Vitamin B6 requirement of premenopausal women

Nutrition Research Newsletter, March, 1998

The present US Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for vitamin [B.sub.6] is 1.6 mg/day, based on a dietary ratio of 0.016 mg vitamin [B.sub.6]/g protein. This RDA was established on the basis of studies conducted primarily in men or in women taking oral contraceptives, and its suitability for the general population of premenopausal women is uncertain. Several recent depletion-repletion studies in young women have suggested the possibility that the true requirement for vitamin [B.sub.6] in young women may be higher than the current RDA.

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This report from Washington State University describes a vitamin [B.sub.]6 depletion-repletion study involving eight healthy young women on a high-protein lacto-ovovegetarian basal diet. Both short- and long-term measures of vitamin [B.sub.6] status were assessed. Regression analysis showed that the amount of dietary vitamin [B.sub.6] quired to normalize urinary 4-pyridoxic acid, plasma pyridoxal-P, erythrocyte pyridoxal-P and pyridoxal, and erythrocyte alanine and aspartate aminotransferase activity coefficients to predepletion baseline values was 1.94 mg/day (0.019 mg vitamin [B.sub.6]/g protein).

The results of this study are consistent with other evidence indicating that the current vitamin [B.sub.6] RDA for premenopausal women is not an adequate intake and may require reevaluation.

Yi-Chia Huang, Wei Chen, Marc A. Evans, Madeleine E. Mitchell, and Terry D. Shultz, Vitamin B-6 Requirement and Status Assessment of Young Women Fed a High-Protein Diet with Various Levels of Vitamin B-6, American J Clinical Nutrition 67(2):208-220 (Feb 1998) [Reprints: Terry D. Shultz, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-6376 E-mail: shultz@wsu.edu]

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Vitamin B6 requirement of premenopausal women

Nutrition Research Newsletter, March, 1998

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